Paddleboarding

 

I love this little splash of water...and there is a blurry paddleboarder in the background.  Captured!

These photos were taken by my amazing and talented husband, Adam.  

 Cinder at full speed. 

A day at the beach with Cinder is both wonderful, and exhausting...not exactly relaxing.  We have to constantly be aware of who may come around the corner, any animals she might decide to run towards..(lately she feels as though she can fly, chasing birds no matter where they are headed), what she is chewing on...(in past instances, dead fish carcasses), why she is out of sight and how long it will take us to find her...we could always just tie her up, which we've done at more public beaches...but then she can't run with her tongue flapping in the wind and her big lips formed into a smile, kicking up sand with all fours in the air at once...It's the best day of her life, most days of the week.  We can all learn from her.  :)

 When we aren't worrying about Cinder's escape artistry, or any stimuli inducing such acts...we are usually staring out at the sunset...which seems to be especially incredible here on Okinawa.

I love his photography.  Inspirational! This picture in particular...that is a paddleboarder out in the ocean, just under the sun.  Perfectly framed clouds with the horizon. Beautiful and natural color. 

Marina beach clean-up

 Beautifying the beaches!!  Giving all those hermit crabs some room to breath!

An ocean away

Looking out over the ocean everyday is truly marvelous.  It's funny, sometimes I will go days without even noticing that its there...in all its vastness...surrounding us from all sides.  Other days, we will go out on the balcony and stare at brilliant sunsets, reflected over the water...take a deep breath and remember our insignificance in this great world.  Remember....71% of the earth's surface is covered by oceans.  Pretty amazing.

 

view from our balcony

The beaches never disappoint.  So refreshing and cold on these really hot summer days.  It's still so hot and it's September!  We are waiting very patiently for the cold front to move in...aka low 80s. 

The beaches during the summer weekends get pretty packed with people.  It's fun to hunt for shells during the week and take the dog out when no one is around; dig our toes into the sand, marvel at underwater life, look out over the ocean and let our minds wander.

Chicken Pot Pie

I made a delicious chicken pot pie the other day.  Full of veggies and chicken inside of a delicious Pillsbury crust.  This was SO easy to make!  I must say, it wasn't like my Mama's...but I'll be working on that.  Need to start practicing the family dressing recipe for Thanksgiving!

Cape Hedo

We took a little trip to the Northernmost point of Okinawa yesterday.  Cape Hedo is where the East China Sea meets the Pacific.  A gorgeous coastline roadtrip, tunnels, cliffs, rocky beaches, climbing, and one big chicken.

 Monument at the northern tip

 Two bodies of water crash together...literally, the waves were crashing into the cliff.

 Awesome limestone rock was everywhere ...making a very interesting landscape.

 

The layers in the limestone were as thin as paper.

 Of course there was the breathtaking overlook and winning photo for the day...a tropical paradise.

It was a gorgeous spot.  Amazing day for this trip.

 After we left Cape Hedo, we headed down to Usa beach.  Down a winding road surrounded by cliffs.  We arrived at a rocky beach...it reminded us more of a lake.  But we found an amazing climbing spot with tall stone cliffs and boulders, with waves crashing at our feet.

 Rising so dramatically...there were bolted climbs all over this wall!

 Adam, the climber, had to get some chalk on his hands...these rocks were smooth and beautiful.  If they weren't 2 hours away then I'm sure he would be there everyday!

 We were headed on our way to another overlook, when curiosity got the best of us.  There was this giant chicken up on a cliff nearby that you could see all the way from Cape Hedo.  Yes, a chicken.  So we investigated..

 I was clucking like a chicken in this picture...

 Weird..

Rollin in the deep

 My friend, Jane, and I decided to take it to the deep blue.  Water was calm...it was a hot day, but being out on the water definitely cooled us off.

 We both had lobster legs the next day.

We considered paddling to China but decided our husbands would probably worry...

Cliff Climb

Adam is a climbing monkey.
He has been researching all the rock climbing that Okinawa has to offer since before we arrived.  Lucky for him, one of my favorite places on the island, Cape Zampa, offers a 150 ft cliff wall! 
Here are some pics from last weekend.  Adam rappelled down the cliff, reached the bottom and explored the caves and boulders below, and then climbed back up.  I had my feet planted firmly on the ground the entire time...camera in hand.  I have more to live for at the moment.  :)

 The sun was bright and shining right through the water...This is also a pretty popular diving spot on the island.Adam was getting ready to rappel! 

 

See the rope on the left?  He anchored it in 3 places to be on the safe side...or to appease me.  Down he goes..

 He made it look so easy.  Here there's my shadow!

 He looks SO far away at the bottom...a tiny little person surrounded by huge boulders. 

 I love this picture of him walking towards the cave at the bottom of the cliff...in comparison to how small he is, it really shows how huge the mouth of the cave was!

 Beautiful Zampa..

 It was a bright sunny morning, around 8am. 

 Straight down...

 Then he started climbing back up...There were a few spots that were overhung and he had to work pretty hard to get up and over.  I was holding my breath.

 Adam!  I know you're tired, but say cheese!

He made it look so easy...I was so impressed!  The climbing part was fun to watch and everything, but I must say that my favorite part of the day was when we got home and he uploaded the photos that he took from the bottom...and then I saw this picture:

I LOVE THIS PHOTO!!  He's a climbing photographer...amazing!