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Ishigaki Island
Have you ever fallen in love at first sight? Well, at the end of October I instantly fell in love with Ishigaki Island. (Map) "ishi" means rock, and "gaki" means wall, so the island gets its name from the typical protective walls that surround the traditional houses. The islands don't seem to get many earthquakes (so the walls don't fall down) but there are quite a few big typhoons each season, so I suppose the walls help protect the buildings from the wind.
We hadn't been on a vacation in MANY years, and when I had the chance of a five day vacation from work, I decided that a tropical place would be nice to visit, because I had never been to anywhere like that. I'm not so interested in popular destinations like Hawaii or Guam, Australia is too far, and the Maldives too far and much too expensive. So I decided to go to Japan's own tropical paradise.
Ishigaki is part of the Yaeyama Island chain and is very close to Taiwan. I'm surprised how many people I have spoken to that say they have never been. I'm amazed how easy (and cheap) it is to go to Hawaii, but how people forget the beauty in their own backyard :) We stayed for 4 nights, 5 days and it was so wonderful I really didn't want to come back.
There was still a chance of a late typhoon as it was the very end of October, but the weather was hot (about 30 C) and sunny. The sea temperature was still 26 - 27 C, so I could snorkel for the first time in my life. The island is great for beginners as nice reefs can be found right near the beach. There were so many fabulous things about Ishigaki, and it is difficult to do justice to it in words. Please enjoy my photos, and some day, be sure to go for yourself!
Have you ever fallen in love at first sight? Well, at the end of October I instantly fell in love with Ishigaki Island. (Map) "ishi" means rock, and "gaki" means wall, so the island gets its name from the typical protective walls that surround the traditional houses. The islands don't seem to get many earthquakes (so the walls don't fall down) but there are quite a few big typhoons each season, so I suppose the walls help protect the buildings from the wind. 
We hadn't been on a vacation in MANY years, and when I had the chance of a five day vacation from work, I decided that a tropical place would be nice to visit, because I had never been to anywhere like that. I'm not so interested in popular destinations like Hawaii or Guam, Australia is too far, and the Maldives too far and much too expensive. So I decided to go to Japan's own tropical paradise. 
Ishigaki is part of the Yaeyama Island chain and is very close to Taiwan. I'm surprised how many people I have spoken to that say they have never been. I'm amazed how easy (and cheap) it is to go to Hawaii, but how people forget the beauty in their own backyard :) We stayed for 4 nights, 5 days and it was so wonderful I really didn't want to come back.
There was still a chance of a late typhoon as it was the very end of October, but the weather was hot (about 30 C) and sunny. The sea temperature was still 26 - 27 C, so I could snorkel for the first time in my life. The island is great for beginners as nice reefs can be found right near the beach. There were so many fabulous things about Ishigaki, and it is difficult to do justice to it in words. Please enjoy my photos, and some day, be sure to go for yourself!
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