This was another jam-packed week. We did so much because it was the last week of Aaron’s leave and we celebrated his birthday!!!
DRIVE TO THE BEACH | March 12, 2019
This was interesting. A bit of backstory – Aaron says he respects the deep sea “because it can kill him if it wants to”, and others say he’s a pansy who’s scared of salt water. However, he decided he wanted to overcome this by taking scuba classes together!
So within the first couple of weeks, when Aaron wasn’t showing me around the base and teaching me Japanese driving laws (I’m a female Asian driver, the odds are stacked against me, even here.), we went to Futenma and bought snorkeling gear! Unfortunately, it was overcast, raining, and the coast was choppy for a week or so following that. We ended up swimming on base in the pool to get used to swimming with the snorkeling equipment (the scuba classes on Futenma require you to buy your own snorkeling equipment), and then it was finally a clear day!
For some reason, we decided to drive all the way from Kadena to Ikei Island, rather than go to one of many dive sites along Miyagi Coast, or the seawall right off base.
For reference, we could have just gone west from that starting point and had a full day.
In hindsight, I think we wanted to see a different part of the island, since we knew his leave was ending soon and it we’d spend a lot of time near Kadena (the base he’s working at). We just wanted to go anywhere on the east coast, but when our first couple of dive spots didn’t pan out, we ended up going to Ikei Beach after a couple of hours of stop and go driving. Regardless, the drive took forever and it was very scenic, so enjoy some pictures from the drive!
Once we got to Ikei Beach, we found out it closed at 6 PM, so we barely had an hour of beach time. It took a little bit of negotiation, but Aaron got in the water and we snorkeled for a little bit before we had to pack up and get going. Just one picture from the beach!
He hated me after we got in the water. <3
After that, we captured some pictures of fishermen sleeping soundly with their lines cast and their rods propped up. Enjoy the views of sleepy fishermen and the views surrounding them.
That’s all for this post! The next post is Aaron’s birthday!