Visiting Miyake Island... again

As this was Shelley's last weekend before heading back to Kaslo for the summer, we escaped from the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo to head back to Miyake Island for a second time... with a new goal in mind. During our last visit there we discovered that there was a resident pod of friendly dolphins who stayed close to the neighboring island all year. This time we managed to book ourselves into the opportunity of swimming with those dolphins, one of Shelley's special dreams. 

As in other trips to the islands, we loved slipping out of Tokyo harbour late at night after having biked across the city to the ferry landing. The Rainbow bridge is dramatic at night...

And we got a bit of sleep in our comfortable births on-board. We were woken up at 4:30 AM to catch a glimpse of the sunrise...

And debarked at the Miyake Jima dock to watch our ship head off into the sunrise. 

Our first day there we bicycled around the island once again, this time in the reverse direction. All along, as we sweated up steep climbs and swooped down into little bays. There were magnificent views of the ocean, the rocks and the waves. 

We took our time this visit to thoroughly explore the town of Ako pictured here before 1983. It was a large and thriving town with a large school and several temples that was wiped out by a lava flow in 1983. 

The area is regrowing with trees and bushes, but it was fascinating to see where the roads were and then stopped...

The sharp lava flow from a distance looked like tilled earth. Up close, of course, it is extremely pointed and sharp rock. 

It was dramatic to see the remains of the school...

Photo of as it was before:

And the crushed main gym. 

All around the lava fields were these interesting formations created by lava wrapping around tree trunks, incinerating the tree that cooled the lava down to make a tube. 

The rest of the area is marked by dead old trees...

And dramatic rock protrusions where the lava met the ocean. 

On Sunday morning we got up early to be fitted with a wet suit and snorkeling gear.

We were loaded onto one of the classic, solid, seaworthy fishing boats that took us across to the area where the dolphins congregated. 

On the way over we watched pods of dolphins breach all around us.

(The following photos are not ours, but reflect our experience)

Once near the shore we had a look out who would call out when a pod would come zipping by our boat. We all lept into the water....

To try to catch up with them as they darted by. 

Early that afternoon we got back on our mother ship for a six hour trip back to Tokyo harbour and the big metropolis life again. We felt cleansed by bird and dolphin songs, by ocean winds, and the sounds of crashing waves and, of course, wonderful seafood!

We have been here long enough that when the Tokyo Tower emerged from behind the buildings we felt like it was an old friend.