Zamami Island

I have an adventurous hubby that keeps us running! We’ve done something big every single weekend since we got into our house. Last weekend we went to Zamami Island which was an all day event and worth how exhausted we were by the time we got home. We booked it through the base travel group called ITT so they took care of everything, we just had to show up. We boarded the bus early on Saturday morning, I think it was 7:30…not really sure because I was still half asleep;) We took a 30ish minute drive to where we would board the ferry. The ferry ride was about an hour, during which time poor Arabella threw up 3 times! She felt so horrible but managed to keep a smile on her face.

Before the vomiting ensued.

Little traveler & blanky

As usual, I’ve gotta prove I was there.

After arriving on Zamimi Island we took a bus to the beach where we would be spending the day. Aidan was there somewhere.

We got to this gorgeous beach, set up camp and the kids hit the sand running…

except for Eva. She HATED the sand AND the water!

She walked around crying and begging me to hold her to save her from the gritty, sticky mess that surrounded her for a couple of minutes until…wait a second…

BEACH TOYS!!! After that discovery she was all about the beach. She loved it!

The kids spent the whole day in the water.

My absolute favorite part of the whole day was seeing Aidan and Maya experience something new and discover a love for snorkeling! I first snorkeled and fell in love with it on our honeymoon so for them to be able to do it and love it at such a young age made me so happy! They were both so great at it too! Rich and I loved taking turns and going out with each of them.

Maya just back from snorkeling with daddy.

This place was gorgeous!

 

After spending almost the whole day on the beach we hopped on a ghetto bus and took a tour of the island.

The tour really helped me to have an appreciation for how lucky we were to be able to visit such a beautiful place!

Oh Eva!

That’s better.

The beach we were on all day is in the lower right.

Eva didn’t really care to have her picture taken, I guess.

Along the way we stopped at a doggy monument. Our guide told us the story about two dogs named Shiro and Marilyn. It was a very romantic story about how Shiro met Marilyn while visiting Zamami from Aka and fell in doggy love. After returning to Aka, he would swim the almost 2 miles every day to see her. Their love story got international attention and a movie was even made about them. One day, Marilyn was hit by a car and killed. Shiro never knew what happened to Marilyn but he continued to make the 2 mile journey every day. This is a statue of Marilyn and there is a statue of Shiro on Aka Island.

At the last stop of our tour there was a little girl with her grandmother. Her grandmother was so excited for the little girl to talk to the kids in English. She tried and tried to get her to say hello but the little girl was so terrible shy.

After the tour we boarded the ferry to head back to Okinawa and who do you think was sitting in front of us?

She was so cute! She wouldn’t talk to us but she did share all of her candy with the girls. She just stared at us and smiled for about 30 minutes until I finally decided to invite her to come sit with us. That’s when she became besties with Arabella. We found out her name is Dino.

As the ferry reached land, they both ran to the back together to watch.

ARABELLA & DINO

Even though they couldn’t communicate they loved being together. It was the cutest thing to watch them! When they said goodbye they were all giggles and they kept hugging each other and lifting each other up.

Zamami Island definitely did not disappoint! We had such a great time and made so many great memories!