First Sunsets at our New Home on the Beach in Nakadomari, Okinawa, Japan
These are the first sunset shots from the balcony of our new home in Nakadomari, Okinawa, Japan. The house was not yet finnished but we were able to take a look at the house we found within 24 hours of arriving via Central Housing Office and our new best friend in Okinawa, Emika, who showed it to us. We wanted a dream house on the beach with 110V electricity, all-American fixtures, 3 bedroom, 2 baths...and we found it! This was the best place we have lived in the world! Our Okinawan landlords also owned the fresh seafood restaurant below us and there was plenty of parking on the first floor. We had the most amazing sunsets for 2 years of beach living! Despite the 13 typhoons (including 3 where you could go outside and look up into the bright, sunny eye of the storm!) we were well protected by the shallowness of the bay, a large reef about a mile out from the beach and huge steel shutter dorrs to protect the windows up to 150+ mph winds.
Our views of Nakadomari Beach on the East China Sea our some of our favorite memories of Okinawa.
Nakadomari Beach in on the East China Sea or West side of Okinawa, about half way along the west coast. It is also registered as a National Seashore. The beach has powered paragliders, horses, parasailing, fishing and scuba/snorkelling activities. The famous entrance to the bay is called Maeda Point, where there are stairs carved out of the rocks to allow you to step into the water for surfing, snorkelling and scuba diving. There are some underwater caves to explore in this area and the sealife is incredible, especially the colorful tropical fish you can let eat of of your hand!
In August 2004 we had 12 sea turtle (Japanese Kame) mothers give birth to about 1,000 baby sea turtles that made thier way out into the Pacific Ocaean. All the schools let out so the kids could watch this event of nature. The marine biologists and volunteers had moved the sea turtle nests inland and marked them so they would not be disturbed. Then they checked on all the nests and helped some of the baby sea turtles who got disoriented and tried to move inland vice out to sea.
Nakadomari also has local dragon boat races and the Renaissance Okinawa Resort even has an underwater restaurant and swimming with bottle-nosed dolphins on this beach. We loved the sunsets on Nakadomari Beach and we were thankful for the reef protection during the 12 typhoons we had that year. The beach is not a very sandy consistancy, more like small pieces of seashells so I can't give it a top recommendation rating. If you like to collect seashells though, you'll also like Nakadomari Beach.
