We went on a collecting trip to Yakushima with Haruka, Megumi, and Carey last week. Yakushima is an island just south of mainland Japan, designated as a World Heritage Site. We flew to Kagoshima (1 hour flight), the southernmost prefecture on mainland Japan, and then took a two hour ferry south east to Yakushima. What we didn't know when we planned this trip is that May and June are the rainy season, with rain every day, sometimes all day long, and typhoons (two so far this rainy season). It was pouring down the rain when we arrived on Kagoshima, so we thought we were in for a cold, wet diving trip. We ended up having two sunny, warm days (with a bit of rain in the mornings and evenings). We managed to dive five times in three days and collected 1million amphipods!
We did a bit of sightseeing, and found a cool (literally) waterfall. We also found "sea turtle beach", where loggerhead sea turtles come to nest every year. Thanks to Kris' well trained eye, we found several nests on the beach already!
While diving at Kurio we spotted this stingray hiding in the sand. (If you can't see him...look for two eyes.) After this dive we saw some really neat red flowers and an old local who came to the beach to play his homemade sanshin. A sanshin is a traditional, three-string instrument that is very common in the Ryukyus Islands. His seems to be a wartime model...made out of a tin can. He is wearing a shirt with a Japanese flag and the flag made to represent Japan and the United States united after the war. Look closely and you'll see in the back window of his car..."If it ain't country, it ain't music."
On another dive at Yoshida, we saw this huge octopus that we scared into this hole. He changed from brown to green to white. At Isso, we saw huge plate and mushroom corals and lots of really great sponges and sea turtles! This was our favorite dive of the trip.
We drove the "Wild Road" between two dives, which is a very curvy mountainous road along the west coast of Yakushima. Macaques were literally all over the roads! We saw these two on the side of the road and thought we would see what they would do if we offered them a cookie. This was there reaction to Carey opening the package!
Unfortunately, we didn't capture what happened next. The monkey in the back, with the unfurled lip came running up to the car, Carey squealed, threw the cookie out, and rolled up the window, all within 10 seconds. It was very exciting. Below is a picture of a monkey family on the road...there were probably about 30 monkeys all sitting here blocking the road. We guessed that they are used to people feeding them. We then came up to the sign that tells you not to feed the monkeys. Hmmm...
We also saw many deer on the island. This is an endemic deer that is much smaller than any you see on North America. One night we went to a local izakaya to try out the local cuisine. We tried flying fish, a local specialty. Oishi katta des! (It was delicious!) Haruka and Megumi went strait for the bony fins. The Americans stuck to the meat, but Megumi ate the skeleton after we had finished all of the meat!
Our last day on the island was very excitng. Super Typhoon Songda was approaching rapidly, so we decided to head back to Kagoshima (mainland Japan) a day early so we didn't get stuck on the island. We went for a dive in the morning and were planning to take the 130 pm ferry. However, that ferry was full, so at 930 am, while processing samples we collected on the dive, we learned that we had to catch the 1055 am ferry or we would be stuck on the island. The next 1.5 hours were pretty intense.
We finished our samples, packed them up to ship back to Okinawa, washed our dive gear, packed it all up in the car, drove back to the hotel, packed up our bags, got gas in both of the rental cars, and made it to the ferry port at 1050 am. By the time we got to the ferry, soaking wet, with all of our baggage (diving trips make for many bags, also soaking wet...literally dripping), they were closing the doors. Superheroes, I tell you (or so Jamie tells me, anyhow).
So, we arrived on Kagoshima with some time to sightsee. Nate, Haruka, Carey, and Megumi joined a famous astronomer in looking at the stars (in the daytime in the rain) and then we came across this set of vending machines: coffee, cold drinks, ice cream, and crepes. What more do you need in life?
We changed our flight from 245 pm to 1025 am, which was a very good idea because our flight was the last one to leave Kagoshima. Super Typhoon Songda was fast approaching after going just north of Okinawa. By now you should be wondering what exactly a "Super Typhoon" is. I know we were wondering. Apparently a super typhoon has sustained winds of greater than 150 mph, compared to a major hurricane, which only has sustained winds of 111 mph. So, we arrived home safely and it was life as normal on Okinawa. With the exception of some plant debris and downed trees (like this one next to our apartment), you would never know that a super typhoon had gone through Okinawa yesterday.
Time for a nap and one week of life as usual before we head to Hawaii for The Crustacean Society meeting!
