What a great day, Part II

We woke up early and drove up north for Motobu Port. There will be a quiz on all these names, so take note. We boarded a ferry to Ie Island (Ie-Jima in Japanese). It's only 9 km from the main island of Okinawa. This is where Ernie Pyle was killed while reporting from the trenches, or so to say, during WWII. There is a lot of military history on Ie Island and lots of agriculture. Probably the most concentrated ag we've seen since we've been here. The YYY Ie resort touted itself to be all inclusive. My all inclusive experience is from Mexico, specifically Cancun and the Mayan Riviera so I didn't quite know what to expect. The YYY was Japanese and quaint and polite. Not as splashy as the Americanized resorts.

We wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous weather, which turned out to be a fantastic idea as it clouded up in the afternoon and rained all night and the next day. We explored the beach at the hotel and it was absolutely beautiful. I don't know how one can't believe in a higher being after being in a situation like we were in. I've never seen as vibrant shades of blue in my life. We saw dozens of hermit crabs scurrying hither and tither and even came across a sea urchin. I posted a smidgen of these on my facebook photo album if you are interested. There was a local fishing with a l-o-n-g bamboo pole at the end of the beach...it truly was amazing. I couldn't believe my luck in being on a tropical beach on my birthday.

Apparently it is hotel policy to have a lifeguard on duty whenever ANYONE is in the pool. So, this little Japanese guy looks kind of nervous when Jared and I approach the pool. Jared doesn't want to get in, but me being a water rat I jump right in. The guy then approaches the lifeguard station and perches on his seat, waiting for me to need him or something. I am not a trained lifeguard so I don't know all of your all's tricks, but I had serious doubts that he could save me. Thankfully I was safe in the 1.2 meters of water.

We had our choice of meal for dinner-Western (American style), Barbecue (not with sauce, but actually cooking the meat over heat at your table) or Japanese. I let Jared decide because we all now that I hate making final decisions. He chose Japanese. I immediately knew I should've made the decision. Honestly, the Japanese meal wasn't all that bad, it just wasn't in my comfort range. We had gelatinous fish, what appeared to be flash fried minnows, pieces of octopus tentacles & pigs ear. Actually the pigs ear wasn't all that bad. I don't want to say the food was bad, because it was tasty, but as I previously stated it was just outside of my comfort range. I am glad we tried the Japanese course however.

On our return ferry trip on Sunday the weather was being a little pill. The crusty old ferry captain was great and we got back to Motobu before schedule. Jared surprised me by driving home the scenic route (I love scenic routes!) and the coast of the East China Sea for quite awhile before arriving around Kadena. What an amazing day! I think 27 is going to agree with me!