Okinawa Comprehensive Park

Comprehensive Park is a wonderful place to visit any time because you can spend the entire day there and never run out of things to do.  In fact, I've been there several times and still discover a new place or activity each time.

Today's stroll around the park took us along the shoreline where the tide was out.  There were several small paths leading down to the "beach" that made it easy to go combing for new treasures and seeing what critters had gotten caught in the tide pools.

We also stopped at a cool panda water fountain for a drink and discovered that the park itself has its own restaurant.  So if you ever want to have a picnic and find that you accidentally left your basket of goodies at home, you can pick something up.




And even though we have frequented the pond near the playground, I somehow missed that they sell fish food for 100 yen a box in the adjacent pavilion.  So we bought a box and enjoyed seeing the fish swarm and compete for bits of food.  We also found out that these fish mean business when it comes to their tummies.  O decided to throw a whole handful into the pond at once instead of just a few pieces and the fish began jumping all over each other duking it out for that food.  We were getting splashed like crazy due to the frenzy and one fish even ate O's binky neck-string and all!  It was quite the event.



Other posts from visits to this site:
Okinawa Comprehensive Park (Okinawa Prefecture Athletic Park)
Okinawa Comprehensive Park Playground

Cape Zampa Lighthouse (Zanpa)

In 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, US troops occupied the Kerama Islands located about 40 km south of this cape.  They used the lighthouse there as a guide to the shore and landed on the beach to the south of Cape Zampa (Zanpa).

Cape Zampa is located just North of Torii Station not to far from Zakimi Castle.  This area has several beaches, intriguing volcanic rock cliffs, a fort, a lighthouse, and even a kids petting zoo among other things to see and do.

We decided to start our adventure walking towards the lighthouse.  It is located within a natural park with tons of green foliage everywhere.  I never knew so many plants could thrive on top of a volcanic cliff side... although it does make sense with how fertile the soil should be.  Anyways, there are several paths that flow through the greenery that you can walk through.  We skipped those in favor of exploring the rocky cliff side and watching the fisherman perched along its edges.  Just sitting and taking in the view and smelling the salty sea air was so peaceful and serene.  However, O can't sit still for very long so we had to give it up and go check something else out.

We ended up at the petting zoo.  Although there is no actual way to enter the zoo, it is built in such a way that the animals are all very accessible.  The little shop next to it also sells carrots slices that you can feed to the critters.  There were two different kinds of goats, rabbits, and turtles.  O was content to just stare at the goats and got a little scared when they came close to eat the carrot sticks from our hands.  After a while though she warmed up to them and wanted to feed them as well... go figure we were almost out of carrots by then, lol.

After our trip to the petting zoo, we started to head down one of the paths by the lighthouse and then suddenly decided to go off the beaten path along the cliff side towards a fort we could see in the distance.  It was beautiful and relatively easy to trek as O, who just started walking, was even able to navigate the terrain fairly well.

Unfortunately, we never made it to the fort.  O was starting to get sunburnt and hungry, so we opted to head back to the car and find some chow.  But it was a wonderful family outing.  I hope to do it again sometime.

Okuma & Hiji Falls

My very first weekend get-a-way after having O.  What a glorious thing it is to have time and space to yourself for a change.  And at the same time... I kinda missed the little tyke.

Our retreat took us to Okuma, a lovely little resort on the Northern end of the island overlooking the East China Sea. There is so much to do there that it's no wonder it is a popular family vacation spot.  Plenty of beaches, go-carts, golf, various sports courts, hiking, etc.  You name it, they probably have it available.  And the little restaurant there has fantastic food at fairly reasonable prices.

O recently disabled the lens of my camera, so I only have a few phone pictures from this excursion.  But honestly, I was too engrossed in getting to know the other PWOC ladies and participating in our activities to really take many pictures anyhow.  Not that I wouldn't love to have some, especially from our amazing race.

If you'd like to find out more about Okuma, please visit their website: http://kadenafss.com/okuma-home

 

After the retreat was over, several of the ladies decided to hike Hiji Falls.  It's the largest waterfall on island.  The path is not incredibly long but there are many, many stairs to climb up and down and also a pretty cool suspended bridge to cross.  Well worth the hike.  It could prove a challenge for little ones, but with some help on the stairs the whole family could enjoy this hike.