zamami.

In our evenings in Naha, we had found our home at a Canadian pub called ‘The Eager Beaver’, and had befriended the bartender there called Sophie (I'm not sure she knew we were pals, but I like to think the love was mutual). Thanks to her, we got some good advice on places to go and things to see in Okinawa. One of her best pieces of advice was to get out of Naha. Naha is fun enough and there’s a cool vibe there, but really it is relatively small and the beaches are nothing to write home about (especially when home is Sydney, am I right?). Therefore, we packed up essentials and took to the sea.

Soph recommended we head to Zamami, a small island about two hours by ferry from Naha, and camp there. We readily obeyed. When we got there, it was the middle of the day and absolutely sweltering, but we nonetheless headed for the campsite, rented equipment and set up tents. Pick which tent belongs to the retired girl guide and which belongs to Zhang. 

Zamami was stunning.

Unfortunately, by this stage I was already extremely burnt. Slightly overconfidently, I had thought the sun could not possibly be stronger than in Australia so was a little lax in my sunscreen application. We therefore spent much of the day seeking shade, with interludes of snorkelling and exploring our island surroundings.

In the evening, we hit the town (it really was a town) and went on an izakaya crawl. My favourite was the one featuring a karaoke system, where James and I took song requests from one particularly boisterous Japanese man.

Heading back to the campsite was the first time since being in Japan I had really been able to see stars in Japan. I guess there is just so much light pollution here since there are so many massive cities in such a relatively small land mass. However, the sky from Zamami was utterly different. In the beginning I tried counting the number of shooting stars I saw, but after getting to around thirty I gave up counting.

By this point it was pretty late, and we had big plans to go out snorkelling at the break of dawn to try to spot some sea turtles. Concerned that we might not be able to wake up after only a couple of hours sleep, we headed straight for the beach to wait for the sun to rise.

It took patience and a little guidance from a friendly Japanese passerby, but we managed to find the sea turtle! It was an amazing creature to observe, I actually took a few photos with my underwater camera, but Bec didn’t bring the cables over to connect the camera to my computer, so I can’t upload them. I feel as though I could have followed the sea turtle for hours, but by this point the sun was already getting warm, and the lack of sleep was catching up with me, so I called it quits.