Yonaguni Monument / Island .....
Yonaguni here I am … landed in the land of The Monument ! It is funny waiting for your luggage when you see the carousel going through the wall and if you bend a little “in my case only” I could see the men putting luggage on the carousel outside the building from trolley as if we could not pick it ourselves before entering terminal building. Well luggage in the hand and I stepped through one way door from the luggage collection point to the passenger area “literally one step” where Ando-San was waiting for me and as only white, blond guy it was easy for him to spot me and shout Emil with looking directly at me. It would be funny if I would say no 😊 however I said yes and he went for a van a better said minivan as all the cars here are mini size as the Matchbox or any other children car toys. Mini square boxes on the small bicycle wheels zipping through island in deadly 50km/h speed like Dougal on milk cart in Father Ted. Got into the dive shop Sou Wes, left luggage behind as the room will be ready in afternoon and went to walk about around the Sonai what is the part of island where I’m staying. Not too big, not too small but quiet and streets deserted, expect occasional box on the wheels passing me by. Walked through the streets, where are lots of wending machines for drinks and also a lots of modelling cats, as they are skinny as the new models in Milan. The island itself is not so big but it is beautiful as I learned at the end of my stay when I have rented a bicycle and tried new trick of pedaling with knees as the bike is not made for tall guy from Europe and I’m not the tallest for sure but hey mini cars so mini bikes with wire basket on front but I will get back to it later. The main funny fact is that every morning at 8:00 the sound like form some cartoon sounds over the village as well as at 12:00 and 19:00 instead of the bells as I was used in Europe. Then there was a sound of ice cream van and I was like yeah, bring it on in this hot weather, even if I was surprised that they have such thing here. However as my taste buds are getting ready for nice cold ice cream, my eyes scanning the surroundings for the ice cream van as the sound grew louder and louder which means nearer and nearer I was salivating like Pavlova dogs. Then my brain shut down as the ears were signaling the ice cream van to the control center but eyes saw only waste collectors picking up the waste bags left on the street and throwing them on the back of the van right behind the speaker what played this ice cream truck theme. What a disappointment DOH ! Well the space control center “as there is lot of space in my skull” has recovered from such shock and restarted to realistic sensory setting where the first impulse was, you are fat anyway and now you have saved money too so shut up and taste buds get used to water from now on and sleeping on the floor, since I’m getting Japanese room in the hotel. Japanese room is great thing for a messy persons as you have one empty room with straw tatami covering floor, one small table and that’s it, so you can have your things all over the floor as all you need to do is shuffle them apart to make space for futon and pillow aka bed 😊 Amazing invention such room. No storage at all so all the floor is your storage, in case you are tired living form a suitcase and staying for a bit longer than one or two nights.
Woo hoo today is the day when diving starts 😊 and I cannot wait to get into water to surprise of Shorty and Ando-san when they realized that I’m here for eight days, since they are telling me that there is not many dive sites and that I might dive on same sites few times as if that was something wrong. Well I told them that I’m happy to dive on same site few times as every time I will go to same site I will see different things and practice different diving skills since all of the diving here is drift diving and therefore I need to adapt to the ocean conditions. There was group of English people in the dive shop when I arrived and they were just packing as it was their last dive, so they were surprised too when I told them that I will be here diving for eight days. It seems like most of the divers I met are just doing tick box exercise of diving at Yonaguni Monument except Dave and Alisha who were so delightfully different and happy to dive on same dive site repeatedly, especially at Monument what they came to see on purpose. Anyhow the diving is amazing here and I love the coves and caves more and more with all the light coming down like it is heaven shining down on us, plus the drift dive is so good if you are o.k just drift away and looking around. Not such fun when you try to get some photos of Monument and the current is strong that you need to be on your back and kicking like karate kid to just keep on the spot. Still that is what I came for also, since every ocean and every location is different so I can practice the different diving techniques, breathing and now even photography, since I’ve got my brand new camera, housing and new addition to the family wet lens with dome. I have learned pretty fast that when you trying to take photos the breathing is going pretty fast so combining the breathing, kicking and taking pictures is something to play with. The monument itself is really huge dive site and everyone has different opinion as what it is and many speculations are discussed in the world on the origin of it. My personal opinion is that it is made by nature but amended by someone in a past. The more I looked at it is seemed like quarry to me as the stones are pretty huge and the lines are straight as ruler. Also the famous statue of Turtle is hard to believe was made by nature so I would say it is combination of works of nature with some assistance from someone long time ago. Well come and see and decide for yourself. The rest of diving sites are amazing coves and tunnels which some starts as holes in the sea floor and some start as rivers of white sand going through the walls of corals. Also the schools of barracudas swimming around you if you are lucky, with white tip sharks resting on the sea floor. Since I was staying here for longer than most of people I was lucky enough to dive only with buddy / guide undisturbed by other divers, what I consider paradise comparing to Koh Tao where I was part of hundreds of divers on each dive. For me I mostly liked the coves, with its contrast between light and dark and narrow spaces leading to some open big space where the fishes were hiding from the world. Also the drift dive when you literally just laying horizontally and leave the ocean do the work for you so it is like never ending dive since the air consumption is nearly none or better say minimal as the we all need air. However I would like to now get a course of rebreather as the bubbles are really disturbing me and also disturb fishes too from the silence of the ocean. When dove with Dave and Alisha it was even better as she had a great eye for finding the interesting things as Moray Eel thick as my both legs hiding in the crevices and waiting for its next prey. I saw few lovely hermit crabs as if they were family since they were in different sizes and few nudibranchs. Overall the diving here is super and team of SOU WES dive shop is great and very helpful to teach, help with anything and I have to say that one thing every dive boat could adopt is to have warm water in a box to warm / wash ourselves with, especially in a little bit cooler condition as in Koh Tao we had drum of fresh water what was great sine the ocean had 30 degrees Celsia. Tomo, Kaori, “Shorty “Maja “on the main photo”, Ando and captain as well as the main boss who discovered the Monument who made this popular diving destination are really nice group people and they made my stay very good. THANK YOU ALL !!!
On the other topic now 😊 the food is my favorite food in the world and the few dinners we took with Dave and Alisha as well as one big with SOU-WES in local Izakaya were so delicious that it was dangerous, since I would eat only for taste of the food and therefore getting a fatter and fatter 😊 thank God for chopsticks as with them you are eating slowly and therefore you are full in quite short time. Breakfast is a main meal not like some quick cereals with milk but full course of eggs, tofu, veg, rice , miso soup and great tea, what sets you for a day I had to say but they are not feeling so heavy when diving. Cold noodle soup was surprise for me with ice cubes floating in the bowl on top of the noodles but the chili paste made it hot enough to balance the ice cubes 😊 Chicken catsu curry with rice, some sea food noodles, deep fried sea food and tofu as well as the sashimi “raw fish” are just some of the amazing food items that made my taste buds forget the fecking trap with “ice cream” truck 😊
Last two days before departure I spent by wondering around island, firstly on local bus what is free to use and do the lap around island every two hours so I had sightseeing tour for free to know what is there and then hired a bike since the scooter is not possible to hire without international driving license, which I do not poses so left only with power of my legs i.e knees as mentioned earlier since the bikes are sized for Japanese people but still managed to do lap around the east part of island, seen some nice viewpoints overlooking the ocean and part of the coast road as well as the inland country side when turn back to the ocean and have to say there are few hills to get on top them what in the heat is not really pleasant and since It was mid-day I was pretty much burned like crisp and with one bottle of water that was not sufficient as well as stomach was calling the space control center for some fuel since the breakfast is good but not for whole day 😊 Eventually I took the coast road what was downhill so it was nice just sit and rolling down. Beautiful scenery and empty roads make this island very nice for exploring, at least in October as I have no idea if there is any high season for tourist here except divers but they are mostly underwater and not on the roads.
Have to add that Japanese Post is probably the fastest post as I send few postcards, since no one sending them anymore in the worlds of emails but they are so beautiful here in Japan “not just plain piece of paper but origami style” shapes of trees, houses etc and they were arrived in less than a week to the Europe. Well the post office will remember me as I was there every second day as I remembered new address and went back to send few more as well as sending my 5mm wet suit out as I was diving only in long sleeve top and swim shorts and need to save on weight of luggage so I kept only 3mm one wet suit and I think I will sent this as well after Taiwan since I will not need it in Belize based on the sea temperature report. Tracing the shipment is made easy by registering for email update and I will see how long it takes to arrive to San Diego.
It is time to get about and see the most western point in Japan what is near the harbor we sail from and do some walking after lunch when the sun will be a less stronger, even if I would not mind to burn some of the fat reserves to fit easier to wet suit 😊 Last day here in Yonaguni and thank God that typhoon had missed the Island as I watch the TV showing the havoc that it left behind on mainland Japan is quite distressing as much as I don’t understand Japanese the footage shoving is more than enough to make you wonder, what are we doing to the planet that it respond with such force.
