Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ficult as its few residents do most of their shopping on Tarama, making the longer 40-mile
(60-kilometer) trip to Miyako only occasionally.
Tiny Minnajima is completely ringed with beaches.
Minna is very small, its surface area only 1 square mile (2.5 square kilometers). It's a
wedge-shaped islet, about 1.75 miles (3 kilometers) at its longest and a little more than three-
quarters of a mile (1 kilometer) at its widest, but its width tapers down to 1,640 and 1,970
feet (500 and 600 meters) on its southeastern end. Its shoreline circumference is 4 miles (6
kilometers). Its highest elevation is about 33 feet (10 meters). Its small port, Minna-kō (
水納
港
), which is really just a pier, is on the southeastern shore.
Scuba Diving and Snorkeling
One of the more interesing and challenging aciviies throughout the Ryūkyūs is skin diving, be it
snorkeling or scuba diving, for Okinawa has some of the cleanest, clearest waters on the planet.
Japanese tourists are very keen on the sport and lessons and rental equipment are available on most
every island. You don't need much gear when snorkeling, but to scuba dive you must become ceri-
fied in order to rent the equipment or to fill your tanks with air.
The island is completely ringed with white sandy beaches. Almost no part of the island
is cultivated and most of it is wild scrub vegetation. There are presently five people living on
Minna and they are all members of the same family. There are only a couple of sandy tracks,
no roads, no village and no school for children. There are no services of any kind on Minna.
