Okinawa - Day 2

Our second day in Okinawa brought more of the same weather. Warmer than Tokyo, but windy and cloudy. After breakfast we made our way from our room to the front building to get our rental car.

A glimpse of the ocean.

Lions are a large part of Okinawan culture.

Looking toward some of the rooms.

Our first excursion for the day was the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. According to the brochure this is the world's largest aquarium housing three whale sharks - the main attraction. But first some obligatory poses.




Looking out to the ocean.

Addy looks like she's concentrat-
ing hard, but it was one of the few moments she was quiet!

Two of the three whale sharks.

The Haggerty Kazoku and a whale shark.
We took loads of pictures of fish, but this was such a full day, that I haven't included many of those pictures. And after all, you're not here to look at pictures of fish. You want to see Addison. So after touring the inside we went outdoors, had a snack, and then went to the dolphin show. The arena is right next to the ocean and it was even windier here.











Addison really got into the music the show used.


When the dolphin show finished, we moved onto the sea turtles. Addy really liked this area.


One more obligatory pose.










On the aquarium grounds was this amazing play area for kids. It was free to all. We probably could've saved some money and just played instead of seeing the fish.














With our happy memories of the aquarium complete, we moved onto the Nago Pineapple Park. The name of this place should've been Pineapple tourist trap. I think we spent $70 on pineapple-related food and drink products. It was cutesy. As soon as you enter you take a Pineapple Golf Cart ride equipped with an English narration (there was the initial indication that this was a tourist trap!).

How pineapples grow - I never knew!

After the ride we followed the one-way route to the all-you-can-drink pineapple wine area followed quickly by the all-you-can-eat freshly-cut pineapple. Not to mention all the pineapple cakes, cookies, and even pickles (not good, don't eat them). All those snacks were enough to hold us over until we found a restaurant. We saw a sign that said "steak" in Japanese and decided it couldn't be bad. It wasn't! We had a yummy dinner and then returned to the resort. It wasn't too late so Addison got to take a dip in the indoor pool with Papa.