Tsuken Island

Tom's Birthday was all the way back in October. His present was supposed to be a trip to Tsuken Island. It rained and stormed that weekend and we just never quite got around to it until yesterday.

It was a beautiful day to ride the ferry across to the island and I thought we were far enough away from the baby's due date that we wouldn't have any unforseen excitement! The kids, on the other hand, were quite convinced that it woudl be great fun if mommy were to have the baby on this tiny island that doesn't even have a grocery or convenience store, let alone a doctor's office~! LOL!

We arrived on the island around 11am and expected to catch the 3pm ferry back but were reassured by the knowledge that we thought there was a 5pm ferry as well. We all had so much fun exploring the various beaches, looking at the famer's harvesting their carrots. ( The nickname for Tsuken Island is "carrot island") We got a lot of attention as we walked around the island which is a little over a mile long. I'm sure we were quite the attraction.... an American Marine, his very obviously pregant wife, 3 children and two dogs, one of which happens to be a huge German shepherd!

We enjoyed all the beaches and the kids played in the sand to their hearts content. We decided that making it back for the 3pm ferry wasn't going to happen so we aimed fr the 5pm one and arrived back at the port with 15 minutes to spare. Five o'clock came and went with no sight of any ferry. 5:30pm arrived and finanlly the express ferry arrived (not the one we had tickets for). As it was about to leave I went to ask the workers if the larger ferry was returning but couldn't manage to convey what I was asking to them. I was getting a little worried anf finally asked if we could get tickets for this ferry. I was told that for an extra 370 Yen I could and the dogs and stroller would be ok. We managed to get on and headed back on the 15 minute trip to Okinawa. When we pulled into the port, there sat the car ferry, still parked at the terminal! The ferry we returned on was the last one of the night and we almost didn't make it! Thank you Lord for letting us get home safely!!! (although the kids were quite dissapointed, they really thougth we might get to sleep on the beach!!)