Warrens Snorkel the Kerama Islands

Hi Friends!! Happy Friday to you all! Jonah has duty today and I'm thinking of starting a paint project on the house but before I do I thought I would update you all on life in Okinawa!! We went snorkeling over Memorial Weekend in the Kerama Islands. About 20 miles southwest of Okinawa you'll find this string of small, uninhabited (with a few exceptions) subtropical islands. We took a boat from a port in Naha early in the morning and ended up snorkeling at three different sites.

The picture above was taken from our boat, but gives you a good idea of what our boat was like. It had an upper deck that you could do cannonballs off the top of, which Jonah and I took advantage of! When we got to a good dive spot, the crew just anchored down and we would throw on our snorkel sets and fins and hop off the back. The water was so calm and clear. As soon as you looked underwater you'd see pink and purple coral and an immense variety of fish in different colors and shapes. We saw a sting ray and a sea snake which did not seem to pay us any attention as they swam by (not that I'm complaining). We did not see a sea turtle, but enjoyed looking at some pictures of them that one of the women snorkeling had captured with her underwater camera. Maybe next time we'll have an underwater camera in case we see one, or just so that you can see what we saw underneath the water! The snorkeling and diving here has been compared to the likes of the Great Barrier Reef, and is considered some of the best snorkeling/diving in the world because this part of the East China Sea supposedly contains the greatest number of corals and marine species.

 This picture shows our view from our spot on the boat. You can see some of the Japanese boat crew members as well as an American getting ready to get in the water. The islands you see in the distance are in all shapes and sizes but have similar green hills and white beaches. It is absolutely gorgeous out there.

We are wearing wetsuits here because the water was about 68 degrees, but in June the water is warmer (70-75 degrees) and feels like bath water. Jonah went diving last weekend in just his swimsuit and felt comfortable. I'll have to snorkel while he dives until I get my scuba certification.

I'll leave you with this funny picture of Jonah that I snuck (/sneaked, evidently there's a debate on the past tense of sneak)  before he realized what I was doing. On our way back to Naha pretty much everyone on the boat fell asleep. This was our "nook" on the boat, where Jonah curled up underneath all of our gear and wrapped up in a towel. The only thing not covered was his head poking out of the top. He's such a cutie!


I'll leave you with a mini Japanese lesson on the word "sayonara." I pronounced this wrong when I first got here, making the mistake of pronouncing it like most Americans do with an emphasis on the wrong syllable. The correct way to pronounce this word, which means goodbye, is (sa-yoh-nah-rah). The word has short a's and the emphasis is on the "yoh" part. Sa-yoh-nah-rah.

So, until next week,  SAYONARA! And have a good weekend!