NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

It's been several days since we got back from Ishigaki Island, in the far south of Japan, but I've still not had a chance to even look at most of my photos. Just. Too. Busy. But here are a few to illustrate the trip down...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
First Flight Was Mostly Empty
1.75 hours, from Osaka/Itami to Naha/Okinawa

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Having Gotten Up at 4:45AM
I Took The Opportunity to Snooze
( I did snooze for a while, but this photo is staged; photo by Anthony Friedl )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Central Okinawaian Mainland
15 minutes out of Naha

The Okinawa mainland is an island about 80 miles long, but Okinawa is actually a string of what must be thousands of islands that stretches in an arc for about 450 miles. In the photo above, we're about 40 miles north of the main airport, which is at the extreme southern end of the island. The red circle marks the Atta Terrace hotel where we stayed for a few days in January (posts about which are in my blog's Okinawa category).

Just before landing in Naha for our transfer to a second flight, I spied a small island about 1km off the mainland coast...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Little Beach
On the approach path to Naha Airport, Okinawa Japan

The beach area is about 150 yards across, and face the Okinawaian mainland a kilometer away. The white speck toward the lower left is a small boat with one person.

Our destination island, Ishigaki Island, is quite a bit larger, and quiet a bit further south. After switching to a smaller plane and a 45-minute flight further south-west, we ended up at Ishigaki Island, over 1,000 miles from home and just 140 miles shy of Taiwan....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Flying into Ishigaki, Japan
( red arrow just left of center points to the general vicinity of our hotel, on the opposite-facing coast )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/9, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Strolling Through the Fusaki Resort Village
Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

We stayed at the Fusaki Resort Village which has a bunch of small private cottages, and some smaller, less-expensive duplex-style rooms (we stayed in the latter).

A hotel might use the word “resort” for any number of different reasons:

• location — amazing paradise location
• quality — accommodations of the highest possible quality
• food — world-class food of uncompromising standards
• service — ultra-attentive (yet not snobby) service
• high prices — outrageously high prices

Last year's visit to Four Seasons Resort in Whistler, Canada touched on quality and high prices. This winter's stay at the Atta Terrace, Okinawa involved that, plus great food.

This trip's “resort” involved only service... really great service. The cost of the entire trip (airfare, hotel, rent-a-car) was ridiculously low due to a great deal that Fumie found online. The food at the resort's four restaurants ranged from “almost good” (breakfast buffet) to “good” (everything else). The location was great, but not a paradise. The room was clean, mostly. It was infinitely better, that's for sure, than the Sheraton Suites Hotel, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the worst hotel on earth, that we had the misfortune of staying at a few years ago.

After dumping our luggage in our room, we made our way to the open-air beach-side grill for lunch. It turns out that they had just closed five minutes earlier, but (here's that great service) they seated us anyway. We were the only ones there. They have a stage for dinner shows, and so while we waited, Anthony took to the stage to show off his dance moves...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/9, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Playing To An (Almost) Empty House
of adoring fans

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
View From The Restaurant
it's obscured by the foliage, but there's a very pleasant beach down there.

I've been so busy since coming back that I haven't even finished plowing through my waiting email queue, and have barely had time to look at the photos. I seem to be coming down with a cold, which doesn't bode well for the followup posts I have in mind. We'll see...

Continued here...