The Water at Sesoko

"NO SWIMMING" so it says, and the same message was spelled out on the sad and sympathetic expression on the parking lot keeper’s face. I was wordless, but soon remembered seeing a few people splashing in the water as we crossed the bridge. So we snaked around looking for a place we could swim – we came this far, we couldn’t (or I couldn’t?) turn around with nothing. Before long, we found a car going down a narrow road on the hillside and I was like, “That has to be it!” and followed it.

There it was, just like I suspected, a nice hidden beach probably only the locals know. This one faced the main island which was only yards away and thus prevented the big waves from the open water to come in. It was relatively safe even on a day a giant typhoon was approaching and swimming was allowed. Hurray!

Although small and didn’t even have anything that I could call a parking lot, it still had a beach house which we call “umi-no-ie” and there were actually quite a bit of people around.
In seconds I was dressing myself in my new snorkeling outfit – my brand new mask, snorkel, boots, gloves and fins – and darted down into the water as if cooling down my pounding excitement.

Yeah it was pretty wavy, but not to the extent that I couldn’t enjoy myself. Actually, it wasn’t a problem at all. The new fins had stronger kicks than my previous cheap set, and even though I first felt heavy with them I could definitely feel the difference in the propulsion. I could really feel like I was swimming... more like, gliding in the water.

As I felt glee in every kick I made, the other two came into the water. It was totally their first times to wear any of the snorkeling stuff, so I gave a brief lecture on the tools and how to snorkel. I especially stressed the point not to try to stand in the water whenever they felt tired. It’s okay if you’re standing on the sand, but you can easily harm the coral reef misunderstanding, or rather misfeeling you’re standing on some rock.

As far as I could see there weren’t any coral around in that area though and the water was pretty muddy too, because of the swell the typhoon was bringing. I could’ve gone a bit further if I were on my own, but my friends were both beginner beginners so I suggested practicing in the shallower sand first. The first thing I taught was it’s easier to float on the surface and breathe with the snorkel rather than trying to find a place you can stand on your feet and stick your head above water.

Secondly, I taught them how to clear the mask and empty the water that’s gotten into the snorkel. As soon as we got finished with that part, we proceeded to a deeper place from where we were practicing, which the water came up only to your waist.

All right, I think I’ll stop here for today with my snorkeling lesson.