Trees of Iriomote

I heart trees. "Big Buttress Tree" is Okinawa's official name for the type of tree in the first photo here. The trees in the second photo are mangroves (go read about mangroves on wikipedia if you're shaky on them, mangrove trees are yet again awesome evidence that evolution is HOT). Iriomote is a magnificent island for trees with rockin' ROOTS, isn't it?

More proof that no one beats the Yaeyamas for roots:


This second to last picture is clearly an Ent who emigrated from Middle Earth to avoid certain death... and well he did. He's probably the last. The final picture is intertwining roots from trees on either side of a pathway, meeting to form an arch. I have no idea how they did it. Props to you, little rooties. Survival is ON in the Yaeyamas.

A Triumphant Return!

Ha-ha! You thought I was never coming back!

Well, here I am, sana y salva. Above you see my triumphant pose in honor of the Triumphant Return. The reason I feel triumphant is because I am wearing the Superhero wetsuit. Every time I get inside this thing and pull down my mask, I feel like an indestructible super-joyce. You may even catch me whizzing furiously back and forth under water in this same pose with my snorkel and fins, chasing schools of small fish and singing the Starwars theme song out loud to myself (as you can tell, I have indeed been caught doing this.) Here are some underwater photos to demonstrate. Me, unaware. Me, upon being caught. Fish!



The snorkeling in Ishigaki is amazing! If you think these fish are cool, just wait til I get myself together and post more pictures of fishies. The main cause of the delay is that my computer has run out of space and I can't even fit half the trip photos on it. I keep meaning to go buy an external hard drive but haven't done it yet.