We tried to be in the water as much as possible during the long weekend. Shawn got the smallpox vaccine right when we got here and wasn't allowed to get in any water until it healed up.....which took forever! Friday night after work, we headed back to Camp Courtney (Shawn's base) to do a little snorkeling. What we didn't know was that it was super rocky and not great for swimming. The plus side was that all of the rocks house tons of fish! So it was perfect for snorkeling and I'm pretty sure we'll be going there a lot!
(No pictures because we were having too much fun!)
The kids have been asking to go to the Okinawa Comprehensive Water Park (where the "jackpot playground" is) since we went to the playground. So, Saturday morning, we headed to the waterpark. If a waterpark looked like this in the US, I think it would get bad reviews. Grass and weeds everywhere. The waterslides are old and dirty. Everything in Okinawa just seems dingy. But in an environment like this, I don't see how you could keep up with making everything look good. There is a huge lazy river, 3 water slides, kiddy area, bridges to connect everything, shaded areas, snack shop and you can rent almost everything there. It cost us around $25 to get in. Total! You can't beat that!
Here comes Amelia down the slide.
And Caleb.
The water in the lazy river was so warm it wasn't even refreshing. I kept trying to get the kids back to the kiddy side where the water was cold. This mister ball thingy would freeze you out! It was awesome!
Kiddy slide.
Caleb coming down the tube slide.
Big splash!
Here comes Amelia.
Baby splash :o)
Sunday after church, we decided to head to Surfer's Point by our house to do some more snorkeling. The waves were pretty choppy and it wasn't really a great day for it (or maybe it was just the area that day, who knows).
We walked out on the rocks to try to get a better look at all the tide pools and saw crabs, tiny fish, and sea cucumbers. We also saw a few jellyfish with no tentacles. I'm not sure if they can still sting you, but we decided it was time to go.
(Not to mention, our friends' little girl got stung by a jellyfish here - I didn't mention that to the kids).
Sea cucumber.
Almost everyone here likes to go to the beaches that have nets around them. I didn't know what that meant until someone mentioned the jellyfish, which I guess are bad there. The nets keep the jellyfish out of the swimming areas. Also, the box jellyfish is like the most poisonous thing on earth and they inhabit the waters here. (I might be exaggerating a little bit, but they say if you don't seek immediate medical attention, you might die, so....).
We're going to try not to be afraid and still get in the water as much as possible.
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