Return of the Sun

Photo Diary: 27th Oct 2009.Up until now most of my posts have been littered with references to Ishigaki's beautiful climate and its never ending summer. Well, it's time to set the record straight; over the last two weeks I've probably experienced enough wind and rain to last me a lifetime. It kicked in the day before the Yaeyama music festival and it continued on with few breaks until last week when a typhoon past by Ishigaki, delivering another round of wet weather.

Up until a couple of weeks ago we'd had three straight months of weather like this.

I can't really complain as I've experienced only a couple of periods of prolonged poor weather since arriving on Ishigaki island almost a year ago, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for the Japanese tourists hanging around the airport on Sunday in the hope that their scheduled flight would be running so that they'd be able to make it home from the holiday which they never really had. Very unlucky, particularly given that October is considered to be a great time to visit the island.

The Ohama coastline on a rather dull day. Still, we were lucky enough to bump into a local male model

The rain finally turned into a light drizzle on Sunday so I rode down to Ohama's coast with Yoko to get some fresh air. It may have been a bit grey and miserable, but it kind of reminded me of childhood summer holidays on England's coastline, which were often marred by poor weather, and in this sense it was quite nostalgic. It was also quite nice to be able to leave the house with no sunblock without the need to worry about receiving 1st degree burns (that's no joke, there have been cases of tourists being flown back to the mainland due to severe sunburn).

Anyway, I wake up this morning to the realization that Yaeyama's sun has once again returned. I had a sudden urge to do some snorkeling in the afternoon so we rolled down to the coast again (this time Maezato beach) so that I could take a dip. I managed to persuade Yoko to take some photos, with her main objection being that I'd never be satisfied with the the results.

She was right; most of them ended up looking like they'd been taken by somebody riding a see-saw. Still, I've always said that women and technology don't mix, although I do make exceptions when it comes to high-tech washing machines, vacuum cleaners and microwave ovens.

It may be the end of October but the water at Maezato was still quite warm. Disclaimer - snorkeling here is forbidden. Don't do as I do, do as the council says.

Random chauvinism aside, the snorkeling was great. The weather may have been rubbish for the last two weeks but the temperature of the water was lovely and there was plenty of sea life to admire. For some reason however I kept getting a strange feeling every time I swam a considerable distance from the shore. Perhaps it's because I was on my own, but occasionally my mind drifts towards sharks when underwater visibility isn't great, as was the case today. This is totally irrational as I was within the confines of the reef, but still, that's how I felt.

After seeing my wife fall over for the third time in a single weekend, this time backwards into a rock pool, I decided that I'd take a few photos before helping her out.

Well, if you've read this post and images of washed-out holidays are making you reconsider a trip to Ishigaki, then fear not. Yes, it's possible that you'll get rain, but most of the time Ishigaki's weather is absolutely beautiful. You may get unlucky, but the chances are that you won't, plus, you'll find that other tropical / semi-tropical regions throughout areas suffer from similar downpours from time to time. Still, I'm glad that this latest bout of bad weather is finally over.