Hello!
As it turns out, we did take lovely naps yesterday
afternoon, and weren’t really very hungry last night. We think that actually, we could do with only
two meals a day, especially if there is a good breakfast. At any rate, I didn’t want to do the buffet
dinner here last night, so we went downstairs around 7 or so looking for a
glass of wine. Well … hard to believe
but apparently there is no such thing in the Beach Palace Hotel! It’s not a lack of alcohol, as there were
saki bottles aplenty in the gift shop, as well as Okinawa’s famous Orion beer. Just no wine!
Very odd for a 4 star hotel, which also, by the way has no room
service. Again, that’s fine, just a tad
frustrating. Oh, and while I’m thinking
of it, I booked this hotel through booking.com, and found the following remarks
on the page headed “Important Information.”
“Guests with tattoos may not be permitted to use the
property’s public bathing areas or other facilities where the tattoos might be
visible to other guests.” Now truly,
that’s a first!
So, back upstairs and in for the night. We were expecting a 90% chance of rain today
here near Nago, and 100% chance in Naha, so something definitely is heading
this way.
Oh, and one other interesting note. When we logged into our email account
yesterday, there was a message from our hotel for out last night in Okinawa,
the Hilton Shurii Castle, which is in
Naha, and I figured would put us in good position for the airport. Well, it turns out that on our last night
there –
“We would like to notify guests that we will conduct an
annual electrical inspection on 25 January, 2018. During this period, the
entire hotel will experience blackout and all electricity will be down. Duration: 25th January (Thursday), 2018
1:00am - 5:00am (early morning)
For further information, please refer to the Notice (PDF).
Thank you for your patience and understanding. *If using the Honors App, please
call the hotel for details.”
So much for a relaxing stay!
R is still unbelieving that
this is happening, and I’m saying they wouldn’t say it if it weren’t so! Since learning of this, we have found that
other major hotels will be going through the same process, just not all on the
same night.
So, as our last night there IS the night of the 24th/25th, I checked the
other Naha DoubleTree to see if we
could go there instead. So, that is
currently our plan. I will definitely be
blogging about what happens, as they have said that once the electricity goes
out, everything – elevators, heating/air conditioning, lights, coffee pots,
etc. (and I’m supposing the electrically controlled toilet!) will be off. Charming, for sure!
Up this morning after a very comfortable night. One of R’s
pillows feels like it is filled with RICE
[feels more like rocks to me. – R] and
is very hard, but the other pillow is fairly normal, and we both slept
well.
The day is overcast, but so far,
no rain to speak of. We showered and
headed upstairs to the 10th floor to the restaurant, where the
buffet breakfast is served. Now I can
generally take eggs in just about any fashion presented – reference the raw egg
with the Sukiyaki – but these eggs were just way too wet and mushy even for me, so I skipped them! Made do with croissants with jam and lots of
wonderful pineapple and juice. In fact, hibiscus
juice is quite delightful, and is the color that I remember from Hawaiian Punch! Who knew?!
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| Didn't help to label the ham "Pig Thighs" |
From breakfast, we packed up the car and headed about a mile
south down highway 58 to the Busena
Terrace Resort, reputed to be one of the top two hotels in Okinawa [I wonder
when their electricity gets shut off.
– R].
They have a Marine Park there which consists of an underwater
observatory, and glass bottom boats. No
problem getting into the grounds, parked, and then headed for the ticket
office.
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| Observatory at the end of the pier! |
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| Me on pier! |
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| View of hotel to the north; lovely sand beach! |
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| Parrotfish! |
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| Another Parrotfish |
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| No idea, but he was pretty in yellow! |
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We saw the spectacularly beautiful parrot fish, and lots of
others – some old friends from our snorkeling days in Hawaii, and some new
finds that we very much enjoyed observing!
We did manage to go at least twice around the observatory floor –
sometimes chasing fish that appeared first in one porthole and then the
next. (Which now makes me want to return
to the Big Island of Hawaii to snorkel again – so watch out, Barbara, Dan and
Kevin!!!) Can’t understand why there
weren’t more people, as it was a wonderful way to see fish and NOT get wet and/or cold [or eaten. There are some pretty big things swimming
around here. – R]! Right outside the observatory, there were
small machines that sold fish food for ¥200 (about $1.80 roughly) that we
thought we’d try. First, once you insert
the yen, and crank the handle, down comes a small packet roughly 2”x 3” and
half an inch thick. It really most
resembled a waffle! But if you tore off
one of the edges, you could get at the food, and boy, did the big fish go after
that! What a feeding frenzy! Then,
once the green pellets were gone, you break up the waffle packet itself, and
again, it was in great demand! A fun
thing to do!
Turns out, once we were topside again, that most people stop
at the first stop, which is the glass bottom boats, and then head to the
observatory. We always do everything in
reverse! So, back to the boats. It was
raining a fine mist by this time, and we actually remembered to take our
umbrellas along – what a concept!
Instead of them remaining (as usual!) nice and dry inside, we were
really able to use them outside! Can’t
remember the last time that happened!
We only had to wait a couple of minutes for the boat to
load, and then out into the harbor we went.
The last glass bottomed boat I can remember was in 1975 or 76, and was
on the Pacific/Eastern shore of Okinawa, and didn’t look any too well built to
my young eyes. However, the main thing
was that it didn’t sink, so all I suppose was well. This boat was quite new and well-equipped,
but honestly, the fish were much better seen in the observatory!
By the time we returned to the dock, it was raining for
real, so we waited for the next trolley to come along, and take us back to the
car. We decided that as it was such a
wet day, that we would return to our warm hotel room until lunchtime.
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| Fish food "waffle" |
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| Waffle opened up containing fish pellets |
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| Talk about feeding frenzy... |
I do need to make one thing perfectly clear: When I lived here, I went to the military commissary,
bought food that I actually could recognize, and cooked almost every
night. Dining out was a rare, real
treat. This time, having no access to
familiar foods, as well as no kitchen, we have been forced “out on the economy”
as it was known in those long-ago days.
And I’m having a more than difficult time; much more so than Robert, who
likes fish, sushi and sashimi. [Note: First, sushi and sashimi have not been in
much evidence yet. The food is mostly
pork, beef and some chicken – after that, it is a guessing game. Second, much of the prepared food is
unrecognizable, which can give one pause about diving in. So, I am just as much at sea about food as
Margaret. – R] As most everyone who knows me knows, thanks
to Dorothy Day’s daughter dying in California choking on a fishbone at the age
of 23, I have a real fish-bone phobia and the only way I like my sushi and
sashimi is cooked! So! Houston, we have a problem! R
has been more than accommodating to my strange ways, and today he took me to a
McDonald’s in Nago for a Big Mac and fries, and I have promised him we will go
out for dinner – where ever he wants to go.
So…Big Mac’s for lunch, and then back to the hotel for naps.
We shall see what we shall see for dinner tonight!
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| Looking at underwater observatory from boat |
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| Our glass-bottomed boat! |
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| Fish at the bottom of the boat! |
Much love,
m
xxx
Can we say "off the grid".
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