Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In this aerial view of Cape Kyan, the true southernmost point of Okinawa Main Island is at the upper right
corner. The lighthouse and peace monuments are midway along the rocky Kyan cliffs.
We began our discussion of the Okinawa-shotō some 75 islands ago with Adakashima, a
tiny islet at the northeasternmost point of Okinawa. We'll end it here with this tiny islet,Yahé-
iwa, just a large rock, in fact, offshore from Okinawa's northwesternmost island of Iheya.
We've completed a full circle, having gone around almost 360 degrees beginning and ending
near Okinawa's northern tip, Cape Hedo.
That completes our look at Okinawa-hontō and the Okinawa shotō. It's a large group of
islands and it's taken quite some time to visit them all. We'll next set sail (in fact, we'll have
to fly) about 186 miles (300 kilometers) southwest to the Miyako-shotō, or the Miyako Ar-
chipelago. It's a beautiful, though much smaller group of islands, especially when compared
to the number of islands surrounding Okinawa Main Island. Altogether, there are only eight
major islands in the Miyako group.
Before leaving the Okinawa Islands, however, it might be worth reflecting on this, the
largest group of islands in the Ryukyu Archipelago, and offering some guidance. The fact is
that most people simply won't have the time—weeks or months—required to visit all these
islands. For most visitors a trip to Okinawa may mean sightseeing Okinawa Main Island,
Okinawa-hontō, and that's it. So if a traveler had just a few extra days and could visit only one
small island in the Okinawa-shotō group, which one might it be? In other words, let's choose
one island and let it be representative of all the other little islands.
