Ishigaki – Taketomi island

Nearby to Ishigaki is Taketomi Island.

To get there, you take a short ferry ride from Ishigaki.  To be greeted my a quaint village of traditional houses.

It looks like the village from Totoro!  Or so one of my friends exclaimed.  The one who likes doggies.

And speaking of doggies, here is one to pat.

And we had a beautiful day this time!  The sun was out.  Everyone was happy. I got sunburnt.  Everyone was happy.

And just staring out into the blue blue sea you can just let go.

On star sand beach.  Why is it called this?

Because if you look closely, look at the shape of the sand!  Actually, I later found out that these are the bones of small creatures (I guess shellfish) but it was still a very interesting find!

And with a sea so blue, how can you not help but relax.  I was thinking about going swimming, but there lots of warning signs about being stung by sharks, or eaten by jelly fish.  Or maybe the other way round.

The water is so shallow that you even go for a stroll quite far out.  Unfortunately its too deep to lose any annoying travel mates you might have.  No matter how short.

The shallow water is a favourite of  doggies.

And lost children.

But the day would not be complete with some food.  Pork rib udon.  Yum!

And a little snack afterwards.  Hamburger rice, salad and pumpkin soup.

And a lovely lovely tropical sundae.

And a view to match!