A Scenic Morning in Yomitan

Much to my dismay, it’s been rainy and/or cloudy out for the past four or so weeks in Okinawa. Considering last fall brought nothing but bright blue skies and sunshine, this endless dreary weather has been a huge bummer. On the rare occasion that the sun does decide to tease us with a ray or two, it always tends to be during the work week. This would be greatly appreciated... If I wasn’t trapped inside my office with no chance of escaping! Excuse my flare for the dramatics, but this crummy weather has been the bane of my existence and has literally put a damper on so many of mine and Bens plans.

​Fortunately, Ben and I had the foresight to look at this weekends weather outlook on Friday night. We learned that alas, the mythical sun would be making a rare appearance this weekend!!! We had a narrow window of time Saturday morning to enjoy some fleeting moments of sunshine before gloomy weather made it's inevitable return. Determined to visit both Happy and Sad Caves in Yomitan, which will be discussed in later posts, Ben and I got and early start to Saturday and travelled up to Yomitan for another new adventure.

Our first stop in Yomitan was  to a gorgeous beach featuring a giant stone structure that stretches out into the sea. Ben and I have actually visited this unique water feature before, during our second month in Okinawa, but we hadn’t been back since. We were now pining for a nice view of the ocean, one that was relatively close to the location of the caves we were visiting, and this spot met all of our qualifications.

​It was nice to see this beautiful structure during the early hours of Saturday when it was quiet and devoid of any other people (crowds aren't my thing.) With the sun finally shining, the color of the East China Sea was a perfect gradient of turquoise and blue. Ben and I leisurely meandered down the stone pathway, appreciating every second of this perfect scenery and weather. While the views were clearly incredible, I was also extremely grateful that we were able to soak up some much needed sun rays. I’m pale by choice (trying my absolute best to avoid wrinkles and skin cancer) but even us pasty people need Vitamin D every once in a while!

Adjacent to this stone walkway was a bright red Japanese hut that I definitely didn’t notice last time we were here. Behind this little structure were a few boat docks, although Ben and I still couldn’t determine what the actual purpose of this open air pavilion was. Even though it had clearly seen better days (it’s a rough life living seaside on an island that is routinely hit by typhoons) I fell in love with the traditional Japanese architecture of this hut. The contrast between it’s red exterior and the blue sea surrounding it was also a striking sight. Ben and I really are so lucky that we live on such a beautiful island; these are the memories of Okinawa I will cherish the most.

​And yes, if you're wondering it did rain - very, very hard - several hours after we left this idyllic spot!​

We will be posting about Happy and Sad caves in the near future so stay tuned...