Nansei-shoto, Japan, Jan/Feb 2008

Following an overnight stop in Tokyo on arrival, I then flew south to Ishigaki island - the most developed of the Nansei-shoto archipelago. In this era of airlines charging for every milligram of excess baggage, I pride myself on spending 6 weeks in the company of an extremely overweight bag (containing a kayak) and never once paying excess baggage charges. It did mean that my trips through airport security were always heart stopping affairs as I was sure I'd be halted with my minimum of 3 bags that I'd carry on board - backpack, paddle bag and usually some random bag with my drying laundry.

Ishigaki was my base and Kabira was the spot for the maiden voyage of the Khatsalano. Unfortunately I forgot to recharge my camera batteries and so don't have too many photos of the day!! Feathercraft's DVD states that the kayak can be put together in 45 minutes - I consider my 4 hours and 45 minutes a little excessive, considering I had also lost most of my finger nails and been bitten by a million mosquitos. I am much slicker at it now, it has to be said, but that first time was a nightmare!!

I explored Ishigaki's coastline as best I could, weather and coral reefs allowing. The reefs did worry me, being in a collapsible kayak, but they were irresistible for paddling around. Every day there were always locals in spear fishing and the colours and variety of both coral and marine creatures was amazing. The weather was pretty poor - rain and wind a lot of the time, so I got to know the town pretty well as well while I plotted the next stage in the trip.....

In a nutshell.....

Hmmm....where did the last 13 months go?? Last posting was from a snowy, cold Hokkaido. This post is from a snowy, cold Halley. That's about where the similarities end.

I'm going to use the next few posts to summarize my movements over the last 12 months and then, once I've caught up on myself, keep this blog a little more up to date. Fingers crossed!