Miyakojima (宮古島) - Part 3

The next morning we went snorkeling. Visibility was great. I saw thousands of beautiful tropical fish and some amazing coral formations. Unfortunately I still don't have an underwater digital camera. I've been meaning to get one but keep putting it off. So this time I took some crappy (probably) pictures with a disposable underwater 35mm camera. If any of them come out OK I'll post them here when I get back the prints.

That afternoon my wife wanted to make a Siisaa (シーサー), one of those clay dog, lion, monster things. There are a few pottery shops on the island where people can go and learn how to make one of these things. We found one and she went to work. The guy there walked her through making the body, adding the legs, head, etc. He was really fast. She was not.

I don't have the patience to sit for 3 hours making something, but it was fun to watch her and take pictures of the beast slowing taking shape.

I spent the time looking around the pottery shop and watching a man make clay cups on a pottery wheel.

As an added bonus it was raining off and on. In Miyakojima, like Guam and many other pacific islands, the rain comes down in short spurs, rests for a while to catch its breath, and then falls again. In these brief periods I ran outside to catch some shots of rain drops resting gently on the petals of the flowers outside the pottery shop.

There was also a spider in its web just under the overhang of the roof. The rain wasn't hitting the web directly, with each shower a few more random drops hit the web. I was pretty sure that if I waited long enough I could get one of those cool rain drop spider web shots that you see from time to time. After about 2 hours of off and on rain, I got it.

After she finished making her monster we still had about 3 hours to kill before our flight back to mainland Japan. We spend the time driving around the other side of the island, the side we hadn't seen the day before. There's amazing lagoon on the southeast coast that I would love to dive in one of these days. With only a small opening to the ocean, the water is calm, clear, and still. From the top of an outcropping of rock next to the lagoon, you can see along the coast for miles in both directions.

It was a short trip. We left early Saturday morning and returned late Sunday night. But in that short period of time I fell in love with this beautiful island. We'll definitely visit again. If you ever get the chance, go to Miyakojima.

All images © 2010 by Jason Weddington, All Rights Reserved. No Use Without Written Permission. Contact me at the_wandering_eye [at] yahoo [dot] com for usage or licensing requests.

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