Tackling Miyakojima - II
Photo of the end of the breakwater leading out from boat launch area
Day 2 started out early, like before sunrise early, as I used my sun tracking app the night before to plan out sunrise for my first place. I wanted to try take another time lapse, but this time with the sun rising behind the lighthouse at Higashihennazaki. If I factor in food, travel time and scouting time, it meant that I was going to have to get up at 530 am to be ready for sunrise by 719 am.
I warmed up my two onigiri in the microwave that I picked up from the front office when I redeemed my first ticket yesterday. This will have to do for now as I didn’t want to have to stop and get a separate breakfast at a convenience store and waste more time.
When I was ready, I plotted my destination in my AppleMaps app as I could not figure out how to use the rental car’s GPS and proceeded to drive slowly in the dark to my destination.
I had plenty of time to get there. There is no highway on Miyakojima so its just local streets with plenty of street lights and stop signs until you get out of the urban areas. The other good thing was that the speed limit is 40 km/h which makes reaction time really easy early in the morning.
Ever changing weather …
Day 2 - Cape Higashi Hennazaki
The drive was slow and steady in the dark. It was also raining a bit. It was not heavy, more like a passing shower, but this concerned me as rain and clouds meant no sun and no sunrise. I was hoping that by the time I reached my destination the rain would stop and the clouds would blow by.
When I got to my destination, it had gotten lighter outside and the passing showers did taper off but it was still grey with a lot of clouds. The clouds were moving, so that is good news hoping that I can still salvage a sunrise as it was getting close to dawn.
But, at the end; no sunrise. It was unfortunate as you can’t expect everyday to be perfect on vacation.
Even though, the showers did end and the clouds did move around, the colours were still kind of flat, but that did not stop me from taking some pretty amazing photos of the area.
I am most proud of these four as I was able to really ‘punch up’ the colours, contrast and sharpness in Lightroom in post.
Day 2 - 友利博愛漁港, Shigira Beach, Ikema Island (Pacha Beach)
The remainder of the day was to cover the coastline at the “bottom” of Miyakojima from Cape Higashihennazaki to Ikema Island.
友利博愛漁港
This was actually an unplanned stop. My next place that I wanted to visit was Imgya Marine Garden to see some more of the unique rocks and water up close. I wasn’t expecting to stop here but another passing shower had started and I decided that I did not want to drive in the rain. I don’t know how many times I accidentally flipped on the turn signal because I am not used to it being on the opposite side of the steering wheel.
I parked my car at the base of the breakwater so I explore the area since I was here already. My favourite photo is the one showing the end of the ‘marina’ area. I used a slow shutter app on my cellphone and tripod to take this photo. The other photo that I am happy about it is the photo that shows the small rocks and the water. The tinge of aquamarine blue from the soil makes the photo more interesting
At the top of the breakwater is a building/rest area made of solid concrete. It has been weathered a lot from the salt water but is still pretty sound. In Lightroom, I added a filter that gives it more subdued look as I think it gives it more character.
Shigira Resort
An interesting visit. I wasn’t expecting much but was glad that I spent an hour exploring the area. Since it was not a busy season, there were not many people here. I saw one family use a golf cart to get around the resort and no one on the golf course. It was a hard decision to not bring my clubs as the course looked like fun. There was also some personal hot tubs overlooking the beach and a chairlift to a viewing area that was not in operation.
Kurima Island - Pacha Beach
Kurima Island is a small island and is connected to the main island of Miyakojima by a bridge. The island did not take long to drive around and there was not a lot to see or do. Pacha Beach is not too far off the main road once you cross the bridge to Kurima Island. There looked like a beach restaurant that was packed up for the season as there was nobody here. I enjoyed the time to myself and took some really memorable photos of the beach and bridge to add to my collection of photos of Miyakojima.
