Ocean Expo Park

We have been wanting to go to Ocean Expo Park and the Churami Aquarium for awhile now and finally made it there on Sunday afternoon. This park is not only the aquarium, it also has a dolphin studio, a botanical/tropical garden, 2 different Okinawan culture museums, and a white sand beach next door.

The aquarium itself was awesome and they have a great facility to display all of the marine life that is found in Okinawa's waters. The complex (which sits right on the NW coast) obtains it's seawater through an intake pipe and generates some of it's own power. This island is very eco-friendly and efficient, so this wasn't surprising at all. One of the most popular sights (and one of our favorites too) was the large tank that held the huge whale sharks, manta and sting rays, and other types of sea critters. A little cafe sits inside just next to the tank, so we ate lunch while watching the 8 meter long whale sharks swim right by us. These sharks are not carnivorous, so my little fear of "Jaws" was not a problem here :) There are some places on the island where you can actually scuba dive with these sharks and that would definitely be an experience! We still have not become scuba certified yet, but maybe later on this year.

After we toured the aquarium, we went outside to see the dolphin performance. It was in Japanese, of course, but we got the general idea. Dolphins are just amazing animals! I was disappointed that they had part of the dolphin exhibit closed, because it is home to Fuji, a bottle-nose dolphin wearing an artificial tail fin especially designed here at Churaumi. Maybe some of you heard about that on the news awhile back. We bought season passes though, so maybe it will be open next time and we can see Fuji!

We also toured the Tropical Dream Center, a tropical botanical garden with a neat observation tower in the middle. As usual, orchids were everywhere and there were some interesting flowers and plants that I had never seen before. They even had little venus fly traps... tiny ones, but pretty cool :) After catching a nice view from the top of the observation tower, we decided to call it a day. Might have stayed longer, but it was so hot that day and it was hard to enjoy the outdoor part when you are sweating like crazy. The weather here is great in the late fall, from what I hear, so we'll probably try to come back then.



Here is a link to all of the photos I took at Ocean Expo Park...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27905094@N06/sets/72157606290572045

Okinawa Hollywood

This past weekend we decided to head north to try out a new restaurant I had found in one of our island guide books. It was a steak/lobster house called the Malibu House and it was also a little movie poster museum as well. The ad said that it held over 1,300 historic movie posters or something like that. We found it without any problems (whew), but we weren't expecting it too be that difficult since it is right next to Okinawa's Renaissance Resort Hotel. The area surrounding the hotel is really nice and they even have a little mini Hollywood sign on the side of a small hill. Not quite California, but it's a nice attempt at capturing the American culture :)

The restaurant was a fun place to go... neat atmosphere, an ocean view and pretty good food, although not the greatest lobster ever. Seafood is prepared differently here than in the states and just has a different flavor that will take awhile to get used to. Maybe it's because they don't saturate it with butter and seasoning, so we're tasting the actual fish, haha. Fun place to try though and Schan really liked all of the movie posters since he's a big collector of them. Also, right next door is a little ocean side bar that looked like fun, as well as a place called Al's Yum Yum Tree. Haha! Not really sure what Al is selling at his "tree", but I'm guessing it's a bar/club sort of thing.

Best pedicures ever!

Okay, this is a Carmen update only.... Schan was not involved at all in the pedicure scene, haha. Right after we arrived in Okinawa, all the women just raved over this beauty/nail/spa place called CocoK's (silent "k" just so you know). There are two locations on the island, one which overlooks the west coast so you get a nice ocean view as a bonus. The past few months it just hasn't been up there on my list of priorities, even though I always admired all the other gals spiffy decorated feet at picnics and such. Now, I am not the pedicure expert at all, but this place is WONDERFUL. Full pedicure, foot massage, toe nail art, plus a little tea drink for 3990 yen or about $40 or so. The pedicure lasted over an hour too and it is worth every penny. So when everyone comes to visit us (hint hint), it will be a good place to go for some pampering.... well, the girls can go at least :)

http://www.cocok.net/menu_e.html

BIOS on the Hill

Today we went to Bios on the Hill, a nature park in central Okinawa. And as stated in our Okinawa island guide book... "This park has the greatest number of orchids in all of Japan. Other plants and trees, including pines, pineapples, ferns and a wide variety of flowers are also grown here. Throughout BIOS one can find trees shaped into dragons and scrolls. Also, of the 57 species of butterflies on Okinawa, 51 of them have been spotted on BIOS grounds". Okay, that description is shorter and more accurate than what I could have come up with :)

It was a neat place to spend the afternoon, even though it was hot and muggy... but no escaping that this time of year. We walked around for a few hours and also went on a boat tour which was pretty fun, even though we had no clue what the guide was talking about, haha. The only thing I understood from the tour was something about pineapples, as you will see in the video below if you watch it. I also had to film the gong lady at the very end of our boat tour, though I missed a few seconds of it. How funny!

Earthquake!

So I just experienced my first earthquake a few hours ago at around 4:45pm on Tuesday- our time. I had run all of my errands for the day and was sitting upstairs watching The Bachelorette Finale which I had DVRd on our Slingbox, when I noticed the screen jump around a little bit. At first I was like "Oh no! My show is messing up and I don't even know who she picked yet!" (silly, yes), but then i feel the floor vibrating kind of like when a train is close by... not huge, but more than just a vibration. Then I looked toward my window sill and saw my glass candle shifting to the left, felt the floor shake even more and it hits me... you're not in Kansas anymore. Earthquake!!! I was down the stairs pretty darn fast and braced in the doorway like the ceiling was going to crumble and cave in on me! Haha... not even close. By the time I walked outside to our driveway it was all over. I was standing there waiting for all my Okinawan neighbors to wander outside, but I'm sure they've endured these many more times than me and didn't think too much of it. Honestly, if I had been taking a nap, I doubt it would have woken me up. And I know that Schan could have slept through it no problem, haha.

Anyway, I've already heard the earthquake mentioned on the news, but no worries. It really was not that bad (though exciting) and I have not heard any reports of damage here yet. Below is the link with more specific details about the earthquake and I also posted a map as well. It was a 6.2 at the epicenter (around 90 miles NNE of our house) and they said that around our area, it was registering around a 4.0... somewhere around that.

http://earthquakes.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2008ufav.php

Sunrises and scenery

Okinawa definitely has some of the best scenery I have ever experienced. Gorgeous water, coral reefs, and there aren't many places where you can see sunrises like these. Didn't do very much today, but we did drive around the east part of the island searching for some new beaches to go to. We did find one beach that looked promising, but it was not open to the public yet when we drove by. Well, at least it wasn't open to Americans yet, haha. There were a few cars parked along the street by the beach gate, but I'm sure that we would be the ones to get a ticket if we tried to park there. Oh well, maybe next weekend! At least I was able to get a few good pictures during our drive.

4th of July/ AmericaFest weekend!

We've had a really good holiday weekend so far :) We finally have our house in order and decided to have a July 4th party. So on Friday night, we had some friends over for some barbeque and then watched the fireworks show on Kadena Air Base from our roof. Our neighbors' satellite or water pump thingy (not sure what it is) was blocking part of the view, but at least we got to see some of it. Schan and I are still enjoying all of the leftover food.... love BBQ, yumm!




Saturday, was the 2nd day of AmericaFest, which is a community outreach carnival/event for the Okinawan locals that takes place on the Kadena Air Base flightline. It gives the locals a chance to meet the airmen and their families and to experience a little of our American culture. There were Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft and helicopters on display. Schan worked one of the shifts next to his airplane, the E-3 Sentry AWACS, and was asked by dozens of Okinawan locals to pose with them for pictures. Too funny! I'm sure the Okinawan girls that took his picture are posting them on their myspace pages saying "Here's us with that good-lookin American pilot!" Hahaha. Schan and I also worked a shift at the squadron's booth selling Gatorade and water. The locals just loved that Gatorade for some reason, geez! Of course, it was super hot this weekend, so our booth was extra popular. We were also selling the squadron t-shirts, patches, and temporary tattoos (which I am sporting in one of the pics). Go 961st AACS!

The carnival was fun for us and all the other military families since there were a lot of food booths, games, concerts, and fireworks on both nights. Eve 6 was the big headlining band but there were also some other local and American artists that performed. We were only there on Sat night, so I went to part of the Eve 6 concert while Schan worked his shift. They put on a really good show! Brought me back a few years to around '98-oo when their 2 bigger hits played all the time on the radio. Was that seriously 10 years ago? Okay, I feel old!

Mornings at the beach...

Lately on either a Saturday or Sunday morning (just after sunrise around 545am, eeek!) we take a trip to the beach to relax and enjoy the view. We stay until it starts getting hot or until the UV rays start to take their toll on Schan and me. Even though I'm a redhead, I tolerate the sun better than poor Schan does. He burns sooo easily! I love the beach in the mornings though. We're usually the only ones there, the weather is beautiful, and you can find the first shells that have washed ashore during the night. Schan has taken up a new hobby too... metal detecting. Beaches are apparently a good place to do this, because I know that I have lost some money in the past (even a watch, ughh) in the sand. He's found several of the 100 yen coins (about the equivalent of a US dollar), a silver ring, and of course a bunch of bottle caps, haha. I think he's waiting to find a jackpot though, and of course I want him to dig up some old buried Asian treasure chest, haha. Most likely, that will not happen, but a girl can hope :)