Grab a paddle: Navigating the Kerama Islands National Park. Photo / Getty Images
Zamami Island has one stoplight, and every time I walk past it, I catch it red.
That's OK, because you can't be in a rush here. Anyway, this stoplight is more aspirational than essential; during my week on the island, I can count the number of cars on my fingers and toes.
One of the 36 islands in the Kerama Islands archipelago, Zamami has an area of about six square miles and a year-round population of approximately 600 people. (Together, the four inhabited Keramas are home to roughly 1,500.)
The only way on or off the island about 20 miles southwest of Okinawa Island in southern Japan is by boat and, on good days, there are only three public ferries a day. On bad days when swells in the East China Sea are more than 10 feet, as on the day I was supposed to arrive, there are none.
I disembark the Queen Zamami at 10 a.m. one Thursday in early February with my inflatable SUP (Stand Up Paddle) in tow and reservations for three days of diving with the only English-speaking dive shop that responded to my email query. Winter is the offseason in the Keramas. The weather isn't that wintry, though - these islands are at about the same latitude as Hollywood, Florida, and the average February water and air temperatures are both about 23 degrees Celsius.
Almost immediately, I regret traveling with a SUP. In addition to an 11-foot-long board, my SUP bag also holds a life jacket, collapsible paddle, pump and a large selection of snacks in foil bags that are as colorful as they are indecipherable. I snack up in Okinawa because there are no grocery stores in the Keramas. Together, all of this weighs at least 50 pounds. And the room I've booked at a minshuku (a traditional family-owned bed-and-breakfast with tatami mats and futons instead of Western-style beds) is in Ama, the smallest of Zamami's three communities and about one mile from Zamami Port.
I wander the entirety of the port in search of a taxi. This takes less than three minutes and is not fruitful. In a combined souvenir shop and visitors center, a 20-something man with a kind smile apologises for this. I can't find a taxi because there aren't any. Mr. Kind Smile calls the manager of my minshuku, Naho Tanaka, and she comes and gets me herself.
What Ama lacks in taxi convenience it makes up for with a three-quarter-mile-long (and mostly sand) beach that is a perfect SUP launch spot. Because so much coral is in the waters around these islands, beaches are a mix of sand and pieces of coral eroded into rounded, fingernail-sized shapes.
The Kerama Islands are a hot spot for watching turtles. Three species - green, hawksbill and loggerhead - live in the islands. On Zamami, Ama Beach is turtle ground zero. Naho tells me they sometimes come onto the beach to feed, but walking past a deserted campground and onto the beach, I see no turtles. Neither is there a single other person.
Had I waited until summer to come to the Keramas, I could have enjoyed 35-degree days and swimming in 30-degree water, but I would have had to share the islands with 200,000 other visitors and not just the three that came over on the Queen Zamami with me that morning.
Ama Beach is only 500 feet from the minshuku, and as I'm carrying my board and paddle to it, a sign erected by the Ama Sea Turtle & Local Ocean Protection Association alerts me to what's ahead. REQUESTS FROM THE SEA TURTLE: WHEN I'M EATING SEA GRASS APPROACH CAREFULLY,PLEASE DON'T FOLLOW ME AROUND, OBSERVE ME FROM A DISTANCE.
It's doubly good that I have Ama Beach to myself because I break the turtle-watching rules almost immediately. Paddling around the shallows in front of the beach, turtles are everywhere, but camouflaged. I do not see them until my SUP - which I eventually figure out probably looks to them like a shark, one of their main predators - approaches. I think the dark shape 10 feet in front of my board is a hump of coral, but then it moves. Even though it swims away faster than I've ever seen a turtle move, it's definitely a turtle. This happens more than 10 times, but less than 20, before I have enough of a sense of balance on the board to confidently head for deeper water; it scares fewer turtles there.
To paddle to an island the size of several football fields laid end-to-end, it takes less than 10 minutes. One end of this islet has a faint trail climbing to a weathered lighthouse. The other end is a peninsula beach. A group of Japanese kayakers eat lunch here. Already used to having beaches to myself, I wave and continue on.
Thirty minutes later, I paddle my board onto a beach twice the size of Ama on an island that seems as least as big as Zamami. There's no one else around. From a dry bag, I pull out my Kindle and a pork cutlet bento box. After eating, I lie down on the coral, which moulds to my body better than any memory foam mattress. I mean to read, but instead nap for an hour.
Coral beaches are the best: There's no sand to clear out of every crevice or to infiltrate a camera lens. Because of the latter, I take lots and lots of photos. The water here is itself such an indescribable shade that it has its own name, "Kerama Blue," which is also what the waters in and around these islands are called.
The Kerama Blue, much of which is protected as Kerama Shoto National Park, is not just blue, though, it's also clear. When diving, there is 100 feet of visibility.
Divemaster Seiji Miyazato picks me up at my minshuku at 8:50 my second morning on the island. The dive boat has room for 15 clients, but today it's just me. This is the case for each of my five dives with Seiji.
Some scuba divers keep meticulous notes on the type of fish and sea life they see on every dive - I am not one of them. I know the correct names of maybe a couple dozen of the fish I've seen during my 15 years of diving. Any fish that was in "Finding Nemo" I know by its name in that movie. (The Keramas have lots of Nemos.)
Diving around Zamami Island, I recognize lionfish, sea horses, sea slugs and starfish, and see dozens of fish for which I don't know the names. Kerama Shoto National Park is home to 248 species of hard coral and even more species of fish.
I watch an octopus change color and see a whitetip shark sleeping. On the seafloor beneath the overhang of a coral reef, the shark totally looks like it is snoring. Also, a shoaling school of thousands of purple queen anthias swim into me, briefly giving me vertigo. Parrotfish nibble at my fingers on several dives.
I am close enough to a sea turtle for a long enough period of time to count the number of wrinkles it has on each eyelid. They're asymmetrical - one lid has seven, the other nine. I watch another turtle tear at a hummock of hard coral like it is cardboard. Yet another just hangs in the water, suspended as gracefully and easily as a ray of refracted light.
Skimming the bottom in a shallow area - none of the dives I did were deeper than 40 feet and many were only 20 feet; this means that much of what you can see diving, you can also see by snorkelling - Seiji finds a bullet casing the length of my finger. He picks it out of the sand and hands it to me. It's brass, but has rusted to a Smurf-y blue. It's heavy, but it floats featherlike when I release it - dancing, dipping and swooping - back to the seafloor. It's probably been in the Kerama Blue since March 26, 1945, when the Battle of Okinawa started here.
The evening after holding the World War II bullet, I go looking for the Tower of Peace, a monument to honor the 300 Zamamians who died in that war. The majority of these - 246 - were suicides, which the Japanese government led the islanders to believe was a better alternative than being captured by the enemy. The monument is set on a steep hillside in a tangle of forest about a 10-minute walk above Zamami Port.
From the monument, I take the long way back to Ama. Because there are so few cars, Zamami's 15 or so miles of pavement feel more like pathways than roads.
Walking them, I see more pedestrians than cars. The road to and along the island's northern shore is twisty and vertiginous and has several fine overlooks. As I walk between overlooks, the two cars that pass me slow down. The driver of each is a weathered fisherman. Neither speaks English, but both use gestures to ask whether I need a ride.
There's no way I can fit into the cramped front seat of the first car, but I accept the second driver's offer. As we drop back into Zamami Port, of course we hit the stoplight when it's red.
Minshuku Dive House Yadokari
142 Ama, Zamami Island
011-81-98-987-2231
ama-yadokari.com/english-page/
Seven traditional Japanese-style rooms with tatami mats and futons a three-minute walk from Ama Beach, run by a manager who speaks some English. Bathrooms are shared and there are separate shower rooms for men and women. Rooms from about $65. Traditional Japanese breakfast about $8 and dinner about $23.
Stay Holoholo
124 Zamami, Zamami Island
011-81-98-987-2513
Six rooms with western-style beds, private bathrooms, and air conditioning run by a local family and attached to the Zamami Yadokari dive shop a short walk from the port. Rooms from about $123. Traditional Japanese meals are available: breakfast about $13 and dinner about $33.
Ama Beach Campground and Cottages
697-1 Ama, Zamami Island
011-81-98-987-3259
env.go.jp/en/nature/nps/park/guide/kerama/facilities/zamami/08.html
At high tide, it's possible sea turtles might wander near your tent at the shaded Ama Beach Campground. Just across the sandy street from the campground and beach are simple, traditional cottages (you'll sleep on tatami mats). Each cabin can hold up to 10 people and includes a bathroom, kitchen with refrigerator and gas stove and air conditioner. Reservations only accepted by phone. About $5 per person per night for campground, which includes community bathroom and kitchen. Two-to-three person tent about $28 per night; sleeping pads and mats about $12 per night. Cottages about $290 per night for up to six people. For additional people, about $7 per person per night. Kitchenware and a rice cooker can also be rented; bath towels and amenities are not included.
Restaurant Marumiya
432-2 Zamami, Zamami Island
011-81-98-987-3166
vill.zamami.okinawa.jp/guidemap/detail/138/
Locals and visitors come here for its large menu of Japanese and Okinawan food including So-Ki soba (an Okinawan style hot noodle topped with spare ribs, green onion and pickled red ginger) and goya campuru (a stir fry with bitter melon, tofu, egg and pork belly). Open daily (except on some Wednesdays) for lunch and dinner. Entrees from $8.
105 Store
105 Zamami, Zamami Island
011-81-98-987-2656
The largest market on the island sells snacks and a good selection of bento boxes, stuffed, steamed dumplings, and sandos, a traditional Japanese sandwich often filled with a breaded pork cutlet. Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Dumplings from about $2; bento boxes from about $8.
Wayama Mozuku
9 Zamami, Zamami Island
011-81-98-987-2069
wayamamozuku.jp
This open-air eatery uses Zamami-grown mozuku seaweed in most of its dishes. You can eat it fresh with vinegar, kneaded into dough then made into noodles, or cooked with rice and topped with pork. Open daily for lunch. Entrees from $11.
Furuzamami Beach
Zamami Island
011-81-98-987-2277
Between April and September, the most popular beach on Zamami Island has a small restaurant and kiosks that rent beach umbrellas, chaise longues and snorkelling gear. The sea floor drops quickly here and there are coral formations not far from the beach. Free; bus from port about $5. It is about a 25-minute walk from the port.
Ama Beach
Zamami Island
It's often possible to see (and swim with) sea turtles at this mellow beach a 20-minute walk from Zamami Port. There are no rental umbrellas and lounge chairs here. Free; a bus from port about $5.
Scuba at Zamami Yadokari
124 Zamami, Zamami Island
011-81-98-987-3757
The Kerama Islands are home to 248 species of coral and even more species of fish, including lion fish, sea horses and clownfish. There are also sea snakes, octopuses and hawksbill and green sea turtles. The English-speaking dive master at this PADI-certified dive shop picks dive sites based on current conditions. Available daily with advance reservations. One-boat dive with all necessary rental gear from about $1756; single dive without rental gear about $90.
Wayama Mozuku
9 Zamami, Zamami Island
011-81-98-987-2069
One of the island's most interesting restaurants also does guided snorkelling tours on which boats take you to coral reefs that are too far from shore to swim to. Half day guided tours with rental mask, snorkel, fins from $90. Full day tours from $128.
Drifter
1-3 901-3402 Zamami, Zamami Island
011-81-70-5488-4378
Half- and full-day guided SUP and kayak tours from Zamami Port. Half-day tours, including board and paddle rental, start about $93. Full-day tours about $162.
Zamami Island Whale Watching Association
1-1 Zamamichisaki, Zamami Island
011-81-098-896-4141
zwwa.okinawa/englishinfomation
Humpback whales come to the Kerama Islands annually between December and April to mate. Tours are fully booked for the current season, but booking is open for fall 2019. Boat tours offered daily from late December to early April. Adults about $82.
Tower of Peace
Above Zamami Port Terminal, Zamami Island
A tower dedicated to the several hundred Zamami islanders killed in the World War II battle during which the 77th U.S. Infantry Division invaded the island before the Battle of Okinawa. The tower is about a 10-minute walk up Mount Takatsuki from Zamami Port. Free.
Inazaki Observatory
North side of Zamami Island
From December to April, the whale watching season, it's possible to see whales breaching in the water from this recently reconstructed observation deck high on the island's north side. The rest of the year it's a great spot to watch the sun set and see other Kerama islands including Aguni, Tonaki and Kume. Free.
If you need a break from the slopes or don’t fancy a ski, there’s still a lot to do this.