Iriomote Exploring, Day 2

Having had my share of birding and having an absence of quality snorkeling, we headed for another part of Iriomote for some good times in the water. I wanted to do some geocaching, and one of the caches said that it was near a beach known for its coral reefs. The day was shaping up to be a good one, so off we went to Hoshizuna Beach. En route, I stopped to get a better look at a flock of birds that looked very different from the usual Eurasian Tree Sparrows. I was complete baffled as to what these might be. It wasn't until later that I realized they were European Starlings, something I'd seen almost every day in the states as a total nuisance bird. I have been in east Asia too long.

We arrived at the beach and thought we would take a walk down to check things out. I also wanted to find the geocache. This seems to be a popular beach: ample parking and more than a couple souvenir shops. This all suggests that tourists come here regularly, which means that Ryan would have to be "discrete" about his spearfishing. The geocache ended up being a loss. I think it has been damaged or "muggled" as those in the know call it. I never found a logbook, but I did fine some geoSWAG, a pen, and a geocoin. I'll have to sort that out later.

After digging around in the rocks, I joined Ryan on the beach. The water looked calm and inviting. No one else was around, so we decided to give these waters a shot. 

As we were changing, a busload of high school boys arrived and visited the shore. They did not stay long. We passed all of them in our snorkeling garb as they were returning from the beach. Lots of ohaiyo-gozaimasu's and hello's later, we had the beach to ourselves once again.

We had a shallow swim to the deeper portions of the reef, but there were plenty of small rocks and corals to look at on the way out. Even someone who did not know how to swim could don a mask and snorkel and "walk around" the corals with the tide at this level.

And that was the last photo our underwater camera ever took. DANGGIT! Our snorkel turned out to be great, but I didn't capture much more than the swim out. Ryan did have his GoPro, so we do have memories of this pretty spot. There was a shark, but it was small and left us alone for the most part. Having lots of sea turtles around helped distract me from the fact I'd seen a shark! After a couple hours of healthy reefs and pretty fish, we were cold and hungry and ready to leave. Finally, a good underwater experience in the Yaeyama islands.

Ryan found a well-reviewed cafe on the way back to our hotel, so we stopped there for lunch. For an island as remote and lightly populated as Iriomote, we found this place surprisingly "western." It reminded us of a Starbucks, but maybe a happier version? We have not had a bad meal yet in Iriomote, and Kitchen Inaba continued the trend. I had the yakisoba set, and Ryan had chicken teriyaki. Both replenished food stores that we'd depleted with our time in the water.

While waiting for our food, I got a chance to look at the geocoin I'd found. A little worse for the wear after exposure to the elements, I was able to read the tracking code and follow up on the website. I'll see if the owner wants it back or would rather it continue in the world. These iCache coins were popular when they first came out. I thought I would introduce it to Ryan's iPhone.

Next stop: the shop of a local artist whose t-shirts were on display in the gift shop of our hotel. I saw an ad for her shop in Kitchen Inaba and asked Ryan if we could stop. By stop, I meant "buy more of her shirts." She uses the wildlife of Iriomote as her inspiration, and I love words coupled with her rendition of the more popular birds here: Ryukyu Crested Serpent-Eagle and Ruddy Kingfisher. I also wanted her White-breasted Waterhen shirt, as that is by far the most common bird on Iriomote. Maybe another purchase later...

I did most of the driving for this trip because Ryan's US driver's license is expired. As a consequence, I asked Ryan to take some photos of some of the signs we saw. He was completely perplexed as to why I'd want pictures of speed limit signs. I think these are significant! The fastest one is permitted to drive on Iriomote is 40 km/h, which is ~25 mph for my American audience. We drove all over this island at a very slow pace, and the reason is to protect Iriomote cats and other wildlife that may cross the road. People who visit Iriomote are here primarily to get close to nature, and I wanted to remember how an entire island has committed itself to conserving its natural resources. Hence, photos of speed limit signs:

This reverence for the flora and fauna of Iriomote is also evident on every bridge on the island. There is some sort of plant, bird, or animal featured as a pretty reminder to take your time and keep an eye out:

Back at the hotel, Ryan relaxed with a stogie while I took a walk through the agricultural fields to see what might be out and about in the evening. Not much for birds, but I did get some lovely sunset views:

A young calf eyed me closely:

I joined Ryan back at the hotel to celebrate our time on Iriomote. Tomorrow we would take the ferry back to Ishigaki just before our flight to Okinawa. Tonight, we would toast all we'd seen over the week and be grateful for annual leave.