Let's go to the beach!

Still going strong here in Japan! The weather has been progressively getting better [aka sunnier] since we have gotten on the island. Here are our adventures from the last two days:

Wednesday - June 6th

Adventure #1: Ocean Expo Park & The Churaumi Aquarium


On our way to the aquarium we of course drove past more beautiful sights here on the island and stopped for lunch at a very traditional Japanese soba restaurant. [which meant taking our shoes off before sitting down, low tables, and of course chopsticks!] No clue what we all ordered for the most part, so pictures on the menu were helpful and the food ended up being delicious :)

Driving and lunch adventures of the day!

The aquarium itself was by far awesome beyond words!! The structure of the aquarium itself and the location is breathtaking. It took a while to get through the aquarium, mainly because all of the fish were so colorful and interesting to see! We stayed at one of the tanks during a feeding time and it seemed that the number of fish in the tank tripled once the food came out. After going through a few more exhibits - including one with fish that literally glowed in the dark - we got to THE tank! This tank, known as the Kuroshio Tank, is literally one of the largest in the world and easily the most amazing and beautiful to see! We spent a good long while at this tank mesmerized by all of the gigantic animals inside. After the Kuroshio Tank we visited the shark tank, and then headed to the dolphin show. Dolphin show = SWEETTTT! Despite the fact that the entire show was in Japanese it was easily one of the best dolphin shows any of us had ever seen - the fact that it was overlooking the water didn't hurt either :) The Ocean Expo Park had its own beach [go figure!] so after the dolphin show, we stopped by the sea turtle tanks and the manatee tanks, and spent the next hour or so relaxing at the beach before heading back down the island to go home.

Unbelievable = everything at this aquarium! [This group of pictures is courtesy of Allison, her camera took much nicer pictures of the tanks here than mine did]

Crazy beautiful! [these are back to my camera]

Thursday - June 7th

Adventure #2: BEACH DAY at Torii Beach

Between the typhoon and a lot of overcast days that followed, we had not quite made it to the beach on a sunny yet. Had several trips to the beach that involved rain and/or many dark clouds and water conditions that did not allow for swimming...which meant yesterday's beach trip was much anticipated and very exciting to have accomplished :)


The water conditions allowed for the boys to spend a good amount of the morning snorkeling and Allison & I ventured out in a kayak. [We quickly found out how NOT to steer a kayak, and not so quickly figured out how to paddle somewhat straight - we may have spent a lot of time going in circles!]


We had lunch on the beach, Andrew & Mrs. Rodriguez tested out the water slide, and we all enjoyed reading/napping/relaxing throughout the day!

Beach day :)

The rest of our day after the beach was low-key as well. We visited a local fish market to pick up fresh salmon for dinner, once John got home we all worked out either at the gym or running, and then it was time to enjoy the salmon from the market. One word = DELICIOUS. 

So that pretty much brings up to our today [Currently Friday morning here]. Planned adventures for the day include: Fukeshen Gardens, Nakaguasuku [castle ruins here where you can see both sides of the island from the top], and Kokusai street [aka shopping!].