Tuesday 19 July 2016

Zamami Island

Zamami Island is a small island off Okinawa Honto. It's part of the Keramashoto National Park. Why did I choose this place? I've no idea. I was looking around on Google and stumbled upon this place. It wasn't hard to get to from Naha so we went for it. 

Getting here
Ferry: We took the Queen Zamami speedboat from Tomari Port in Naha. It takes about 50 minutes. 
Cost: Check out this link here 
How to reserve: We used this online form. I believe it is possible to go without reservation, but keep in mind that they may not have space for you during high season.
Other tips: Bring food and drinks with you. There are not much options on the island itself. There's a Family Mart right across from Tomari Port. The ferry's operation is weather permitting! Check this website on the day of your trip. Bring snorkelling gear! 

Accommodation
Beachcomber Zamami
Condo-style accommodation. Ours was a Japanese-style room with a kitchen, fridge and bathroom. 
Address: 435 Zamami, Shimajiri District, Okinawa Prefecture 901-3402, Japan
Phone: +81 98-987-3100
$96 for a night

We embarked on the Queen Zamami. Weather: windy, cloudy, rainy. 
On a sunny day, the water would be turquoise!
Rainy the whole way there. 
The folks from our accommodation picked us up at the port. It was raining cats and dogs. 
Pretty cool view from our balcony. I love small places like these. 
An awesome citrus drink I bought from Family Mart. It's like calamansi. 
Our room. Seems empty without the futons. 
We didn't want to waste time waiting for the rain to clear so we decided to head out. 
We got pretty soaked. 
Papaya tree.
Since it wouldn't stop raining, we decided to rent a car from Zamami Car Rental. This place was difficult to find since there were no signage. Look for this scene--where I was standing to take the picture is the car rental place!
We got a little Daihatsu. I believe it was about 6000 yen for 24 hours. 
Chishi Observatory

Our little Daihatsu that could. 
We decided to climb down to the rocks below. There's a rough path that you can follow. 
It's a bit treacherous but definitely doable. I was wearing flip flops and I could do it. 
A cool little stream that poured from the top of the hill. 
Mr. Krabs.
I believe this was the road to Touma Beach. 
Mr. Krabs #2
Huge seashell--there were some of the most beautiful shells I've ever found on a beach on this island
If you cross over Touma beach to the other side, there's a rocky area with snorkelling boats docked about 50m away from the shore. It's a good area to explore in low tide as there are a lot of critters in the water. 
We thought these were pineapples but they are not. This is a pandanus fruit. Apparently they are edible. 
We found this float on the beach covered with, what I think are, percebes or goose barnacles. 
Pachliopta aristolochiae, in case you needed to know. 
Furuzamami Beach was supposed to be THE prime beach for snorkelling. Too bad it was too windy. The weather was really not on our side! That's what happens when you go off-season, I suppose. 
It was low tide so we were trying to cross over to the island. I stopped halfway though. 
Exploring the Furuzamami area further. 
A huge piece of coral on the beach. 
You can see the coral reefs in the water. Next time, we will snorkel here!
As we left to the parking lot, we saw a bunch of cats. I assume that they're stray cats.
They just come to you!
 Ama Beach was supposed to be a prime spot for seeing sea turtles. 
It was a little late in the evening though, so we didn't jump in. 
Inazaki Observatory. You can apparently spot whales from here in the right time of year. 
This is Nita Beach from afar. We were on the trail to go down there and realized that it was pretty long. It was already sunset so we decided to turn back. 
Unajinosachi Observatory. 
Unajinosachi Observatory: one of my favourite places on Zamami. 
Unajinosachi Observatory
Kaminohama Observatory is next. 
We were hoping to see the sunset but nope. 
Zamami Village as seen from the Takatsukiyama Observatory. It was a little foggy due to the weather. 
 Beautiful hibiscus in the rain. 
Zamami Port
Zamami Village area. 
Aka Island bridge. Leaving Zamami Island. You were a blast!

Overall, we loved Zamami Island. I'm all for the little places that nobody knows about. I hope I labelled all the places properly (I had to look some of them up because I couldn't remember). Too bad the weather was not on our side though. Despite that, we enjoyed our little off-the-beaten-track adventure!

-e.m.

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