Hiking around Zamami Island and Furuzamami Beach

 The rain continued on and off over the night and the wind picked up, making today not a great snorkeling day. But as the rain let up, it looked like a good day to hike up the small mountains and see more of the larger island. We slathered ourselves in sunscreen as the rays come through even on cloudy days like today, and started our hike up Mt. Takatsuki.

The small mountain waas only about 120m tall, so it was mostly one steep climb and a lot of uphill walking. The road reminded us of our bike trips: steep, wet, and us walking up them. It gave us the opportunity to see some other wildlife, including a wide variety of butterflies that never stayed still long enough for a picture, but I have some stock pictures to show what we were seeing.

A typical Japanese mountain road

Impressive

These guys were around a lot.

About halfway up the first peak, we unexpectedly came across the "Tower of Peace", a monument to the lives lost when the Allied forces first landed in Okinawa. Zamami was the first landing zone, right behind Aka.

There were several observation areas on top of Mt. Takatsuki, with nice vistas, even with the clouds and rain.

Not used to such short trips, we decided to walk across the island to Mt. Inazaki and check out that view.

Walking down the mountain on the west side of the island, we came across a goat farm, an evacuation path, some trees with huge fruits, and a small resort that sold local ice cream.

Pandanus fruit from the Screwpine tree (I am not making that name up)

Ama beach. Very quiet today

Blue Seal is like the Ben & Jerry's of Okinawa. They have full scale Blue Seal restaurants.

On the way back to the pension house to shower after hiking in 80 degrees and 100% humidity for three hours, we found Marilyn, Shiro's friend!

With still half a day left and Sumi not being able to stand not snorkeling if there wasn't a typhoon or other major catastrophe, we walked to Furuzamami Beach. This is one of those tourist beaches that is crawling with people during vacation season. White sand, clear water, small coral reef. Fortunately? for us, it was off season and actively raining. Sumi dove in while I walked the beach.

Influencers posing and taking photos. For the entire two plus hours we were there.

The beach was gorgeous, the sand a mixture of old ground up coral (i.e. fish poop) and the remains of tiny aquatic creatures, which is what nearly all white sand beaches in the tropics are made of. It was deep sand and difficult to wade through. Large bluffs were found on either side, and it was sheltered from the wind and currents pretty well.

A rare wild Sumi spotted in her natural habitat

It was a relaxing way to end the day. Sumi got yet more fish pictures, I got to walk on the beach and enjoy some silence (our pension house is many things, but quiet is not one of them).

Cuttlefish. One of the oddest creatures in the sea.

Thus ends our self-exile in the Kerama islands, where the water is clear and the food is scarce. We tried to go to two different restaurants tonight. Both of them closed this evening. That part of me cannot wait to get back to the main island. Tomorrow will be a long travel day to northern Okinawa island.