Okinawa
The first month of this quarter s/y Alishan was in Okinawa. We’d secured a safe berth in Ginowan Marine where Marijke would be able to look after the boat in case of a typhoon while Jaap visited Mum and the family.
Ginowan Marina is next to the convention center, a popular hide-out in the weekends.
Places Marijke visited while Jaap was overseas:
Tsubuya pottery district, where all roofs sport one or two shisa, the lion-type ward from evil spirits.
Okinawa Prefectural Art Museum. Very good!
Churaumi aquarium, famous in Japan for its whale-sharks.
A liquorstore in Naha’s Kokusai street,
selling awamori: sake with habu snake
When Jaap returned from Holland we had only a few days left of the one month we had payed for in Ginowan Marina. We saw friends John and Naomi, who were working on their boat Horizon, had very kindly lent us their car again and took us to the big grocery store on the American Base. It made Nori happy, Noami presented him Temptations, his favorite cat biscuit. Back in the land of quality petfood both cats were eating a lot more.
Naomi and John Howard on s/y Horizon
We used the car to drive to town and get our cruising permit for the trip to Kyushu, checked out Bios Hill for some wildlife, really should have gone all the way north to Yanbaru, but that was too long a drive to make it before midday.
Marijke looking for moorhens in the lotus pond at Bios
Hill
August 1st was the day of the
Eisa matsuri this year, a big festival where groups perform all along Naha’s main
street, playing drums and dancing an exciting, vibrant form of Bon dance.
A photo collage of this
colourful event is shown in the next part.
Ginowa Marina by night.
EISA MATSURI Okinawa, August 1st 2010
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