Eerily quiet...except for the bagpipes!

Oh my god, what a long trip this has been.  We started by leaving the house at about 10:30 yesterday morning, and had lunch at Gordon Biersch at the airport.  We then went to meet Alison and her family, and give her the key to Wayne’s car.  Alison is watching the house for us until the 5th (the whole family is here while her husband is training).  She actually said that my cats were beautiful and sweet and attentive.

I wonder if she got the wrong house.

Grant will start on the 6th until our return on the 16th.  In the meantime, wheels are turning, brains are churning (well, mine) as we start out on this trip.  The Judge in our CASA case amended her findings of fact, and made them more in alignment with In re: AS, which means we don’t have an argument.  We emailed back and forth quite a bit over the course of the day today, and it looks like we are retracting the appeal.  It was a gut wrenching decision, but I couldn’t see the practicality of moving forward - the program needs to maintain its credibility, as do its attorneys.  Insert sad face here.

Anyway, here we are in Kentucky!  And don’t even ask me to describe the leap in logic it took for me to go from court to Kentucky.  You don’t want to know.

Our first flight was to LAX, and we were scheduled for a roughly two hour layover.  We were upgraded on the Houston leg, so we felt it wouldn’t be too bad.  Unfortunately, our flight attendants were coming over from another flight, where they had to take care of a passenger (who knows what the emergency was), so we departed quite a bit late, but made up time in the air.  We arrived at Houston, got to take a shower in the United Club, and had some breakfast before heading to B terminal.  There, our flight was delayed again because of problems at the point of origin.  I wasn’t too worried, after all, Faye’s retirement ceremony was scheduled for 3:30 pm.  And we got in to Louisville in plenty of time, checking into the visiting quarters, grabbing a hasty lunch, and prepping for attending her ceremony.

There was a lovely detailing of the ceremony as a whole in the program you see to the left.  And it mostly followed the schedule.  Except for the fact that the retirement party was preceded by a bagpiper both at the beginning and the end of the ceremony!  Amazing gift that her colleagues shared with her.  Plus the Army Band.  How much more could a girl want? Her host of the ceremony knew her so well, and coordinated his commentary with so very many of those she has touched in her past.  I can honestly say, with no hesitation, Faye Brown is a woman of integrity, precision, and love.  And it flowed back at her 1000 fold today at the ceremony.  I was really just so happy to be able to be here to share in it, and both Wayne and I were surprised to be recognized, but certainly not overly so.  Faye touches everyone with her heart.  It was particularly heartwarming to see so many of her family here at the ceremony today, and to see the cadre of professionals who came forward to pay their respect and show their love and support.

After the ceremony, we were all brought in to a dinner where there was a partial roast by hubby, Skipper (aka Roger Brown), and a bit more from all others who came forward to speak.  I think Faye’s day was a lovely day, and it’s one that I will remember for a very, very long time.  

Wayne and I left at about 7, and had a nice stroll around Fort Knox for about an hour in order to finally get our ducks in a row and get some sleep.  He certainly got his fair share last night and today on the plane rides, but I had a rough night of it.  The turbulence we experienced influenced my dreams, I think, and caused me some unpleasant dreams.  At one point, I think I woke up with a bit of a scream coming out of my throat.  Not reassuring to others, I am sure.

Tomorrow looks like it brings the zoo and perhaps a bourbon tasting session, but definitely lunch at a place called Mussel and Burger Bar.  I can’t wait to see what it brings.

Night, y’all!

On another adventure

Today starts a multi-leg trip visiting friends, family and going diving.  First leg is to Fort Knox, KY, where we will see our good friend Faye finally retire after 30+ years of service.  She leaves at the top of the game, and with some sadness on the part of her colleagues.  From there, we see Philip and Stephanie Varvell - they and Wayne have not yet met!  This will be followed by a trip down to the US and British Virgin Islands, where we will hike and dive with Jodi and Matt for about 10 days.  And we’re off!

Time for the long journey home

Wayne was up again at 0-dark-thirty running the tub and clearing out his sinuses.  Something in the clinic was being passed around before he left, and it seems as though he shared some of it with me.  Thank goodness for Emergen-C, and for the 5000 IU vitamin C drink I found at Don Quijote.  We have been doing a lot of "mask clearing" on those three dives in the guise of blowing our noses.  Looks like his congestion is here to stay.

We did a final walk through Onno Village this morning, roughly a two mile jaunt.  We were going to need to get in walking, because we will be in transit for about 15 hours today, with a lot of sitting, and very little exercising.  Maybe a lap or two around Narita will be in store.  And in case you were wondering, the “bus” next to which Wayne is standing is not real.  It is a “K Car” with a VW logo on it, painted the exact appropriate colors!

Smooth sailing to return the rental car, and we wound up going over a bridge that looks like the Friendship Bridge in Palau.  It must be a common type of architecture in Japan.  Regardless, it was fun to ride across in daylight hours!

And now we are in the ANA lounge awaiting our 12:20 flight to Narita.  I was happily able to finish up the blog, and will post it when we get to Narita.  I will probably update yesterday’s entries with photos from our dives, but the gist will remain the same.

There is so much to see, to do, to eat here in Okinawa, I feel as though we didn’t even scratch the surface.  I told Wayne I wished Eliot was doing a Darien and spending two years here.  We could come back for two weeks the next time and get in so much more.  I really highly recommend this trip to anyone and everyone - it has been amazing.

Have a wonderful day!

Back in the water again

We got up this morning, but I slept in while Wayne went out walking along the beach at the resort.  He found it quite enjoyable, and I enjoyed the extra rest.  Then it was off to breakfast, and then to Maeda Point.

Maeda Point is also known as “Danger Spot Number Five” according to the AFN commercials.  Those of you who read this who were stationed overseas remember commercials like that, along with the OPSEC commercials...Some days the point earns that reputation, other days it is a beautiful place to dive or snorkel, as it was today.  The key is checking out the sea conditions before you gear up.  If the water is rough or foamy there is no safe place to don or remove your fins or even get a secure foothold. Two days ago, when the water was flat, we saw signs placed at the top of the stairs warning swimmers about the sea condition.  But two airmen who were coming up the steps said not to worry, the dive was good and conditions were fine.

We got there, and entered the paid parking lot.  It is 100 yen/hour.  We put together our gear, and consolidated our valuables into one backpack, which Wayne then put into a locker in the men’s shower room.  Of course, I managed to leave my compass and my mask inside the car, so he had to go back, get the keys, open up the car, and pay another 100 yen for the locker.  :p

Once we were geared up, it was time to hike down to the entry point.  There were a lot of steps.  A lot.  I can only imagine how much of a pain in the butt it was to get down when there weren’t any stairs.  We waded out to waist level, put on our fins, and swam out to the dropoff.  Our first dive was to the left, second to the right with the cave.  Towards the left side we saw a Heron Ardeadoris nudibranch, which was quite lovely; a cluster of at least 10 fire dart fish, if not more; a free swimming banded snake eel; and a number of ferocious anemone fish, bent on protecting their anemones!  They were reminiscent of the Hawaiian Dascyllus, which come out to attack if you get too close as well.

To the right, we started out looking for the cave, which is a very popular tourist site, but we veered away from the shore out a little further.  There we saw a school of what I think were pinnate spadefish, more anemone fish, and a juvenile bumphead parrotfish.  We wended our way to the cave, and there we saw an even more interesting group - dive instructors doing what appeared to be discover scuba diving dives!  The instructors were indivdiually holding two divers each, and guiding them to the cave.  Personally, I didn’t find the cave to be too exciting - as you go up to the top, there is an air pocket where you can take your reg out and breathe normally.  Having done chandelier cave in Palau many, many times, I’d already checked that block.

If you decide to dive here, it’s really easy.  You descend and go either right or left, and when you hit what you want to be your halfway point, turn around and come back.  Make sure you have more than a half tank left, there can be some strong current on your way in.

This was the first time we have done two shore dives in a morning in a long time.  We have taken to doing one long dive in the mid morning, and then enjoying a lunch out in the mid afternoon.  This was a bit of work :)

After rinsing gear, we brought the tanks and weights back to Torii.  I checked out the rental/fill prices.  A 100 fill card was $400, for either 32 or 36!  $4 per tank!  Rental was only $9/tank!!!  And weights were $2 per day.  You can’t beat that.  At all.  Lunch was at the beach cafe (really just a pavilion with tables and chairs served by a short order grill staff), and had a late lunch.  We were starving, and we weren’t let down with the food.  All in all, thumbs up for Torii Dive Locker, and Torii Station in general.

We got back to the resort, cleaned ourselves up, and took a nap at about 6 pm, setting the alarm for 7.  We had checked out the menu for the resort restaurant, and were looking forward to dinner.  Alas, no menu, only buffet style, with food I would very likely not eat.  We went out to another Okinawan food style restaurant, which Wayne predicted a) I wouldn’t like and b) wouldn’t take credit cards.  We will never know about a, but b was true.  So we headed back to our home away from home, and went to check out the Joyfull restaurant (yes, Joyfull!).  

We were pleasantly suprised with the menu, and definitely happy about the prices.  And they have an ordering system I wish more restaurants would have.  Instead of waitstaff hovering over you, when you have made up your mind, you press a buzzer, and they come and take your order, instantly sending it to the kitchen.  Your meal comes out in about 5 minutes.  Wayne had mackerel, I had steak, and we both ate happily.

Once again, two tired puppies are headed to bed.

Oyasuminasai!

Sweet dreams!!

To dive, or not to dive?

How can that even be a question?

Well, we had a date with a REAL whale shark today!  We went and checked out both the Kadena dive shop and the Torii Station dive shop.  While the Kadena dive shop had DIN tanks, Torii had two different things that really tipped the scales.  First, they rent nitrox tanks for $9 each.  Second, they feature a whale shark dive!  You have to make your reservations 24 hours in advance, and it fills up quickly, so once you know you are going to Okinawa, get in touch!

Annually, approximately 40 whale sharks are caught accidentally by Okinawan fishing nets. Before they are released, the fishing company holds them in a net enclosure, feeds them well, and offers divers a once in a lifetime encounter with them. Some of these whale sharks may end up in the Churaumi Aquarium or the Ring of Fire Aquarium in Osaka, but most of them are released back into the ocean after they have recuperated.

We had been worried that we would miss the dive, as 1 divemaster per four divers is required, but the shop manager blessed us with an additional divemaster (professional courtesy and good business), so we were on.

At 12:30, we received our briefing, which was a little humorous at times (do you know how to do a boat dive?  A back roll entry?).  We rented our tanks (it’s a one tank dive which lasts about 40-45 minutes) and weights.  At 1:00 we went tothe Yomiton Port, and joined a multitude of divers from Top Marine.  We loaded up our gear after assembling it (and it was HOT), and proceeded out on the 5 minute boat ride.  When we got out there, we did our back rolls in, and Wayne’s reel separated and headed into the net enclosure, where a 15’ whale shark was circling, getting fed.  Once his issue was resolved, we headed down to join our companions, inside the net.  Unfortunately, when we got down there, my camera screen went black, and the on/off and picture buttons wouldn’t respond.  Although I didn’t know it at the time, the new portable charger I bought for my Sony batteries did not work, and I had put in a dead battery.  :(  At least we had Wayne’s camera, which he shared with me.  While the overall experience felt a bit contrived, there was still a profound majesty about the encounter.  Watching the whale shark eat, and its gills move as it inhaled its food was amazing.  And there was a multitude of other fish out in the water with him (it is a juvenile male).  Of course, we didn’t pay as much attention to them…

Most of the residents stay less than a year, and they seem to enjoy interacting with the divers, frequently nudging them, and seemingly asking for attention.  Check out the information and video for the whale shark dive here.

We came up from the dive happy, and rented 4 nitrox tanks for tomorrow.  We will be diving Maeda Beach in the morning.

Then it was off to AJ Onna Biru Resort Hotel.  Arrival got off to a rocky start - we had pre-paid for the room, but needed to pay a double occupancy supplement.  I don’t speak Japanese.  The front desk clerks don’t speak English.  And add to that, the internet didn’t seem to work, so the husband was particularly cranky.  Luckily, a woman (manager I would guess) came out and showed the clerk the error of his ways.  She then gave us a D-Link wifi signal generator for the room, and off we went.

And the air conditioning didn’t work, it was off when we got in the room.  The manager came up to try to fix it, to no avail, so another gentleman came up and reset the unit.  We should be cool tonight.

From here, it was off to a final dinner with a freshly shorn Eliot, at a Brazilian steakhouse/churrascaria in Chatan (aka America Town).  It was nice, but not completely authentic - no sushi!  The drive to Nishihara was a wild one - I don’t think I’ve ever seen Wayne hit 120 km/h, but he did on the way to pick up Eliot!  The steak and pork and chicken were good, and the boys enjoyed their chicken hearts.  I think Mr. Keo would have appreciated that.  

We said our final farewells to Eliot at around 9 pm, and I drove us to our new residence for the next two nights.  It was a good day.

Oyasuminasai!