Japan Travel - 3D3N Miyakejima Day1

Journey to Miyakejima begun when we boarded the ship.
Similar to our previous trip to Oshima two years ago, we could only manage to get free seat tickets, which meant there's no room or seat for us to sit/sleep.
We learnt our lesson well from Oshima trip and quickly made our way to the deck to secure sleeping space before it gets overcrowded.

Wind was awfully strong but I dozed off within 30 mins in my sleeping bag XD 

Only one ship available to Miyakejima from Tokyo: 10:30pm - 5am.

The ocean air felt extra dense and salty this night.

DAY 1 :

Sunrise~The sea looks gorgeous and smooth in black. 

Woke up before 4am which is an hour earlier than the arrival time because some idiotic hyperactive high-schooler kept shouting on the deck. 

Our rental car uncle came to fetch us and another group to his shop.
There's 3 ports (two on the left side, one on the right side of the island) and the ship docks on different ports depending on the weather. The car rental people gets info on their own beforehand and goes to the right port.

After some document stuff at the rental shop, we got the keys to our car and headed off to our camping area less than 10 mins away.

We had our tent set up before 6am! So productive of us.

Lazed around and walked at the beach just seconds away from us. The beach are made of black pebbles.

Different wave sound effect with the pebbles rolling when the wave recedes.

Finally mustered the energy to get our ass off and start going around the island at 8am when the sun got too hot.

The mountain that helped to keep our camp chill until 7am. Camping is fun but NEVER camping in summer again.

We decided to drive around the island clock-wise.

First stop is Shiitori Shrine.
Looks a bit on the fantasy side with the bare branches at the top.
The leaves at the top wiltered from the volcanic gases.
There's another secret-like shrine behind this one.

Second stop is Mt. Sanshichiyama. Remembered it to be a parking lot overlooking Mt. Hyoutan and some scenery. Turned back for Mt. Hyoutan ひょうたん山 our third stop which we missed earlier. Interesting feeling to walk on.

The Caldera

Wanted a nice warm meal for lunch but we couldn't find any restaurants that open before 11am. Ended up buying bento boxes because we were too hungry.

Fourth stop was Choutarou Pond (長太郎池), a tide pool! We were among the first people there this season and the guards were really friendly. There were also free marine shoes and life jacket rental! Never had this service before.

After wading around in the tide pool, we walked to the end of the pavement and XW noticed a lot of turtles in the sea! This photo had 4 turtles coming up to breathe. There were at least 20 of them. I didn't know turtles travel in groups.

We spent the rest of the afternoon hunting for spears to do spearfishing. XW had this 'brilliant' idea that spears and snorkels would be widely sold in this remote forsaken island. Miraculously after asking around and being redirected to several shops, we finally found a pharmacy selling them! We were heartbroken and ready to give up when we didn't see any being sold in the shop. Boy, were we exhilarated when the aunty shopkeeper said they actually do have spears when we routinely asked and she went to the storeroom and emerged with two. We bought the spears and snorkeling masks.

We went back to our camping area Ookubo beach to try out immediately. Didn't have the guts to swim far and I just sticked to shallow areas where I can stand up easily. The fish were around the rocky areas as we expected but the waves were awfully rough around those areas.  I got tossed against the rocks a couple of times and we changed spots. Didn't succeed in catching any fish but was still pretty fun.
There are sinks to wash stuff, toilets are washlet type and acceptably clean, there's open shower with hot water, albeit open.

Dinner was BBQ! We failed to get our coals going (probably wet from our overnight ship trip) but XW discovered that the "maki" wood that was laying around makes excellent coals. *survival skills experience points increased*

Hastily drove to Furusato no Yu for onsen before they close at 9pm.
I remember there were lots of stars that night but we were dead tired and slept soon.