Shane and I went out last night with some friends, without the kids...and then we went on a five hour date today. We did it all for free and the only thing we had to pay for was babysitting! That's the great thing about this place. Snorkeling, free. Biking, free. Swimming, free. The things we like to do together don't really require money...well, that is until we get scuba diving certified. :)
First of all, this morning, Shane and I took our bikes out for the first time since we got our clip-ins for them. AND it was our first time to ride here in Okinawa. We had lots of fun out on our ride. We rode our bikes all around the flight-line. It was cool watching the jets and planes take off while riding along. It was a pretty tough ride because we were riding against the wind just about THE WHOLE TIME! And it is hilly here, so we were riding uphill a lot too. My legs were burning the whole time, but i just have to push through it. Shane ran a 5k this morning so i didn't think he would last as long, but he was always leading. We rode about 12-15 miles. We started our watches late so we aren't sure the exact mileage. We were out for an hour. It was fun.
Then we came home and changed and headed to the SeaWall for some GREAT snorkeling time, just the two of us. It was low tide, so we walked along lots of tidal pools before we got to the water. It's so fun to see those pools b/c there is ocean life in them. I Just LOVE it. When we finally reached the water, that exact spot is where ALL THE OCEAN LIFE started. You had to walk on it to get out further b/c it was so shallow. I went out a little and decided i couldn't handle walking on that stuff b/c i felt like i was killing it. So i tried getting down and started floating and slowing heading out to deeper waters. I made it. Shane didn't make it so well. He ended up getting scraped by coral on his stomach. In the water it didn't look bad, but as soon as we got out of the water it started bleeding pretty good and was swelling up all around the scrapes. It didn't look well. He is fine now though. We got home and took care of it after we snorkeled a bit. :) We have been snorkeling TWICE before this time already. The other places we went to were nothing compared to this place. This was full of ocean plant life...it was everywhere!
In this picture below is an octopus. Shane saw him and pointed him out to me. I never would've seen him on my own. And you know octopus's will change the color of their body to blend into their surroundings. Can you see the octopus in this picture? He was trying to stay hidden from us...we would move away from him, but still watch him from a distance. When we moved away he would poke his head up and just watch us. I think he wanted to move, but not with us around. We would go back closer to him again and then he would hide under the plants again. He was funny.
Some of the plant life. These pictures just DO NOT do the ocean plants justice.
There were TONS of blue starfish ALL OVER THE PLACE. It was so cool.
There were also TONS of anemones. Those things are so cool and pretty. Thanks to movies like NEMO we were able to identify a few things we knew. :)
Here is the drop off. We swam right above all these plants and then it just dropped off, as you can see here. It was so cool coming up to it and seeing it! Just beautiful. I need to be a fish. There were lots of drop offs and lots of crevasses(sp?)....Cave like areas under the water. It was just beautiful under the water. AND i hear it gets so much better. Once we get scuba certified, there is one spot here where every scuba diver wants to go to...its called the Keramas. Its an area of small uninhabited islands and you take a boat ride out to it...about an hour boat ride, i think? I hear its amazing. I CANNOT WAIT to see it. We didn't capture too many fish on camera this snorkeling adventure. First, our camera started acting funny half way through our adventure. We did see a school of fish, which was cool. AND a few LARGE cool looking fish we hadn't seen yet...and of course the small bright blue fish that are everywhere. And the puffer fish and the fish from NEMO. The fish have lots of hiding spots here in this spot. BUT i did enjoy watching the fish feed on the bottom of the ocean.
I wish everyone had the opportunity to come see us here in Okinawa. It's such a neat place with so much to do. I am just dying to get ALL MY FAMILY here to show them this awesome place! :) DYING! :) If i could fly everyone here i would do it in a heartbeat. But we can't.
We went bowling on FHE night. Here are a couple pics... It was lots of fun for us. AND MOMMY beat everyone! woohoo! Girl power! haha...totally kidding. Well, kidding about the girl power, but i really did beat everyone. :)
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