Sea Change Okinawa: Ikei Island 伊計島

Last weekend was all about beaches! The weather was glorious all weekend and we made the most of it. Saturday morning we packed the car and drove out to Ikei Island to visit Oodomari Beach (or Mama-san Beach, as it is also known).
I really wanted to go there because I heard that it was child friendly and you could snorkel off the beach.
When we arrived, a man approached us to pay for the parking and beach entry, which was kind of expensive in my opinion (coming from Australia, the fact that some beaches charge for entry seems crazy to me!), but we did, and off we trundled down to the beach with our snorkelling gear and Griff's new floating ring.

Helen and I took turns snorkelling while one of us played with Griff in the water. The array of different fish was pretty good (although nothing like Maeda or our secret snorkelling spot), however, I felt like they were so tame and used to being fed by the beach visitors, that they were following me around the whole time (I felt like I was being stalked by creepy fish!), which was slightly unnerving.

After we had had enough of Oodomari Beach, we decided to stop in to Ikei Beach on the way home (we had driven all the way to Ikei Island, we might as well check out the other main beach). Although Ikei Beach didn't offer the many fish for snorkelling, I actually preferred it to Oodomari Beach. The water was crystal clear and DEEP! It felt like swimming in an ocean pool. There was also a well shaded kids play area with a box of sand toys to play with, which Griff loved. After we had a swim, we sat down and had some well-earned ice cream and Kakigori (shaved ice)!