Shuri castle, a palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, was almost completely destroyed in WW2. It’s been since restored and opened as a heritage site for tourists. We hopped on the monorail on our last day in Naha and spent the day looking around.
Inside one of the buildings that you can tour though, you can pay ¥350 (about $3.50), for a cup of jasmine tea and a selection of traditional sweets. Most people didn’t do this, and it didn’t seem very advertised, but it was my favourite part of the visit. A nice relaxing spot to sit down, take in the view of the garden, and eat some snacks.
The other big event we planned was a snorkelling trip with the company Seanik. They picked us up in the morning, where we filled out some paperwork and promptly boarded a boat named ‘Lucky’ with some others who were going scuba diving, and took off for an hour long high speed boat ride to our destination, the first of three small surrounding islands.
We decided to leave the GoPro in the boat for the first half to get used to everything, which was unfortunate because the last spot was the deepest and the least visually appealing, where as at our first location we ended up spotting and following a sea turtle! He eventually came up right beside us and stuck his head out of the water for a breath, and headed back down and away. Everyone who heard this said we were exceptionally lucky, not just for the closeness but because they’re normally not around this time of year. The guide took some pictures so I’m waiting for them to go on their website so I can share them around.
The second spot (Zamami Island), we ended up swimming right up onto shore and beach combing for a while, before heading back into the water where the guide picked up a few sea creatures to show us. A neon orange starfish and a mysterious black… Sea cucumber? I’m not sure, but it was interesting.
We had lunch and headed off to the third spot (Further off the coast between the first two spots), where it started to storm so we headed back early, and let me tell you.. That was the longest hour of my life. High speeds and choppy water meant they were passing out sick bags to whoever wanted them, which I put to good use.
After we got back to shore (and after I laid down long enough to no longer feel like I was going to barf, again) we headed out to get supper, where I excitedly got to order (and devour) the first poutine I’ve had since the summer.