We woke up early that day, to catch a bus to Yoshihara, which is in the North part of the island. The plan is to meet people from Apnea adventures and to go sea kayaking with them.
We discovered them on the internet, and we called them a few days earlier to book the trip. The woman we got on the phone, Miyuki, was very friendly and helpful and spoke good english.

When we left Ishigaki bus terminal, the weather was not good : grey sky and rain was threatening… After a 50 min ride, we arrived at Yoshihara bus stop, where Miyuki picked us up a few minutes later. She drove us to Yamabare where the headquarters of Apnea Adventures are. We met there Mr. Yamas***a, our japanese guide, and Hiro, a young trainee who was here for his first day. And no one else ! So we were going to be just the 4 of us on this trip !
For the record, the half-day trip is 6000 yens per person, plus 1000 yens for an extra wetsuit rental.
Miyuki told us on the phone that Mr. Yamas***a did not speak english, but actually he had basic skills and we managed to have basic discussion even when Miyuki had left.

He showed us the double seat open sea kayaks we were going to use, and he suggested we all wore a wetsuit, especially for snorkeling. He then drove us to Yonehara campground, which is a 10 min ride.
We started with a bit of stretching on the beach, and finally got in the sea kayaks. Mr Yamas***a and Hiro shared one, and O. and I shared the other one. We headed towards the blue cave, kayaking on a gentle sea with almost no wind and high tide at that time of the day.





When we arrived at the blue cave, we entered it and dropped our kayaks on a beach inside it. We then explored the cave with Mr Yamas***a who showed us very nice hidden places. We have to say it is too bad that the weather was so grey, because that place must really look amazing with sunshine !

Before leaving the cave, Mr Yamas***a showed us a very special anemone in the shallow water just at the entrance of it: 3 clown fishes (or "Nemo") were playing in it ! Kawaii !







We then headed to the outer coral reef and started snorkeling. It was just amazing to see so many colorful fishes and large coral. We spent an hour or so exploring this magnificent place, and finally came back to Yonehara beach as the tide was low.





We took a cold but free shower there to rinse ourselves, then drove back to Yamabare, and we discussed there for quite some time with Mr Yamas***a about his passion of surfing, and especially his idol: Gerry Lopez. He showed us an amazing poster where you can see Gerry Lopez surfing Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii, and the wave behind him looks like a God's face !

Despite the grey weather, this has been a wonderful experience, both sea kayaking and snorkeling, and meeting Mr Yamas***a !



He then gave us a ride to Kabira bay, since buses are really not frequent in this part of the island ! Kabira Bay is a protected area since black pearl is cultivated there. Hence you cannot swim in the bay, but you can admire the landscape. Even with grey skies, we could see how clear the sea was there ! Many boats offer tours in the bay to enjoy the beauty of the place through their glass bottoms.

We had lunch in a restaurant close to the bay, and then walked to Sukuji beach. We crossed many rice fields on the way. When we arrived there, we could hardly enjoy the scenery as it started to rain quite heavily (have a look at the video) ! It lasted for more than an hour and we finally found refuge in the lobby of Seamen's Club Hotel while waiting for the bus back to Ishigaki !

We finally made a stop in a combini before returning to the hotel for a good night sleep.