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This post follows from Secluded Beach on Ishigaki Island, Part I, about our trip to the beach on our second day of a short trip to Ishigaki Island in the far south of Japan. Part I included this picture looking north from our spot on the beach....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/500 sec, f/22, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
We saw only a few people the whole time we were there, including one guy who walked up the beach toward the outcropping seen above, and just disappeared. I wondered what was over there, so I took a stroll.
When we'd first arrived, I'd seen someone way down the beach playing with some dogs. The someone had long gone, but it turns out that the dogs were still there...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 28 mm — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Footprints and Some Feral Dogs
Further along, still...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cave and.... Gravestone?
I don't know what the thing in the cave is, but it looked to be poured concrete, and vaguely in the shape of Okinawan grave markers (like this). Not very high status, but a nice location, I guess.
A bit further, and you ran out of land....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Time to Get Wet
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
View Around the Corner
I continued walking in the shallow ocean along the coast, now out of sight from our spot on the beach where I'd left Fumie and Anthony. The coast here was dotted with little short stretches of isolated beach, and in one such area I found three guys having a little barbecue. Looking back after I'd passed them....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 66 mm — 1/500 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Private Party
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Another Private Beach
The one above seemed to have a cave, which I found too hard to pass up, so I headed landward and pushed inland, following in the footsteps (so to speak) of Cook, Drake, Columbus, Cartier, and other famous explorers...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Antechamber to the Cave
with all kinds of weird, freaky roots and vines and creepy stuff
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Check Out This Freaky Tree
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 50 mm — 1/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Close-Up
Talk about persistence!
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/60 sec, f/5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking Into The Cave
Looks small, but it was the size of a convenience store inside
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/3200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
View from the Cave
I'd left Fumie and Anthony for too long as it was, so after the cave I headed back. It was quite pretty.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wild Iris
they grew in small batches from barren rock all over
What a fantastic place, better than a dream. Simply breathtaking.It would be hard to leave, I imagine. I’d want to go back often. Your photos were fantastic!. I’m not sure those flowers were Iris. Looked a little more like some kind of lily, possibly a daylily of some kind. Peter will have a better idea.
The palmy leaves on the rocks seem to by cycads (Cycas), like the cultivated ones in other photos.
The irises just might be Lilium longiflorum, テッポウユリ (via Wikipedia), popular in the US as the Easter lily. They live more or less happily in Florida. Mine are just now finishing flowering.
Yes, I think David’s right and they are Lilium longiflorum; Walker’s Flora of Okinawa and the southern Ryukyu Islands gives 3 localities on Ishigaki: Maetake near Akashita, Ishigaki city, and Kabira.
Fantastic photos! I particularly like the Private Party photo. You must have gotten down low to the water to take that photo. I’ve taken a few low-to-the-water photos myself and it scares me a bit. Great photos! Earnie
Hi Jeffrey,
I’m still building my site about the island and it’s coming on quite well. I’ve just come back to your page and I can’t figure out where this beach is on the island. We’re you heading towards Hirakubo or is it on the west side of the island? It’s a lovely spot and I’d love to include it on my site.
Hope that you get the chance to visit again some day.
Rich
Do the “full exif & map” links under each photo not give you a clue? 🙂 Each location is accurate to the area of a large beach towel. —Jeffrey
Thanks Jeffrey – How on earth did I miss that! I suspected that the beach must be somewhere around there. Not far from sunset beach.
Cheers – Richard