The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

It has long been an ambition to sail up to Seragaki harbor and there take amazing photos of rare terns, er Roseate and Black Naped.

In previous years there has been a maelstrom of terns. Hundreds of pairs nesting on the rock outside Serigaki. So I go there by sail, anchor, take the best photos ever .

Unfortunately, this year few or no terns are on the island. I have driven up  there several times to check. There are few terns

Notwithstanding, I set off this morning with the firm belief that hundreds of terns will have arrived overnight.

I hope

The wind is coming straight offshore at 30kph. Perfect as I reach all the way up to Seragaki in less than 2 hours. It is hot.  Sun scorches skin.

I sail from little blue dot to little mauve pin

Complex tacking to get into the harbor but  I know the Scaffie well.

Let’s go crazy with the Terns

There are no terns. I knew this, but my dream said otherwise.

There is actually one Black Naped Tern and he does not like me being in his hood. He attacks me vigorously as  I walk around.

This my hood

Beautiful bird

So, I row out after a less than dreamlike visit to Serigaki.

Eton

The wind is strong offshore and I hurtle home.

The best place to be on a hot Okinawan Saturday is in a sail boat

I do not know what I have done to offend the Shinto Sea Seniors but each time I sail home they change the wind just as I am nearing home. I am thundering home, dreaming of food and very, very, cold drinks when the wind disappears, only to re-appear from the South West. South West means blowing directly from where I want to go.

You have no idea how character forming it is to beat back and forth over the last 10% of a sailing trip. Especially after 5 hours at sea in the hot, hot sun.

Anyway half way across Tancha Bay, I unzip my diving bag to get water. The zip breaks.  It is a  very important moment. I have talked about this bag before.

https://quietripple.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/one-of-the-lads/

She has been with me through all the tortuous struggles of my life. She has been big enough to hold all my possessions at earlier stages, my sons have lain in her as babies, I recently, like 2 weeks ago, went on a business trip and my stuff was perfectly encapsulated in my Spirotechnique bag. I own nothing that I acquired before this bag, which I acquired in 1975 in Oran, Algeria.

But her zip has gone so she is trash.

Boo Hoo. At least she died at sea.

Tough times for English folk. Conveniently, I call myself Scottish. This has consistently been a help in my peripatetic career. People like the Scots but generally do not like the English. Why is this?

Anyway, I have been neglecting Lady Sunset. She is so beautiful but after a while you get kinda immured to beauty. You no longer notice it. Big mistake.

All hail Lady Sunset! The last couple of days.

Dog

Cat

Labbit

I go for a delightful evening sail. I gently beat out to the reef and then run down into Shioya harbor.  Things start getting out of control when I go aground just beside the two big rocks that jut out in the middle of the harbor. After much foolishness, I beat back home. The wind has got up and a big squall is coming in. Luckily I find a bottle of cold white wine in a freezer bag. I miss the mooring twice. Well, the second time I pick it up but I am going way too fast and am nearly pulled out of the boat.

Good fun.

Plumeria goes from strength to strength.

The gracious Rumi san, who runs the Sunset Beach House,

https://quietripple.wordpress.com/2016/04/09/plumeria/

has given me lots and lots of cuttings. I now have 14 plumeria.

I awake, still stunned by the absurdity of the UK voting to leave Europe.

A quick Kipling break:

“WINDS of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro—
And what should they know of England who only England know?—
The poor little street-bred people that vapour and fume and brag,
They are lifting their heads in the stillness to yelp at the English Flag!”

What can I do to relieve my gloom? I know, look at dead fish.

Marlin

I go down to the Toya fish harbor to get my prescription filled.

Big boy Tuna

I mean how stupid can people be? Leave Europe?  Even in a Japanese fish market it makes no sense.

I buy an Octopus,  which makes me feel better. It is an Octopus. Sometimes they are missing tentacles, which makes them Septopus or even Sexopus.

My first Plumeria blooms

Summer Solstice Sunset

It is my great honor to represent the university at the remembrance ceremony to mark the end of the Battle of Okinawa on 23 June 1945.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_Memorial_Day

The Battle of Okinawa was grotesque beyond imagination.

The ceremony was very moving. It is a big deal. Prime Minister Abe and senior members of the Cabinet are there. Caroline Kennedy, US  Ambassador, is there. We sit two security rows behind Abe.

They translate the main speeches for the 6 Gaijin present.

The battle  was inconceivably fierce. It destroyed every building, burnt every single tree and all vegetation. It left a wasteland of mud, maggots and blood.  About 35% of the civilian population of the island were slain. Women and children mostly.

Onaga san is the Governor of Okinawa. He got it right, “We cannot forget the unimaginable absurdity and cruelty of the war our people experienced.”

My remembrance Karyushi

Love and peace to you, people of Okinawa.

So, we have been through the rainy season and without a doubt the Summer has arrived. This weekend has been glorious.

7:30 this morning

I spend all day paying attention to the Scaffie, who I think suspects my clumsy philandering with another boat. We go for a long sail out beyond Cape Zampa. Brilliantly white terns screech as they fish around the boat. By the time I get back to the mooring at lunchtime-ish the tide is far out and I anchor the Scaffie er far out.

Amazing colors

I then go for an afternoon sail.

I put my false teeth in the waterproof bag

Close hauled.

I then go for a sunset sail.

It is gloriously warm

Sunset at sea

In between sailing, I watch the rugby internationals, which someone has kindly posted on YouTube.

Time to watch Australia v England

There is also a full moon

Work tomorrow.

So Atsuko has a wedding celebration. The real deal was in Tokyo a couple of months ago.

I have worked with Atsuko since I arrived at OIST and she is my heart’s delight.

Okinawan weddings are the best.

Ami dances

The girls dance

Arisa sings

Here is the program

Wonderful evening. Thank you Atsuko.

The Summer edition of The Marine Quarterly arrives on the day I set off to Miyako Jima to look at a boat. Hooray, I can read it on the flight down and like get in the mood.

Boarding

I get to Miyako Jima, eat soba and read more sea stories.

So here is the story. The Norfolk Gypsy is a very fine boat.

http://www.neilthompsonboats.co.uk/norfolk-range/norfolk-gypsy/

Amazingly, one turns up on  a Japanese-second-hand-boat-web-site. It is high and especially dry in the fishing harbor of Miyako Jima.

https://goo.gl/maps/m7mjnCpDioK2

This is a long way from Norfolk. So, should I ditch my faithful Scaffie who never done me wrong and take up with a fancy new boat? I feel sleazy as I set off to check out her lines.

Anyway the owner, the delightful Taguchi san, speaks no English and as you know, my Japanese has got no further than, “Can you lend me 10,000 yen please?” My amazing luck holds good as a colleague mentions that he has a good friend on Miyako who is a Japanese/English interpreter. This is how I get to know the wonderful Saemi. She meets me at the hotel on Friday morning and off we go to the fishing harbor. Both of us are tremendously excited.

She has been here for 4 years.

Taguchi san!

Saemi!

So, the boat is a total mess and I think she has crossed the point of no return.

4 years of blazing sun and typhoons

Will she ever thunka thunka again?

Mainsail will need replacing. Red bits are patched tears.

Every bit of woodwork, every pulley, every cleat has been unscrewed and stored, hence strips of sticking plaster everywhere.

There are lots of boxes of screws and bolts inside the boat. Putting it back together will be like building a 747 out of lego with no instructions.

The bottom line is that restoring the boat is doable but is a full time job for some months and lotsa cash. I have to go to work.

The decision lies with the Japanese government. If I get a residence permit, then post retirement, this would be fun to do.

Anyway,  I then go and rent a scooter.

More fun in the scooter shop.

Miyako is beautiful.

It is very hot.

I eat a Mango ice cream thing. This shows how hot it is. I never eat ice cream.

Beautiful Scaffie is unbetrayed.

Saturday morning – I tootle off to the Toya fish market. It is 10 mins from the house.

Cockles and mussels

The market lasts about 15 minutes. I starts at 10:00 and the auctioneer rushes around selling off the various lots to what I assume to be restaurant owners and the like. I try to buy an octopus but am politely told that I am not a member of the club.

Members Only

So I amble over to the shed where sashimi is cut up. I buy 2 red fish that are delicious deep fried and an octopus.

Red fish bottom left.

Totally fresh. I didn’t buy any of these but now wish I had

I also get some of the best fast food in the world: squid and fish tempura, cooked in front of you and put into a nice white paper bag.

50 cents a hit for fresh seafood. Oichi!

Munching tempura, I drive slowly home feeling good. I n a tiny back street I fall upon a newly opened wine store! Okinawa is a good place to live.

I think it is called “Un Deux Trois” but I took the photo from the wrong angle and cannot see the sign.

This hard to believe. Cerdon is an obscure pinkish vin petillant that is produced in small quantities in the Bugey. Drank it some in Geneva days. Now I can get it in Yomitan!

Young couple running the place are wild eyed with enthusiasm and high levels of milk of human kindness. I hope it works for them. I buy a Rioja and a Rose, can’t find accents on Japanese keyboard, de Provence. Quality of life remarkably high. Unfortunately no wind and drizzle-ish.

Orchids in kitchen doing well

P.S.   I forgot to mention that the charming couple lent me an umbrella as it was pouring. I take it back today. As soon as I leave the shop, there is a downpour. Someone wanted me wet.

This French

“Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”

Thank you Thomas Gray.

I cannot let these incredible sunsets blush unseen.

Shnurt!

Grunt!

Whee!

Kapow!

I sit on the beach and watch.