The Ocean is Grand

With the double-shock of rain sprinkling on my shoulders and no friends to accompany the beach tour, I stepped out my first step as a nasty bad loser.
But because my phone would soon lose reception I had to promise them I’d be back to the port in only an hour.

Considering the delay of coming here due to the emotional sea, we had to act quick with everything cuz it was highly likely that the return boat would be delayed and would take twice as much time than usual. So if we aren’t quick enough we’ll miss our plane and that would automatically mean denial to return home. That, we had to avoid, so even though it was already 12:30 by the time we got to the island we had to leave on the 15:30 boat.

Although, it didn’t necessarily mean that I had to give up all the fun on this island. The road from Hizushi Beach to Nishibama was pretty hilly and I had to walk about half an hour at the shortest. But then, soon after I started out the rain stopped. Almight god had not taken away my last hope! From that moment I was fighting time as I dragged my bags to Nishibama.
It was only then that I realized an unfamiliar feeling: the road had been paved and the trees were cut down. Two years ago when I was here the last time trees were growing thick along the unpaved road.
I guess development is going further than I had imagined. Sure, it made our walks and drives easy and comfortable, but I had a mixed feeling.

When I reached Nishibama I immediately noticed several people swimming.
Perhaps the NO SWIMMING ban had been lifted!

I couldn’t be standing still with a blank face anymore! I took a few pics and then changed my outfit into my swimming suit. I had to give up my marine boots considering about the trouble afterwards and very very limited time, so with bare feet and fins in my hands I dashed and splashed into the water. The waves were still big and the water wasn’t as clear, but it was still, the very blue water of Kerama.

I already knew the geography for I swam the beach so many times before, so I could take more time making observations of the beach and water. It’s sad to say that dead corals were more conspicuous than my last visit here. There was a favorite spot of mine with corals shaped like a big spoon, but that place too, although not completely dead, had lost the vivid color it used to have.

After a little while of swimming and thinking in the water, I noticed a sound above the surface so I stuck my head out.
”Swimming ban has been lifted” the announcement said.
Well you guys out in the water, you guys went a bit ahead. Me too.

Even though that was the official moment my fun could start, I consulted my body clock and it said that it was about time I had to start getting back.

I so felt like the beach was trying to keep me – it was like a very strong magnet – but I gave up and got back on the road that led to the port.

I was afraid I was a bit late, but I couldn’t find my friends when I got back to the port. It wasn’t for another half hour that they appeared... on a car.
I was like, “Hey, what were you guys up to?” and they told me that since they heard the announcement they thought that I’d still be swimming at Nishibama and asked one of the island people to give them a ride to the beach.

Wow, how could we miss each other like that?
Anyway, we got on the boat safely and got back to Naha safely. We were on Akashima Island for 4 hours and the time I floated in the Kerama Blue was no more than 20 minutes max.

Still I was satisfied with myself, because I did get to see the current situation of Kerama. Certainly, like many have reported, development was surely on its way and it was more than clear that it was deeply affected by tourism. But it’s not that people aren’t doing anything about it: there are signs here and there saying “don’t sit on the corals!” and other efforts being made.

Having said that, it doesn’t mean that preservation is guaranteed by those efforts. There may come the time when the Kerama Blue becomes a plain blue. What I strongly felt this time on this trip was that you really can’t resist the power of nature. But if you can make use of that power – dunno if “making use” would be an appropriate term, but anyway – there might be a way to bring back the ocean to what it used to be. After all, humans are powereless.

This was what was on my mind on the plane back to Tokyo as I stared at the swollen bag of chips. Maybe I can make use of this in some way... maybe.

I’ll keep writing about Kerama and nature in Japan as well as giving out other information on this country. Well, guess I’ll get back to daily life blog from next Monday. Thanks for reading all this, if you did ;-)