The day before, we went to the Naha Tourist Center to find out how we could do a whale watching tour. There are many companies offering them, but there was one in particular that they recommended: Cerulean Blue. We made a reservation with the English speaking staff and we were offered a free pick-up service from the hotel. The time of the pick-up was decided later that day so we received a fax (yes, you are reading that right. Faxing is still done everyday in Japan) at our hotel.

At 8:25 we stepped in the bus with many Chinese tourists and went to the harbor. There a dressed-like-a-teenager-but-way-past-that-age employee made us sign a form that strangely did not state that they were not responsible for any injuries, but instead told something about seasickness and that we could get another tour for free if we didn't see a whale.

And off we went. Luckily we could sit on the upper deck with a clear view to all sides and no plastic curtains in the way. The captain searched for the whales for half an hour and he wasn't alone in that. Of course all the companies work together and during the morning we saw eight other boats with some 40 tourists per boat. Although the sea was very calm from time to time we encountered a wave of course. Most Japanese tourists acted as if we were in an attraction park with many ooh's and ah's and the occasional shriek.

When one boat finds the whales the others come rushing to it and the 'hunt' is on. Each captain tries to predict the direction of the whales and places his boat in the best position. Our boat 'won' many times so we could see them often. Describing the feeling when you see your first whale is almost impossible.

Let's say it was close to AMAZING. You know they are huge from text books but seeing them live is entirely different. It's mating season for them so they are often swimming in pairs. They want to 'impress' one another but they impressed us too! Flipping fins, popping out with a head and sprouting water is fun to see. Of course everyone wanted to see, film and photograph it so when we saw them the first time everyone rushed to that side. There is a small chance that the boat topples over then, so the crew was frantically trying to calm everyone down. After that we saw them many times which calmed everybody down and everyone always had a great view. The whales stay below water most of the time and it's a huge guess where they will pop up next. Just before they surface you can see the water 'changing' so everyone looked out for that. Sometimes they were very near the last sighting spot, but sometimes they were almost a kilometer away. After almost two hours of following them, we returned to the main land with hundreds of photos and a lot of video. Most people were sleeping when we arrived due to the warm weather and gentle rocking of the boat. It was a very nice experience that we would recommend to everyone.

In the bus to the harbor we saw two temples that we wanted to visit, so we decided to walk back to the hotel. We waved the rest of the people who took the shuttle bus back to their hotel goodbye and we were on our way. The first temple, Naminoue-gu, was very near but not so impressive. The wide asphalt road up for the cars destroyed a bit of the atmosphere of the temple. We did see Okinawa influences in this temple, like the roof. Right next to it is Naminoue beach which was much nicer. It was the first time we went to the beach in Okinawa and as it was off season, very quiet. Not more than 10 people at a time were dipping their toes in the seawater. It wasn't warm yet, but not chilly either. We searched for some shells and found coral too, lots of small pieces of it. After walking around with some shells for about half an hour, Michelle wanted to take a picture of what she had found and placed them on the sand. One of them took its chance and wanted to 'walk' away on its spider-like legs! We waited to see if it popped out again, but alas and we put it back where we found it.

The next temple turned out to be a garden instead with waterfalls, ponds and Chinese-type buildings. This Fukushu-en Garden was much nicer than we expected. The scenery was nice for our lunch, a quiet stroll, good photo opportunities and had a good atmosphere. Feeding the koi and turtles was fun with petting the kitty an added bonus. Along this visit we met a nice woman and her mother and kept on chatting during our joint tour of the park. They offered to take us to another park by car. This was a nice opportunity and we said yes. No, we were not afraid of being kidnapped they were very nice people! When we walked to their car we were surprised that there was no parking fee for parking so close to the garden.

The second garden, Shikina-en, was a world heritage site since it was the second house of the king some 600 years ago. There he would receive visitors from China and other countries. The Chinese influence was present here and there, but other cultures were intermixed as well. The small bridged, tea-house and main building were nice to see and you could walk inside as well. The park itself was not so impressive since most of it was too dry and the spring season had already past this far south, but we did see a banana tree in bloom. It was still a pleasant afternoon with nice weather and some Japanese practice because Yoko Mukai-san knew a lot about the park and buildings and explained it in easy to understand Japanese. It was very interesting.

We were brought back to the main street, Kokusai dori, where we visited some shops and had dinner. To end the day well, Michelle took a Thai foot massage. It was nice though sometimes painful and the day after she had some bruises from the force of it!