Manzamo Point

On Sunday we intended to head up North to find a Thai restaurant & Ryan thought it was a good opportunity to see some of the natural sites on the way. We had read about a couple of areas of interest on the ever helpful Okinawa Hai so w map in hand, as well as directions from the website, we made our way. I should mention at this point, for the record, it can be nearly impossible to find anything on this island. Especially if you are used to maps actually directing you toward your destination. This does not happen. No matter how good of a map reader you are. I actually think that could hurt you in the end. If you expect your map to be any indication of where you are headed you will quickly learn to broaden your understanding of maps & locale & that here, in Okinawa, maps should be more of a suggestion.

Our first destination was Manzamo Point. This cliff has a view of the East China sea but I think the best times to be here are dusk or dawn as we have seen other pictures of stunning sun/sea/water scenes. There is also (according to what we read) a great place to go tide pooling here called the Toilet Bowl, but this was not the type of day for that.

I think I was most surprised at how organized everything was. There was a big parking area w stalls of people selling souvenirs. There was a paved walk way that walked you neatly around the cliff. I think it took us about 10 minutes to do the whole thing & we were trying to take our time. I was kind of surprised it was so fast & I guess happy since we were on our way to do something else. It just seemed odd, especially w the 3 tour buses we saw in the parking lot. I kept looking around like, did we miss something...?

Anyway, we all got our 'elephant's nose' picture & we were on our way.
And since I have it, here's me at 23 wks.
As we were making our way around the tip of the cliff we reached what I guess must have been the pinnacle of all the winds on the island! It was so windy up here we had to snap a picture of Mimi just trying to keep her eyes open!
After we were back in the car we also visited another Cliff, but it was again, pretty windy & cloudy. Not much to report. I think it is more of a place for divers & since we weren't doing that either, we continued on our way.

As I mentioned before, the maps here are almost useless & we had 3 other semi conflicting reports of best/fastest/easiest ways to get to the Thai restaurant. Even w all that I think it took us over an hour to get there & by that time I was in a grump bc the main reason I wanted to see this place was the 'alleged' views (I can only allege as it was pitch black by the time we got there) which were supposed to be stunning. The restaurant is called Cafe Caracuma but nicknamed Thai in the Sky for goodness sake! The last hope was the food & in my attempt to not get too spicy of Thai food I somehow ended up w a Japanese curry instead of a Thai curry, which I didn't really want & then Mimi ended up losing her mind the second we got in the restaurant (one of those times where I could hear her screaming from the bathroom while I was sitting at our table!) resulting in a miserable dinner for probably everyone except Ryan who was lost in his delicious Thai curry, that was wayyyyy to spicy for me to even try. So I will not be writing about Cafe Caracuma. There were some bright spots but why mention them here. I'll save it for the next time we go. In the daytime. When I can see the ocean. And eat Thai curry w coconut milk. What can I say? I can't always be happy. I'm hormonal.