" - Winnie the Pooh
51 weeks later
We finally found 99 (ish) islands. We've apparently been quite close on a couple of occasions, but never been headed the right direction to see the signs guiding us the last bit. Better late than never...
Apparently 99 is the number used in Japanese culture to mean "a lot". There are actually 208 islands in the bay around Sasebo. Kujukushima is no less beautiful for the discrepancy, though.
We took the Pearl Queen cruise through the islands after a quick, Italian lunch. The boat itself was quite something to behold. It had two enclosed decks with wooden floors and tables on the perimeter to allow for easy viewing. Having lost our place thanks to my bladder, we ended up on the upper of 2 open decks. Honestly, I liked our place as we got to see more of the island and not just the sides. (At one point, Roo got cold and the best place to stand was on the first deck by a window - horrible viewpoint, but thankfully only 10 minutes from the end so we didn't miss anything.)
The islands are pretty spread out. There appeared to be a few types of rock making up each. Some were mostly bare, others were dense with foliage. Various shapes and sizes - one that looked like a sleeping lion. The 50 minute ride took us through the major ones and even into an inlet on one of the larger ones. The view was spectacular.
On some of the islands, we spotted a few fisherman - it's supposed to be great. We frequently saw large structures of pipe and net that are used to catch the oysters for eating. We also saw large black globes that we think supported nets below the water that we came to find out were used for harvesting pearl oysters. We got to watch some men harvesting in one of the pearl oyster areas (not that that helped me find any loose pearls - this may prove fruitless).
Once back on land, we saw the grill set ups similar to what I saw in Hasami. Here, you could buy a kilo (they estimated 15) of oysters for 600 yen and then grill them yourself. It's all about location, baby.
We didn't stop in on the aquarium, IMAX movie about Australia or nearby zoo and botanical gardens, though. Roo was getting impatient and we decided to head out.
Apparently 99 is the number used in Japanese culture to mean "a lot". There are actually 208 islands in the bay around Sasebo. Kujukushima is no less beautiful for the discrepancy, though.
We took the Pearl Queen cruise through the islands after a quick, Italian lunch. The boat itself was quite something to behold. It had two enclosed decks with wooden floors and tables on the perimeter to allow for easy viewing. Having lost our place thanks to my bladder, we ended up on the upper of 2 open decks. Honestly, I liked our place as we got to see more of the island and not just the sides. (At one point, Roo got cold and the best place to stand was on the first deck by a window - horrible viewpoint, but thankfully only 10 minutes from the end so we didn't miss anything.)
The islands are pretty spread out. There appeared to be a few types of rock making up each. Some were mostly bare, others were dense with foliage. Various shapes and sizes - one that looked like a sleeping lion. The 50 minute ride took us through the major ones and even into an inlet on one of the larger ones. The view was spectacular.
On some of the islands, we spotted a few fisherman - it's supposed to be great. We frequently saw large structures of pipe and net that are used to catch the oysters for eating. We also saw large black globes that we think supported nets below the water that we came to find out were used for harvesting pearl oysters. We got to watch some men harvesting in one of the pearl oyster areas (not that that helped me find any loose pearls - this may prove fruitless).
Once back on land, we saw the grill set ups similar to what I saw in Hasami. Here, you could buy a kilo (they estimated 15) of oysters for 600 yen and then grill them yourself. It's all about location, baby.
We didn't stop in on the aquarium, IMAX movie about Australia or nearby zoo and botanical gardens, though. Roo was getting impatient and we decided to head out.
posted by Wynnie | 03:32
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