And more South we Go

Amami Ohshima kept Fu Kyo a bit longer due to the weather, but on Wednesday May 23rd all was clear and we slipped away from Daikuma.

It was an easy 40 miles further south to Tokunoshima. 

Ha...even the fishing was Good. 

First we landed a 1 meter++  Mahimahi, but as it's a No-Good-for-Sashimi, we gave him a kiss and off he went...(well, he swam away, so i think he has an other life down there).

As a Thank-You,  30 minutes later, we scored a Bonito...

a Good-for-Sashime, thus that was a keeper.

Approaching Tokunoshima ...where is the harbor?

Or is it somewhere there?

As it turned out we did end up in a Good Possy, but there is an "new" harbor a few miles further N...not yet in our "old" pilot. That new harbor is a bit bigger for small boats but way-less interesting.

See here Fu Kyo in Hetono Port. 

Just room for 1 visitor and ....at low tide only 20 cm under the keels.

That's the entrance!!

Nice possy neh? 

Almost looks a bit like southern Europe...

Hey we are in the sub-tropics!

A short walk around "town".

he sees me, he sees me not..

Abonai...oh yes Big waves are scary and dangerous!

Naoko Dori.

This stone is in honor of Naoko Takahashi, the Olympic Gold medal winner Women's Marathon in 2000. (a moment hard to forget). She used this road for her training course.

After a "hard-night" with some of the locals partying on board of Fu Kyo, we left early AM next morning...

These White Mice are always here  ... 

Japan Coast Guard, on the look out for Non-Nippon-Floats. 

Along the friendly pontoon, Yoron Island.

Mr Ikeda of the City Office is in charge for looking after the visiting yachties....

so, he drove us around the island to show the nice spots....

......what do you think...??

This pix was taken at Yoron's only Hi-Point. 

Here looking SW.

At Sunset...

And at Sunrise next AM..

 On our way to Naha on Okinawa Island we pass this beauty..

And we are guided the last 20 miles into Ginowan Marina by our friends.

Seen the YouTube?

salute.

Pix on the Run @ Daikuma

Okay, those Habu Snakes should be hard o find 'In Town", 

so....On the Run!

Yep it's not even 6 AM.

This building across the river houses a Hot Bread Bakery (right  side).

It opens at 6:30 AM and if you buy bread before 9 AM you get 20% discount!! 

This Panya San knows business!

And the bread is super...

Amami Ohshima has many mountains, and thus...

many tunnels.

Always nice to use them when it's raining...but definite a NoNo Fun to Run at traffic-rush-hour .

Hence the early start.

Wide and well lit, and no traffic for almost 2 K.

At the other end....is Naze town.

Hmmm, what a great name for a hotel...

should write a song about it..

Naze Town from above, still early AM.

And looking towards the entrance of Naze Port.

A few more Ks, turn the corner and there is Daikuma again. 
Fu Kyo is hard to spot, but our Crane Neighbor 

(red-white-red) is the hint.

salute

T H

Well, as you can see, we're on the Move

and this time it's done ...On the Road.

Today these guys are my buddies:

Mr Asa, behind the wheel and Mr Ichida, neighbors in the harbor of Daikuma

And this is the Mover.

Hence the tittle of this post. : Truck Hike.

The way out of Daikuma, the road snakes along the west coast of Amami Ohshima.

Talking about snakes: This island is ill-famous for its poisonous snakes.

So no Trail Running here!

Even on the roads...take care, esp at night. Over a short stretch we spotted 2 (nice flattened) Habu snakes.

Just somewhere along the coast.

BTW, my mates have built that harbor..(???).

So what was the mission of the Truck Hike?

Well, they needed new fenders for their vessel...

Remember that crane ship (in the rainbow) next to Fu Kyo.

Ha found one...

And a few more...somehow these tires are anywhere and everywhere on Amami. As it cost ++yen to get them proper disposed...dump them along the road is a "way to go". Anyway, Mr Asa and Mr Ichida are happy. 

The score for the day were 6 big digger tires...eh..fenders.

On the way home, time for one more pix, taken somewhere NW of Daikuma.

Can you smell the coral reef?

Salute

Welcome to Okinawa

A bit ahead with this posting, but would luff to share you our

Welcome to Okinawa. 

(May 25th)

A group of about one hundred dolphins were pottering around...

until some of them spotted us.....

and decided to play with Fu Kyo.

Makes you happy too, neh.

Salute

More @ Daikuma

And heaven came down...

So with all that wet stuff in the air, i had to look for a laundromat....

Normal a place like that is well marked from the outside.  But here in Daikuma it was indeed a puzzle to find, as they call it;  Coin Laundry.

It's there (green sign) and it was a Good One. 

(yachty standards applied).

An other wet morning at 6 Am...we got new neighbors...

Happy to be there to take their lines...

Locked in, but we can't complain as the parking is free...

And again an other early morning:

Yin & Yang.

See, it's even a double rainbow.

salute.

Amami Ohshima

The trip from Yaku Shima to Amami Ohshima was an easy one.

That said, it was also a trip without any sailable wind, 

so the Yanmars did their job.

 It took us 19 hours to cover the 130 miles.

Only the odd freighter or fishing boat was spotted and...

Yep, we had some humpback whales "playing" around Fu Kyo. 

(the pictures and video we took were sadly badly).

This map shows the N top of Amami Ohshima 

and the red arrow points to Daikuma Port.

Along the wall in Daikuma.

 A few hours later, our neighbor showed up....

Hold on, what's happening here? 

 Well, they made an ink-print of some of their catch... 

And a Good Catch they had that day!

Next day we were asked to move a further down the wall...

so see here our other neighbors. 

As you can see, it aint a Marina Show.

The One and Only Sento left in Naze City (next to Daikuma).

The Mama san is way in her 80s, so how much longer will we be able to splash with hot water?

 ( we had stopped in Daikuma in 1995 and in 2006...
those were the days with 2 sento's).

memorial stones, in all shapes and colors...

Of course you guessed what these are..

(...karaoke boxes....)

And yes, i did do some Daikuma Bird Watching.

( hmmm , don't think Marijke approves my effort).