The nice gentleman at Tonari Port asked me if I was sure I wanted the Aguni Ferry. We were arranging the car transport, and he politely asked if I was going to Togashiki-jima, a much more popular destination for Japanese and American tourists alike. I affirmed Aguni, and he kind of shrugged and motioned for us to pay inside for the car, which included Ryan's ticket, and my ticket. While waiting at the port, we saw that Zamami, Aka, and Geruma now had national park status in Japan! I guess it was good we took advantage of the spearfishing there before it became a protected area, although it already had conservation significance as a RAMSAR site, the Kerama-shoto Coral Reef.
The port at Aguni was full of activity. There is a festival of some sort going on this weekend, which explains why the ferry had more people than our last trip.
The port facilities had some improvements since our last visit, including the covered walkway and updated signs. Perhaps the secret is out: Aguni is the place to be! Still no Family Mart on the island, but maybe someday...
Everyone seemed genuinely excited to be there. I loved being a part of that energy, the kind that comes with travel, seeing a new place, and experiencing something different. Although this is not our first trip to Aguni-jima, there is always something new to see or do.
We'd decided to camp near the public restrooms and park on the east side of the island. On our way to set up camp, I saw a flash of movement and feathers of a different color. Ryan was good enough to let me try to get a better look and a few photos. This flash was that of a male Daurian Redstart! Not a new species for me, but I'd not seen the male before. Very pretty bird.
The afternoon was beautiful, so it was time to get in the water. Ryan wanted to go straight for the deep blue, and it was a good choice as the winds were coming in directly from the east. We donned our gear quickly and Ryan opted for the more lightweight spear rather than "the Crist," which only he can operate with any effectiveness. Selection made, we were off!
I still can not dive as deep as Ryan, so many of the things to see in the "deep blue" are out of reach for me. On this day, some fish seemed more curious about me and came very close, so that swimming deep was not a problem. This school of Blue-fin Trevally and Rainbow Runners came very close and swam around me twice before moving on.
Ryan spotted more than a few large groupers hanging out underneath the rocks near the ocean floor. He gave admirable pursuit, but I guess these groupers don't get that big without learning how to avoid a swift speartip.
The large Napolean Wrasse that we met on our first trip a year ago is still here. On this trip, it came in a bit closer so I could get a better photo. A fantastic fish! This one is off-limits to fishermen, as it is globally endangered. They get much larger, but this one is impressive and surprisingly graceful in the water. I tried to get closer, but it took off with ease and I was left behind to hope it returned.
Ryan and I tried to stay near each other. More specifically, I tried to keep closer to Ryan. I have a tendency to get distracted with my camera and just take off in pursuit of photos, videos, whatever. This usually ended up with us doing our own thing for about 15 minutes, then finding each other to make sure all is good, and repeat. After the wrasse, I met up with Ryan and he told me that he saw tuna in the area "as big as me." He meant him, which means they were big fish. That's the one thing that makes me uneasy about snorkeling in the "deep blue." There are big fish out here. Big fish tend to attract even larger predators, possibly of the shark variety, which makes me nervous. Not too long after him telling me about the tuna, I found some on my own.
At first, I thought they were sharks. There were 7-8 of them, of varying sizes, swimming around and around in a small area between coral shelves. Two of them were very large, at least as long as I am tall. I popped my head up to find Ryan, but he was very far away. I remembered him telling me that he'd seem them, and so I figured he'd decided they were too big to spear. So, I swam away. Later on, when he saw my pictures, he was very irritated to know there were that many, swimming calmly near the bottom, and possibly an easy target if he would have known... Lesson learned: there is no such thing as a fish that is too big to spear.
However, Ryan was having a great time checking out the rocks, looking in crevices, and finding all sorts of other spear-worthy fish. Nothing on this day, but we were just happy to be in Aguni and away from it all.
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