Fear Factor-Okinawa style

Sunday April 2 and Monday April 3, 2006 Okinawa

We set out from our hotel in Tokyo on Sunday to Okinawa, where we would be diving. After making our way to the airport, and trying to figure out which of the 30+ ANA gates to check into, we figured it out, and made our way. Our plane departed about an hour later than scheduled, and it was totally packed (and it was a 747!!). We touched down in Okinawa, and could immediately tell the difference in weather.

Okinawa is very different than many areas in Japan in that their dialect and foods are very strongly influenced by China, but they also have the influence of Japan as well. It’s a tremendously unique place-although some of its uniqueness is taken away from the concrete jungles of military bases.

We arrived at our Hotel Grand Mer ridiculously late (our shuttle bus had to wait for another person to arrive, whose plane was also late.), and there weren’t any restaurants nearby our hotel. So, we meandered our way up to the hotel’s bar and just had some bar food to sustain us until the next day.

The next morning, we woke up at 6 to grab a quick breakfast and meet our dive guide for the day Otis, of Okinawa Ocean Divers (http://www.oodt.jp/english/index.html). We met up with 4 other divers-Juko, Kayode, Miyumi (all from various cities in Japan), and Marco (Finnish and a dead ringer for Kurt Cobain--no pun intended) and began making our way to the Keramas islands-which are about an hour away from Naha. The Keramas are a bit like the Florida Keys, and are a series of chain of islands that stem off of the main island of Okinawa. The boat ride was extremely choppy, and I had to battle some serious sea sickness. We finally made it to our first dive spot-which was a beginner dive-mostly for everyone to build up their comfort level with diving. We fed the fish some sausages, which allowed us to see a lot of tropical fish swimming past our face. The dive was a calm one-got to see a stone fish (deadly), a few sea snakes (also deadly-and first time seeing snakes too!), and sea cucumbers.

The water was pretty cold, and we were shivering on the boat en route to our next stop, which was a coral bed. The coral here is beautiful, and I’ve never seen anything like it. It is most similar to what we’ve seen in Australia, but completely different in size, shape, colors, etc. It doesn’t have as much of the vibrant colors as the Great Barrier Reef, but the amount of life on the corals is astounding and heartwarming. We got to see a ton of tropical fish on this dive-lots of anemone fish (think Nemo), angel fish, parrot fish, sea urchins, flat worms (my first time seeing one), a small shark. Lots of really cool nooks and crannies to look in.

After our dive, we tried to warm up in the sun, and enjoyed a nice bento box of Okinawan cuisine-pork, rice, potato cakes, tofu, and goya (this is a really big thing in Okinawa-looks like a cucumber and super bitter!) After we finished eating, we did our final drift dive to Turtle Reef. With our body temps lowered after the first two dives, this dive was especially cold. A great dive though-tons of reef and tropical fishies—and a SEA TURTLE!! If any of you know about our experience diving, Al and I typically miss the turtles when diving, so I was super psyched to have seen one!

We headed back to the dive shop, agreeing to meet up with everyone later for a traditional Okinawan dinner. After our taxi driver got lost on the way…we finally arrived at our destination-Satto. Almost everyone had made it out, including Miho, Otis’ wife.

Our bodies were tired from diving, and we were ravenous. Luckily-we were in good hands, and Otis and Miho were tremendous hosts. They started ordering, and we just sat back in enjoying dish after dish, laughing our way through dinner. We sat next to Otis, Miyumi (one of the divers) and Marco. Miyumi was totally sweet-she is from Tokyo, and her English is impeccable. Marco is from Finland, and his English was also quite good, so we were able to converse with everyone. After a beer and Sake later, we realized Marco looked like Kurt Cobain, and he started joking that he WAS in fact Kurt, and still alive. We laughed about a lot of cultural differences, and had a great time over our beer and endless amounts of food.

Here is a list of things we enjoyed (not for the faint at heart):
Shima Rakyo-green onions with fried onion shavings on top
Sashimi-included parrot fish, octopus, tuna, squid, scallop
Ceaser Salad-made of goya and fresh sunny side up egg. Super Yummy!!
Goya Pizza-pizza with the bitter goya on top—surprisingly good.
Takowas-Octopus guts with daikon
Tofu-yo-The restaurants homemade tofu that had been soaked in Awamora (alcohol) for two weeks. Tasted like blue cheese soaked in port—a bit strong, and not very tasty.
Rafu Tei-pork with hot mustard—the Okinawans take their pork super duper fatty, so lots of yummy pork fat.
Soki w/ Garlic-pork with a tremendous amount of garlic on top (my dad would have enjoyed!)
Potato w/ muchi (pounded rice) and cheese—Super good!
Umi Budo Salad-sea caviar/sea grapes. Mmm!
California Roll-tuna, avocado, crab eggs
Orion Beer-Okinwa beer
Shima Dofu-warm, smokey tofu with giner, green union and soy sauce-my favorite dish!
Shito-Sake
And to finish off, we had a lovely lemon ice.

The next day....Japanese spa! Woo hoo!