So in the post a week ago about our visit to the palm reserve on the last day of our short trip to the southern-Japan island of Ishigaki last May, I ended up with a photo of a small tree-climbing lizard.

Here's a slightly larger tree-climbing lizard...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Big Lizard, Strange Tree

Even stranger was the location, a long series of underground limestone caves whose only representation above ground was a set of covered stairs descending down from a small parking lot. (There's an entertainment complex some distance away where you buy tickets.)

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Entrance to the Caves

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/15 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Rock. Lights. Path
and the ever-present echo of dripping water

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/50 sec, f/6.3, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Filling In the Cave
drop by drop, millennium by millennium

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/15 sec handheld, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Splash Patterns

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — ¹/20 sec handheld, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
“Watch Your Head”

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 32 mm — ¹/50 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Let there be Light

The area you could walk ended under a gaping hole in the ground (the ceiling to us). The cave continued for miles, a sign said, but it was likely unsafe and was closed off to the public.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 42 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 560 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Skylight

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Under the Skylight

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Under the Skylight
with Anthony adding a bit of context for scale
( For some reason this pair of photos sort of startles me )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/50 sec, f/3.5, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Sort of Creepy

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/10 sec handheld, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Caught in the Act

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 34 mm — ¹/15 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Hall of Daggers
(I'm giving it a creepy name, but it was not creepy at all to be there... just interesting)

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/13 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Natural Mesh
wall with a freaky pattern of erosion

A bare bulb was unceremoniously shoved into the recess behind this wildly-eroded rock. I'd love to know how this erosion pattern could have come about.

The caves were cool, making the early-summer heat all the more hot, so when we returned to the surface world, Anthony decided to cool off by taking his shirt of.... and running around like crazy.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Cooling Off
via questionably-effective methods

And so ended our short four-day fairly-photogenic trip to the small far-southern-Japan island of Ishigaki. Here are all the posts from the trip:

1. Back from Ishigaki
2. On The Road to Ishigakijima
3. Linguistic Quiz: Japanese-to-English Translation Gone Bad
4. Ishigaki: Sunset from the Oganzaki Lighthouse
5. Big Ferns on Ishigaki Island
6. Rough Teas Ahead: Answer to the Linguistic Quiz
7. First Dinner on Ishigaki: Ishigaki Steak Over Hot Coals
8. Pitch-Black Photography: Moon over the East China Sea
9. Life is Tenacious: Tiny Ocean Flowers
10. Ishigaki Day 2, Morning: Pineapples and the Tamatorisaki Lookout
11. Secluded Beach on Ishigaki Island, Part I
12. A Better Center-Crosshair Target for Google Earth
13. Secluded Beach on Ishigaki Island, Part II
14. Ishigaki Day 2: Dynamic Weather at the Hirakubo Lighthouse
15. Ishigaki Day 2: Mild Sunset
16. Ishigaki Day 2: Winding Down with a Sunset Swim
17. Ishigaki Day 2: A Lively Dinner
18. Ishigaki Day 2: Through Anthony's Eyes
19. Ishigaki Day 3: Floral Quiz on Taketomi Island
20. Ishigaki Day 3: Coral Beds Near Taketomi Island
21. Zany Roof Guardians on Taketomi Island, in the Far South of Japan
22. Taketomi Island Roundup
23. Anthony Gets Crabby at the Shore
24. A Visit to the Yaeyama Palm Reserve on Ishigaki Island
25. The Limestone Caves of Ishigaki Island

One final picture, from the airport on the way home...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 56 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 250 — full exif & map — nearby photos
The Lighter is not left

The sign on the right says to not ask them to store extra lighters that you're not allowed to bring through. I wonder what events led them to feel the need to remind travelers that airport security is not a storage service...