I woke up this morning and set up my GoPro on deck 16 for the arrival into Ishigaki. It was quite hazy in the morning, but there were several small islands nearby, including Taketomi which I was planning to visit.
Today’s port guide…
Today’s onboard activities:
There were a couple of free buses organized to take everyone from the cruise terminal to the ferry terminal in the city. It wasn’t really that far away (3 kilometers), so it was a short ride, I had intended to try and take the 9:30 AM ferry across, but didn’t make it to the ferry terminal on time.
I bought my round-trip ticket so I wouldn’t need to stand in line later. I decided to wander around Ishigaki first before heading over to the Taketomi island as I didn’t expect to stay too long on the island and there was a brief pause in the ferry schedule for lunch.
I walked over to the Shinei Parek which had a peace bell which was not too special.
I then walked to Torinji Temple and Gongendo Shrine, the oldest temple in the island which was originally built in the 1600’s and rebuilt in the 1700’s after a tsunami.
Interesting well and rocks across the street from the Torinji Temple…
I walked over to Miyaradunchi, a residence built in 1800’s, but was closed on Tuesdays (guess what day today is… Tuesday).
I walked to the public market on the way to the ferry terminal.
The public market was really small, especially compared to Naha on Okinawa.
On the way to the ferry terminal I walked past the 730 crossing, which according to the interweb is there because after WWII the islands were occupied by the US until 1972 and therefore the cars drove on the right side of the road and were not changed to the left side until July 30th, 1978.
I got to the ferry terminal in time to board the catamaran to Taketomi. The ferry was nearly full and left on time at 10:30 AM.
The ferry sped over to the island and arrived in 10-15 minutes.
I walked over to the water buffalo people, but they said the next available timing was 1430! I wasn’t planning to spend 5 hours on the island so I passed. Plus it was 3,000¥ which I thought was extreme for a 20 minute ride on a cart being pulled by a poor animal.
I started by walking to the nearby visitor center which has a small museum.
I took the long walk to the town checking out ruins which were just walls of coral rocks. I walked counterclockwise on the black line to 12 o’clock. There were also tons of butterflies on the island.
I also walked to a sacred place, but you can’t see it or visit it, so it is a waste of time.
I did get a nice view of the ocean. The location was an old pier and the sacred site was for praying for safe travel on the ocean.
I walked along an unpaved road to the first of two villages. I do admit it was quite beautiful with all the coral rock walls, flowers and butterflies.
The first place of interest is called Kusukumui according to Google Maps.
Another no entry sacred site.
The houses despite being old were well maintained.
I found the visitor information center and saw the water buffaloes out back resting with water spraying on them to cool them off as it was quite warm and sunny today.
I got some video of the carts leaving. The poor animals didn’t appear to be happy to be working and stopped frequently at least at the beginning.
I wandered down to the second village which looked like the first, shocking I know.
I started to hurry up so I could get the 1450 ferry back, or if I missed that the 1520. I didn’t want to get stuck on this little island.
I walked to the beach and it was spectacular. Beautiful water and sand.
After taking a few pictures I walked up to the first village and took photos of the peace bell.
Next to the peace bell was a temple you could actually see.
I also walked to the observation platform, but the stairs were blocked, I’m guessing because the lack of social distancing as it was very small.
I hiked back to the ferry terminal and made it in time for the 1450 ferry.
I stood on the back of the ferry outside and was able to get some video. I did however get splashed, but it was refreshing.
After arriving back I went to another temple before returning to the ferry terminal for the free shuttle to the ship.
The cruise terminal was nothing more than some shade so immigration to exit Japan was done on the ship.
I caught the very end of the presentation on Keelung, so I had to watch it later on the TV.
I had dinner in the main dining room again tonight. I had the prosciutto and melon for my starter and veal scallopini for my main.
For dessert I had ice cream.
I decided to get another fancy sundae. They were out of sundae glasses so I got a huge mug instead.
Today’s timeline:
