Cape Zampa exploration

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Okinawa, despite the fact that we are once again on a typhoon watch!  Apparently in preparation for bad weather, we were blessed with great weather - clear skies, fluffy white clouds, a breeze and temperatures and humidity both lower than they have been.  I decided I needed to explore......Dewitt agreed to come along!  (LOL, I'm fairly certain he will think twice the next time I ask if he wants to hang out for the day!)

We actually started with the intent of finding the weekend "flea market" that rotates among the military bases.  This weekends event was to be held at Camp Kinser. 

I have no idea where Camp Kinser is.  Neither does Dewitt ( as I later discovered!)

First stop, Camp Foster so Dewitt can get some money from the bank.  He went to the bank, I wandered around the scuba shop.  It is a TERRIBLE scuba shop and made me appreciate how awesome Scuba Specialties is as a dive shop!  There rest of the building around the bank were typical anonymous buildings - I still don't know what most of them are and they're rather dreary looking, like most military building are!

This is the movie theater at Camp Foster.  Most of the bases have their own thearter and they show a different movie each night.

After finishing up at Foster, we set off in search of Camp Kinser.  Neither us knew which way to go......we drove for about 4 miles headed towards the airport before I decided the odds of the camp being in that direction weren't great so we executed a U turn (there are a lot of U turns that happen here!) and headed back in other direction.  We passed Kadena AFB.......we passed through three or four towns (the towns are all connected, sort of like how Phoenix blends with Glendale that blends with Peoria) no sight or indication that Camp Kinser was anywhere near.  I decided I didn't really need to go to a flea market anyway and when I saw the sign for Cape Zampa, we headed in that direction.  The road had followed the coastline from a distance up to this point but now we were right on the shoreline.  I found a place to park and we found a beautiful, and completely deserted beach.

 
 After strolling a bit, we continued on our way, looking for more interesting sights.  I realized we were on the leeward side of the cape and we made our way to the actual tip of the point.  First stop, a great park area with lots of picnic ramadas, a HUGE cooking area, and a gigantic Shisa statue......a perfect photo opportunity!

The Shisa or Lion-dog is a symbol of good luck and protection.  They are most often found in pairs and are used to catch the bad spirits and protect homes from harm.  You can see how big this one is with me standing next to it!  Most of the houses in Okinawa have small Shisa on their gates or patio walls. 

 We finished taking photos at the statue and drove a bit further down the road to the point and lighthouse.  The water here is GORGEOUS, deep vivid blue and the breeze had picked up considerably.  There were plenty of signs marking this as a dangerous area - I was told in my newcomers briefing the military has lost a number of men from this area as a result of cliff diving and drowning from the tide surge. 

This is a picture of the area, the first beach pictures were taken along the leeward side where the pretty light blue water is.  The lighthouse is located at the very tip of the cape and the split between the sides of the point creates treacherous waters.

 The water is beautiful but the rocks are sharp....flipflops were not the best choice in footwear for this part of the adventure!

You can see how much harder the wind was blowing at this spot - gorgeous views though and definitely a place I want to explore further!