So. Day two! Even though we were super duper tired from the eventful day uno, we still dragged our tiny hineys outta bed pretty early. And we started the day off right with a trip to the NCO club for a breakfast buffet. The words "breakfast" and "buffet" in the the same sentence together is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. Just add the word "dessert" in there and I'll be the happiest Tara in the land. And the fattest.
But the buffet was pretty impressive for club food and we even went back the following weekend because it was just that good. Plus, they have one of those pianos that play on their own, playing Beatles tunes the entire time.
The drive to Ocean Expo Park was pretty dang long. We'd been wanting to check out the aquarium foreverrrrr so we were pretty psyched. It's the second biggest aquarium in the WORLD, folks! On our own tiny island of all places! And they couldn't have picked a more gorgeous location for it. I'm still shocked and overwhelmed sometimes by how beautiful it is here and how lucky we are to actually get to live here for 4 years.
Ocean Expo Park is a large area way way way up at the northern most part of Okinawa. It includes the aquarium, a lovely beach area, an oceanic museum, an old style Okinawan village, the Tropical Dream Center, and a giant garden. We didn't see as much as we would've liked because it was still super hot and we were already tired when we got there. Above is what you shouldn't use to cool you off when it's super humid. It would've been perfect in dry heat though.
The pathway to the aquarium!
Have you met Dustin? He really loves sea turtle and tortoises. I mean LOVES them. No lie.
Oh my goodness. Just look at that! I can hardly believe it and I was there! You can see one of the resort islands out there with it's big mountain...of love.
That's the dolphin tank and the beautiful East China Sea.
Hello other island. We will visit you one day. Maybe for an anniversary. The hubby and I have been talking about it and we know we can get a pretty rad discount on base for your resort.
Our tickets and map! Dustin let me be the girl whale shark. But I had to fight him on it.
The amazing touch pool.
There was some weird tropical creatures at this aquarium that I'd never seen before.
"Let's make out. Num num num."
Jelly fish look harmless to me. What's the big deal with them anyways?
That's a fish! Do you see his eye??
Weird starfish.
GIANT lobsters! Literally bigger than my Jack Russell, Ariel. They probably could've eaten her.
Sea cucumbers.
I love these guys.
I thought this one looked like Slimy from Sesame Street.
The only aquarium in the WORLD to have a whale shark. And this is the biggest aquarium tank in the world as well.
It was pretty crazy. And there was a restaurant in there where you could sit right next to the tank and eat your soba!
I like this guy.
Soon we had to venture outside to get to the turtles, manatees and dolphin show. I just about melted from the humidity.
Hey little turtles! Dustin and Tara would like to snuggle you guys.
"OK, whatever Sea Pig."
Here's part of Emerald Beach.
The dolphin tank. They had normal bottle nose dolphins but also some kind of much bigger dolphin that looked like whales. It was pretty weird.
See the whale-like dolphin? He was very smart.
They like topiaries here.
We did shortly visit the Oceanic Museum but it was small and I wasn't allowed to take pictures. I think when it gets cooler out we'll head back up to Ocean Expo Park and see everything. After we ate lunch we went to Fruitsland that was actually right next to Pineapple Park. I had no idea. Basically you walk through a kind of forest of fruits. Had it been spring, we probably would've seen a lot more than we did. But it was still pretty nice.
There were some bananas still growing.
And some crazy dragon fruit.
At the end of the tour there's a little cafe with fresh juices, smoothies and crazy huge desserts like this one. A huge bowl of shaved ice with fresh mango and dragon fruit in some kind of syrup. It was soooo good and perfect for how hot it was that day. Also, it was the cheapest dessert on the menu at about $10! Totally worth it though.
The perfect way to end our day, I think.
There were some bananas still growing.
And some crazy dragon fruit.
At the end of the tour there's a little cafe with fresh juices, smoothies and crazy huge desserts like this one. A huge bowl of shaved ice with fresh mango and dragon fruit in some kind of syrup. It was soooo good and perfect for how hot it was that day. Also, it was the cheapest dessert on the menu at about $10! Totally worth it though.
The perfect way to end our day, I think.
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