Ie Island and The Lily Festival

Hey! It's Kassie again! Glad you were able to catch up with Mark and his adventures, but now it's back to my fun times on the island. After our adventures to Kouri Island, Kacey and I decided to try to Ie Island on Friday. Luckily for us, it was another beautiful day!

We took a ferry out of Motobu Port and I brought my bike again. It cost me a little extra, but after Kacey's terrible time with her bike that she rented I think it's definitely worth it to bring your own. It was only 1,000 yen to rent a bike, but it was rusted over with no gears or anything. She struggled even on the flat parts of the road because it was so hard to peddle.

We road around on our own schedule, which was awesome! We found a nice quiet beach with lots of sea glass and shells. It was so relaxing that, while I did some exploring, Kacey took a nap. Lets just say we were both a little spent (and sore!) from our biking trip on Kouri Island the day before. We spent a while there because I had never searched for sea glass and I was pretty excited about it. Ha! I came home with some beautiful pieces!

After the beach, we headed towards the Hibiscus Garden. According to the brochure, the garden has over one thousand different kinds of hibiscuses from around the world. Some were as big as our heads! They were so beautiful and awesome. It was a quick stop because they were all in a green house, but definitely worth it. I'm sure that in the summertime the park surrounding the garden is beautiful. It just hasn't had time to bloom yet.

See, I told you! ... As big as her head!

After the Hibiscus Garden, we headed to the Lily Festival. However, we were surprised by a little treat! As we were biking, I saw an Osprey. I had a panic moment of, "OMG! Something just fell out!!" Then, I realized it was happening over and over. Luckily, it was on purpose! Whew! They were parachuting out of the back!! It was really, really cool to see.

I know it's tiny, but I was so excited and didn't have a zoom lens on me. 

Mike, is that you?!

The festival was definitely the reason why we headed to the island, but overall it was only a small aspect of the overall island. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome! We just had a really great day so I can't really say that it was the best part. I'm not even sure what the best part was. I will say that I had a "moment" at the festival where I was overwhelmed with memories of my grandma and had to take a second to just "smell the lilies." It made me miss her a lot, but it was beautiful and I thought about what she would say when I told her about it. She'd probably say something like, "Jumping Jehosapher!"

We ate lunch at the festival and it was a beautiful day. In fact, it was supposed to be overcast. Instead, I'm dealing with a minor sunburn on my neck and forearms. Way to go, Weatherman! Anyway, we ventured off the beaten path closer to the shore line and found this awesome crack in the rocks that was shooting up water as the waves crashed in. It was really cool so, of course, we took photos.

Priceless photo. I wish I could zoom in to show you how funny her facial expression is! 

At this point, we were starting to dread our bicycles. We were exhausted, but we were really close Wajee View Point so we headed for it before getting on the 3 o'clock ferry.

We headed for the ferry and that was it! We had successfully made it through two days of biking without killing each other! I think we have a blooming friendship on our hands. Ha! Seriously, though, it was a lot of fun and a great start to an amazing weekend of scuba diving.

Yep, you guessed it, that's up next!!