Tsuken-jima

At the beginning of October Joe and I went to Tsuken-jima (island).  We see this little island from our patio every day (just behind the Awase Communications Tower).  We also see it when we go to White Beach - rather, we see the little ferry going out to the island!  So for this Columbus Day, Joe and I decided to have another adventure!  Here we go, from waking up.......

Joe was awake for the entire sunrise!

 

Ferry schedule for Tsuken-jima.  We left at 7:30am.

Our first boat was a small "jet" ferry.

Have you ever seen him happier?

Pulling away from Okinawa!

You can see White Beach from the boat.

White Beach was very busy!  We made a wise choice to go to the tiny island instead.



Awase Communications tower - our home is right behind that!

arriving at Tsuken-jima

When we got to this little island, there wasn't a "cruise director" or customs or any sort of "travel agent".  We had looked at a map before we went, and figured we needed to head west to get to the beach.  There was an Okinawan family who was very kind and made sure we were going in the right direction!  To get to the beach, you have to go through the little town.

Tsuken-jima is known for growing carrots.  It's cute that the happy carrot is even on their sewer covers.

The town wasn't very large.  Soon we were on the open road, getting closer to the beach!!

The beach was great!   At 8 am it was only us and the Okinawan family.  This picture was taken later in the day (we were so excited to make it there, we forgot to take a picture.  We were in the water, napping and chatting.  It was GREAT!

This beach area is a tiny resort.  We had soba and yaki soba for lunch at the restaurant.  It was funny to watch an American baseball game, while on one of the tinier Ryukyu islands!  I think this was a Giants game, but I can't remember who they were playing.......

After lunch, we decided to check out the rest of the island.  It is definately a farm!  I only posted one photo, because we walked all around the island and really just saw fields that were just planted.  Interesting to see a new place, but a farm is  farm.  (I'm sure Joe would disagree with me here!)

Once we finished exploring the island, it was time to head back.  This is the ferry we rode back on -- you can take a car on it, if you like.  It's also the ferry we always see going out to Tsuken.

Pulling away from Tsuken.

Joe caught a great picture of the beach we were at.  The white building to the right is where we had lunch.

It was a fun day!