Saturday turned out to be such a perfect day that Kelsie and I decided to go on a bike ride beach hunt, so we mounted our metal steeds and headed toward the water. We found a much shorter and direct route than the one we had previously took on foot.
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| But I'd rather be riding this |
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| Such pretty blue water |
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| Took a couple wrong turns, but still found cool stuff. I don't know what this place was but there were some cool caves in the backyard. |
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| Clear water. Made it to the water, now to find the beach |
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| The sandstone looks really neat. This ledge was pretty high up, can't really tell from the angle though. |
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| Some serious bamboo. |
We eventually found a beach, a small one but a nice sandy beach nonetheless. Too wet and sandy for pictures.
Sunday:
So today we went on an MWR trip to go sea kayaking around the 99 Islands and do some snorkeling. Turns out, nobody else signed up for this trip (are you people crazy?!) so Kelsie and I had our own private tour of the islands. Once our tour guide realized we were pretty competent in kayaking skills, he offered to train us to get our basic self and assisted rescue official certification. This is normally something you have to take a seperate class for and pay extra, but since we were already out there, hey why not. So with the certification, we are able to take out the kayaks on our own whenever we want. This is so great because the Outdoor Adventure Center also rents out camping gear. So the next free weekend we have we're totally camping on one of the islands. The whole 99 Islands area (there's actually more than 99) is a national park so you can camp anywhere. We scoped out some special spots along our way. SWEEEEET!
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| Today was a bit windier and overcast so we decided to go with the wetsuits. |
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| Taking a trail on one of the islands. You had to walk through so many banana spider webs, not even funny. We let him go first. |
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| RUN! |
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| made it out alive. |
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| Check out the cliff sides! |
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| cool stone |
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| planking. had to do it at least once hahahaa |
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| You can walk really far out on this stone ledge. It's not submerged in water during low tides. |
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| hung out in the octopus' garden under the sea |
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| There's a flat spot over there that looks pretty perfect to set up camp. |
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| And wake up to this, yes please. |
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| Certified. |
After hours of paddling and climbing rocks and hiking around, it sounded like a good idea to go to the onsen (natural hotspring) to soak our tired muscles and end our week. We found out where there's one in Sasebo that we could easily bike to. We found it no problem, and slowly wandered in, not quite sure what we were supposed to do or what to expect. We were directed to the third floor lady's "general bathroom". Luckily, there was a sign with directions of how to properly enter the spa. Step one, take off all your clothes. At first, this was a little bit uncomfortable and awkward. There were a lot of women bathing and what not so I pretty much just got in the water as fast as I could. We felt a bit cramped in this particular room and noticed the sign pointing to the rooftop "outdoor bathroom". So we decided to check that out. We climbed to the top floor and walked out to this magnificent hotspring bath on the roof of the building. The building is located up a steep hill on the side of a moutain and from the rooftop is a breathtaking view of the city lights. We had the rooftop to ourselves, under the stars. My inhibitions melted away as I gently eased my way in to the hot, steamy water. I can't begin to explain how tranquil and purifying this experience was to me. It was like the water opened every pore of my body releasing all tension and negative energy. I felt clean to the soul and completely rejuvinated. It was a beautiful moment that I cannot share in pictures, but I'm not sure a picture could even capture the essence. To the Japanese, this is just an after work visit to relax and refresh, but to me it was my way of finding my peace of mind.
