Tackling Miyakojima - III
Got my sunrise photo but it was a cold, cold morning.
Day 3 started out as pretty much the same as Day 2 (getting up in the dark, eating onigiri for breakfast, driving in the dark) with a couple of changes to the weather: One, instead of rain, it was noticeably windy even in my room and two, when I went outside; cold. Not only was it super windy but the temperature had dropped a lot from the night before. I was not cold enough for snow, but enough to make me think twice about layering up with a sweater and jacket for the first time this trip.
Since yesterday was a bit of bust in taking a sunrise photo due to the showers early in the morning, today looked more hopeful. It was supposed to be sunny all day so the current temperature of 8C will eventually warm up as the day went on.
My location that I wanted to take my sunrise time lapse and photos was at Makiyama Observatory on Irabu Island. The view was supposed to be perfect according to my sun tracking app as sunrise would be near the Irabu Bridge was making a hopefully nice photo/video.
Advisory - Gale Force Winds
Day 3 - Irabu Island
Makiyama Observatory
The drive to Makiyama Observatory was not very far from my hotel. The scary bit was the drive in the dark across a 3,540 meter (11,610 foot) bridge when there is a crosswind pushing my rental car around. Once I started on the bridge, there was no turning back, but luckily for me, there was no other car on the road.
The bridge was opened in 2015. You can read about the engineering of the bridge in English on the Nippon Engineering Consultants Co. Ltd. website.
Following my Apple Maps to get to the site, I continued in the dark to the observatory parking spot. The parking area is small, unpaved lot. There was no lights or any staff on premise. Also, the observatory is not located next to the park area but rather a few hundred meters up a wide tree lined path. At the end of the path, you will see the main structure to the right and a small building for the washroom on the left.
Sunrise at Makiyama Observatory, Miyakojima
The observatory is an open structure with no doors or windows and the entire structure is made of concrete. There is only one set of stairs up and is not wheelchair accessible. The structure looked old and weathered as it is exposed to the elements all the time. There are a couple of concrete picnic tables inside but that was the extent of the furnishings. The wind did not really abate and since it was still early, the temperature was actually colder, as the structure was high above the tree line and funnelled the wind into it. Before I continued on, I had to put on my toque, scarf and gloves.
From my time lapse you can see how crazy the winds are. I think I was there over an hour waiting for the sun to come out and worried that my tripod would not be stable enough due to the high winds. I found a nice corner to setup my tripod so that it wasn’t affected by the wind. The bridge in the background is part of the Irabu bridge which I drove on earlier this morning in the dark. After successfully making my video and taking my photos, it was time to see what else was Irabu Island had to offer.
Funausagibanata
The next place I wanted to visit was to go see a stone status shaped like a bird at Funausagibanata. The only problem was that when I got there, I had to check my Apple Maps as I had arrived in the parking area, but could only see a large stone stump. The statue was missing. For whatever reason, I later found out after digging around the Internet, I found an obscure reference that Google’s search hits are not up to date. So unfortunately, this was a disappointment.
Another place that was equally disappointing or not, depending on your point of view is this rest area. Beyond the structure is a view of the coastline but unfortunately, the native plant had overgrown and taken over most of the area. It was difficult to see the original path and bench. I guess due to a lack of visitors or because it was Winter that there was no need to tend to this just now.
Nakanoshima Shorelines (Kayaffa)
Technically not on Irabu Island but connected by a small bridge to a separate island is Shimoji Shima Island. On my way to 17 END I pulled over to an area where there were a few cars on the side of the road. Curious as to what was here, I found the path to a small cove for people to snorkel.
The path is not man made and is just a rocky path down to the beach from the roadside. It was really treacherous and had to check my footing more than once. At the beach level, it was pretty sheltered from the wind, with a few boats parked near the mouth of the cove. I wish I knew had to snorkel as I would love to see the corals here.
17 END
By the time I got here, it was past lunch time. The place parallels the Miyako Shimojishima Airport which is not the airport that most people would land at when the come to Miyakojima. The area was still windy but a lot warmer due to the sun being overhead. The location is quite popular with many people as I saw a couple take some wedding photos with their photographers, a few people plane watching and the rest just enjoying the nice day. It’s still amazing to see the water to be the colour and the sand to be so white.
Well, that’s it for Miyakojima, next stop is Matsuyama!
