Another glorious day working with these gentle giants!!! Some of nature’s most wonderful creations!!! Contact Us today!!’If you want to come and experience the joy of meeting them face to face!
Tamatorizaki observation point 玉取崎展望台is one of the major tourist attraction on Ishigaki island 石垣島. It is a free observation point at the northern part of the island, where the Hokubo peninsula 平久保半島starts. It took me more then 3 hours by mamachari bycicle to get there. The road along the coast is quite challenging with a bycicle without gears, because it has lots of small slopes. However, the view is very rewarding with a perfect emerald blue ocean on both sides of the island. And some cool trees. With cows. Very beautiful, indeed!
Kohama island 小浜島 is a small island between Ishigaki 石垣暇 and Iriomote 西表島. There is not much to see there except a great 360° view of the Yaeyama archipelago. Most other small islands there like Taketomi 竹富島 and Kurojima 黒島 are flat like a pancake, so the view is quite exceptionel. It also means that cycling is not as quite as pleaseant as on those flat ones. Anyway, on the way to the top of the observation point you have to cross a small jungle-like forest which is inhabited by giant fruit bats. 大蝙蝠 Horses are just meandering around, too and the small shop at the beach facing Iriomote was quite unique.
Hoshizuna no Hama 星砂の浜 or star-sand beach at Iriomote island 西表島. (1) The name derives from those unique sand grains, shaped in the form of little stars. Nearby Taketomi island 竹富島 is the most famous location for finding it, but the sand there has been filled into bottles ready to be bought by tourists, and it is very hard to find it there. (2) Iriomote’s star-sand beach on the other hand consist almost entirely of those grains. (3) Also, there is a facility for renting snorkeling sets which I would recommend without hestitating, because the shallow water and the coral reef you can literally walk into are fantastic spots for watching fishes in diverse color palettes.
By the way, the stars are not really “sand”. They are the remains of Foraminifera, small organisms who develop a calcium carbonate hull around their monocellular structure. So you’re kind of walking on corpses.
