I was starting to think that the pattern for Okinawa was week=sun & weekend=rain. However, today broke the cycle, and it was sunny and in the mid 80's all day on this gorgeous Saturday! Our plan was to go snorkeling down at Kadena Marina where we keep our Jet-Skis, since it has a tiny, but really nice beach with little islands and rocks that you can swim to and snorkel around. We had explored the marina a couple weeks ago, so we knew it was a must-see for snorkelers wanting to go somewhere local. Below are some photos of us exploring the marina for the first time a couple weeks ago: 
We finally just got our snorkel gear today at our local scuba store on Camp Foster called Tsunami Scuba. We each got masks, snorkels, water boots and dive fins (we need these for our upcoming dive certification class as well). After gearing up, we headed down to the Kadena Marina, checked on our Jet-Skis (of course!) and jumped in the water - which was warmer than the air I must say! There were some shallow areas and other areas that got very deep. The deeper areas weren't as clear - you could just see turquoise water, not the bottom. However, when we got near little islands or rocks, it was much shallower (sometimes only a foot or two) and we were able to see everything perfectly! Here is a photo I took of Matt before heading out:
Not having done much snorkeling myself, I can tell you that I was a little nervous about what I'd see under there, and I really didn't know what to expect. I was completely suprised! Once you get out a little further, you come to a coral reef ledge, and it was amazing! We saw so much live coral in all bright greens and purples, TONS of little neon blue fish, large black, yellow and white Angel Fish, Puffer Fish - no, we couldn't get them to puff up:( , giant bright blue starfish, Sea Cucumbers, a black and white sea snake, and we even saw a Lion Fish that was gorgeous, but supposed to be deadly! The reef was amazing - it was super shallow, and then it just dropped off at the ledge, and looking along the drop off is where you see the most fish. It was so neat, and it was an incredible workout as well since the reef was pretty far out. Unfortunately, we are still waiting on our underwater camera case to arrive in the mail (should be in the next couple of days), so we don't have any photos of what we saw today, but will be sure to get some next time!
After our day of snorkelling, we were exhausted and starving! We decided to check out a new restaurant that Matt had pointed out to me last week - called Yakiniku Viking. It has large pictures of vegitables on the exterior, so he thought it might be "my kind of place". Haha... how true that is. Anyway, I'm really glad we tried it, because it turned out to be Matt's type of place too - it was an all-you-can-eat-in-an-hour, grill-it-yourself restaurant that had a plethora (yes, a plethora) of fresh meat and vegitables ready for you to grill! You pick what you want, bring it back to your table, and grill it yourself at the built-in grill in the center of your table. Fun! Okay, I say fun, but, in fact, Matt was the one who cooked all of our food:) They also had soups, salads, rice and deserts. It wasn't a huge place, but it was decently busy and seemed to be a popular place among the other Americans stationed here. About half of the guests at the restaurant were American! Anyway, we found a great new place to eat, and it was a fun end to a fun day:)
We finally just got our snorkel gear today at our local scuba store on Camp Foster called Tsunami Scuba. We each got masks, snorkels, water boots and dive fins (we need these for our upcoming dive certification class as well). After gearing up, we headed down to the Kadena Marina, checked on our Jet-Skis (of course!) and jumped in the water - which was warmer than the air I must say! There were some shallow areas and other areas that got very deep. The deeper areas weren't as clear - you could just see turquoise water, not the bottom. However, when we got near little islands or rocks, it was much shallower (sometimes only a foot or two) and we were able to see everything perfectly! Here is a photo I took of Matt before heading out:
Not having done much snorkeling myself, I can tell you that I was a little nervous about what I'd see under there, and I really didn't know what to expect. I was completely suprised! Once you get out a little further, you come to a coral reef ledge, and it was amazing! We saw so much live coral in all bright greens and purples, TONS of little neon blue fish, large black, yellow and white Angel Fish, Puffer Fish - no, we couldn't get them to puff up:( , giant bright blue starfish, Sea Cucumbers, a black and white sea snake, and we even saw a Lion Fish that was gorgeous, but supposed to be deadly! The reef was amazing - it was super shallow, and then it just dropped off at the ledge, and looking along the drop off is where you see the most fish. It was so neat, and it was an incredible workout as well since the reef was pretty far out. Unfortunately, we are still waiting on our underwater camera case to arrive in the mail (should be in the next couple of days), so we don't have any photos of what we saw today, but will be sure to get some next time!
After our day of snorkelling, we were exhausted and starving! We decided to check out a new restaurant that Matt had pointed out to me last week - called Yakiniku Viking. It has large pictures of vegitables on the exterior, so he thought it might be "my kind of place". Haha... how true that is. Anyway, I'm really glad we tried it, because it turned out to be Matt's type of place too - it was an all-you-can-eat-in-an-hour, grill-it-yourself restaurant that had a plethora (yes, a plethora) of fresh meat and vegitables ready for you to grill! You pick what you want, bring it back to your table, and grill it yourself at the built-in grill in the center of your table. Fun! Okay, I say fun, but, in fact, Matt was the one who cooked all of our food:) They also had soups, salads, rice and deserts. It wasn't a huge place, but it was decently busy and seemed to be a popular place among the other Americans stationed here. About half of the guests at the restaurant were American! Anyway, we found a great new place to eat, and it was a fun end to a fun day:)
Fresh MEET
Make-it-Yourself Udon Soup
I love their happy little sayings!
One of the Shi-Shi Dogs guarding the outside of the restuarant
-C
I'm proud of you for being able to tough it out and discover the fun side of snorkeling. Praying you are careful with the fish ('cuz I thought I heard the Puffer fish can be poisonous?) Praying you stay close together...remembering Matt's energy as he scuba dived around the ocean (I couldn't keep up with him easily, at all. Mind you I am a bit older...regardless-the buddy system is important to the lifeguard in me.) And Matt, what's that object attached to your calf? I enjoy your posting their fun sayings as well! Hoping your smiles overflowed on the floors too! Hugs and Love! xo
ReplyDeleteThat thing strapped to Matt's calf is his new dive knife - or should I say "was" his new dive knife. That was his first time using it and it somehow came loose from it's sheath and he lost it while we were snorkeling. We were over an area that was way too deep to go down without scuba equipment, so he wasn't able to get it back. We ended up getting him a new one LOL:)
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