Zamami Island, Day 2

I began the morning with a bit of birding.  While Ryan toiled away at prepping the kayaks, selecting fishing lures, and gathering everything we would need for a day on and/or in the water, added Dusky Thrush to my life list.  We each finished our activities at about the same time, and it was time to haul the boats through the shady path down to the coast.

Our first destination was Kahi Island, one of two uninhabited islands between Zamami and Aka islands.  We had a relatively smooth paddle over, played in the tide pools, looked for shells and hermit crabs, and then decided to go fishing.

We had no real plans other than to paddle around the southwest side of the island and find one of the coves on the west side of the island.  These coves seemed buffered by the winds when we looked at them yesterday from the many observation platforms around the island, and this was indeed the case.  We found one that looked promising, and we started to fish.  I should say that we've had our kayaks and fishing poles for more than two months now and have been totally stumped by Okinawan fish.  Ryan has been dreaming about catching fish with his pole from his kayak ever since he got his kayak and pole.  I support hobbies, but this was bordering on obsession.  Thankfully, the dream became a reality in the waters off Zamami Island.

In terms of quantity, I won the day in terms of quantity, with a nice assortment of fish that were caught and then released.  However, Ryan wins the prize for quality, landing the largest fish that also was a tasty dinner.  After perusing our field guides at home, we believe we ate a Blackfin Hogfish.  We didn't have anything in the way of seasonings or butter or olive oil, so we used some broth from the packet of "original" ramen noodles that was also cooking on the Coleman stove/grill combo.  It was an excellent dinner, and we basked in the satisfaction that we procured half of it by ourselves.

Overall, it was a good but very long day on the water, made even longer by some tough paddling conditions on the way back.  First we had some strong winds before we cleared that southwest corner of Zamami, and while the winds subsided we then had to paddle against the strongest current we'd faced all day.  What should have taken 30 minutes with moderate effort took the better part of an hour with some serious effort.  All we'd eaten all day was a cinnamon granola bar apiece, and Ryan's was interrupted when his blackfin hogfish decided to take his bait.  We did make it back, but I was worthless in terms of getting everything back to the campsite.  Again, Ryan handled most of the equipment while I drank water, sat down, and ultimately made my way to the tent for a nap.  The effects of heatstroke and the presence of goats in the campground made for a surreal homecoming.

I think these photos of us capture how wiped we were upon our return.  Ryan finished off some 2-day old cold pasta, and I think I was explaining that I really was OK...