The Dolphin Tour

 

A little bit off Kawaihae on the Big Island, Hawaii. The Ocean Sports dolphin tour is always excellent.

 

 

Mother and baby.

 Dolphin mid-spin.

Sea Turtle Sightings

 

When I visited the Big Island in August, it was right in the middle of two large hurricanes. The whole week I was there, the usually calm waves were terrifyingly large -- to the point where I didn't feel comfortable splashing about.

Got to hand it to the locals, though, they were having the time of their lives.

A turtle I spotted while snorkeling with Ocean Sports.

I also saw a bunch at another national park. Though I end up seeing around ten turtles every time I'm in Hawaii, each experience feels special.

 

Locals gathering little shrimp at the beach, although there is a sign that expressly says you cannot. I also saw people stepping into fish ponds.

  

An extreme closeup of a handful of sand.

Okunoshima Island

 Tadanoumi Station, aka the station with the ferry to Okunoshima, aka Rabbit Island.

After a ten-minute ferry, you land on Okunoshima. The island is small enough that you can go all the way around in a couple of hours on bike, but there are also several paths leading to the top of the mountain. One night, two days is probably the perfect length of time to stay there.

 

The entrance of the island's only hotel.

 

The beach was "officially" closed when we went in September, but it was such a warm day that we simply went in.

There was no shortage of rabbit paraphernalia anywhere on the island.

 View from the mountain.

The far side of the island.

The top of the mountain, where you can see the Seto Inland Sea. Some rabbits live all the way up here!

Flying over the Seto Inland Sea

Over the three-day weekend, I visited Ohkunoshima, otherwise known as Rabbit Island. (Rabbit posts to follow.) To get there, I took a 90-minute flight from Narita Airport from Spring Airlines, which cost a mere 6000 yen. This makes it cheaper than taking the shinkansen (bullet train).

Another plus is the incredible view of the Seto Inland Sea you can see from the plane. The Seto Inland Sea is a narrow body of water that separates three of the four main islands in Japan. There are almost countless tiny islands on the Inland Sea, many of them uninhabited. According to government data, if you count the practically miniscule islands (bigger than 100 meter in circumference), there are around 730 on the Inland Sea.

 

Bridges like these are a common sight, the result of an ambitious project to connect many of the islands that were previously accessible only by ferry.

 Many of the islands looked like ready-made beach resorts, with their perfect sandy beaches.

The little island on the right was packed with industrial gear, and indeed, aside from fisheries, the islands are known for ship construction, steel production, and oil refining. (This meant that many of the landscape photos I took were marred by huge, ugly red and white cranes.)

It's hard to see in this photo, but the water here was dotted with dozens of traps. Considering the prevalence of squid on the menu in this area, I'm guessing they were squid traps.

 

A closer look.

 

 Even after eyeballing Google Maps, I couldn't match the islands with their names.

Candlelights of Odaiba Beach

The other night I chanced upon a lovely sight in Odaiba.

Thousands of candles were lined up on the beach in multicolored bags. They flickered prettily late into the night, and dozens of people walked among the bags, quietly in awe.

After a while, we realized that these candles were lined up in a specific way, and they all seemed to be forming some sort of shapes. Although the stores and restaurants were all closed, we climbed up as far as we could in the beachside buildings, and found...

...that every single cluster of candle made out a specific Odaiba monument. The one on the left is the fake Statue of Liberty, and on the right is Rainbow Bridge. Others were Tokyo Gate Bridge and the Olympics symbol, a nod to the ubiquity of Odaiba in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Port-Cros Island

Port-Cros Island, a tiny island that makes up a cluster of island called Îles d'Hyères.

I took a one-hour a ferry from Le Lavandou, about 15 minutes from where I was staying.

The ferry conductor was a jolly man who told colorful tales of the area.

Such as: former French first lady Carla Bruni lives in this area. The owner of this house had a funicular built so he could get to the beach easily.

During WWII, an elite American and Canadian commando unit fought against 150 German soldiers. Port-Cros became a national park in 1963.

Fort du Moulin, a military fort built in the 16th century. The island has a handful of forts, but this one is the most visible.

There are a smattering of shops, restaurants, and hotels around the pier.

Le fort de l'Estissac, which is higher up the mountain that Fort du Moulin. It was built around 1640.

There was a detailed permanent exhibit on the local ecosystem and history.

Up the stairs to the tower.

The tower boasts an amazing 360-degree view of the island and is highly recommended, especially since it seems few people bother to climb up.