What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

The coral island of Tokashiki (渡嘉敷島) with a local population of 700, lying about 35 KM west of Okinawa, made for an ideal day trip from the modern Tomari Pier on Okinawa. One word of warning though, despite the morning we left, the sea was not choppy and all seemed calm as we boarded the solid-looking slow boat, after the excitement and euphoria had died down, we actually experienced quite a degree of sea-sickness during the one hour ride. But fortunately the welcoming sight of Tokashiki with its lush green hills, turquoise lagoons and blindingly white coral beaches put some energy back into our rather flat battery. We walked the one and only main road with a gentle slope all the way to the other side of the island, where the fantastic Aharen Beach awaited our exploit. Along the way we spotted endless species of Hibiscus with their characteristic colorful combinations of petal, stigma, anther, filament and style, our cameras could not stop clicking and a few close-up shots would tell the stories (see below photos). We also passed by a black pig / boar farm where we met over twenty cute but muddy swine residents, all having a whale of a time, rolling in the mud and generally having a happy day. As we reached Aharen Beach, we were greeted with expressive rocks carved by centuries of ocean wave bashing and erosion and we took a tranquil picnic amongst these strange looking rock formation before walking the one hour journey back to the pier to end our day trip to this lovely and peaceful island in the western Pacific.