Saturday, August 8, 2009

Saturday's Adventures - Ocean Expo Park

Today Joe and I went on an adventure to a northern part of the island. As you might have already guessed, we took the Expressway to get there. We went to Ocean Expo Park to see the Churaumi Aquarium. I think our first adventure north was a success!


The drive itself was very beautiful -- mountains and ocean.


The Expressway does not end at the northern-most tip of the island. It actually ends well before it, in Kyoda. From there we drove through Nago, then followed the coastline to Ocean Expo Park.


The Aquarium was wonderful! A "must-see" for any of our visitors. They have a fantastic collection of local sea life (kind of like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but with Okinawa creatures). I'll post most of the pictures in a slide show to the right, but here are some of our favorites: (If you wish to see the slide show pictures a bit larger, just click on the slide show and it will take you to my Picassa Album).

Giant Squid


Kuroshio Sea Tank (this was my favorite!)


Spiny Lobster

Spider Crab

We weren't able to see the rest of Ocean Expo Park, but it's definitely worth another trip. There are some beautiful gardens and walking paths. On our way out, Joe and I did find this to be really cool: (Aren't those Japanese clever? They've invented the green escalator!)



At the end of our day, Joe and I went to a restaurant right across from Sam's by the Sea --- the Korean Barbecue. It was delicious, but a lot of work (and quite a hazard) to eat dinner! You grill your meat/fish/vegetables on a tiny grill on your table. All was good until we put the duck on the grill and it caused everything to flame a bit. This was all fine, until you had to get your wooden chopsticks in there to pull your cooked meat out!

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