Take me to Taketomi

On Thursday I took another ferry, this time to Taketomi Island. This was probably my favourite, mostly because the other islands were all so big that they lost the 'island' feel somewhat. Taketomi was small enough that you could walk around it and see coastline in several directions at once. One of the things it's famous for is the 'star sand' beach where some of the sand grains are like tiny stars. I had a very pleasant surprise as I was walking along, I heard my name and when I turned around I found Yoshie, who I had gone canoeing with the day before. So we went and ate Okinawa Soba together and then went sightseeing. This house had a great example of a Shisa (lion dogs who act as guardian gods of houses and villages) on the roof. Unfortunately I have no zoom but you can get the idea. Here's a street scape, good place for cycling so Yoshie and I did so, only we just had one bike between the two of us... Lucky I've got horserider's legs!
Once we got back to Ishigaki, a slightly more major island, Yoshie hired a car and we went exploring. This bay is famous for its black pearls and its beauty, you can see why.
Heading back towards the airport (as I was flying to Miyako Island that evening) we passed this shop. Inside were many pairs of Shisa, most of which looked like they'd been designed by the folks at Mambo! It was certainly colourful.

I couldn't resist ;)