Okuma Military Resort is in the Northern part of Okinawa, so we decided to check out Cape Hero and the Kijoka Falls. We spent all day today with the Schwartz! It was so wonderful to have great friends with us. When we got to Cape Hero, we found a huge parking lot and lots of cliffs. There was a covered patio area, so we got our lunches out and had a picnic lunch.
Cape Hero is so very beautiful. We came during low tide, so we could see the coral reefs! It was a sight to behold! All of us wanted to go down and explore the tide pools and the reef, but there was no way down where we were at. Luckily, though, the cliffs gave us a perfect vantage point.
Another reason Cape Hero is so beautiful, is because it is surrounded by a National Forest. All around us were beautiful mountains, beaches and so much green.
Okinawa is much different then America. Japan must trust their citizens to not do anything stupid, because at some points on our walk around the area, there were straight drop offs. I has holding Little Monster's hand super tight for fear that he would just start running and go off a cliff. I enjoyed the freedom, as I jumped off rocks to get to a cliff on the far side of the Cape. The cliff had a great view of the ocean's reefs. I will admit, there were some points when I was jumping over nothing but a 100 foot drop into a rocky reef, that I was a little scared and questioning my actions.
Across from the patio where we had our picnic lunch, was a little restaurant/cafe. Kevin went over and saw an Okinawa ice treat, so he bought a few for all of us to share! It was so different and so very delicious!
It was like flavored shaved ice, with a blue ice cream type consistency something in the middle. I'm pretty sure it was taro or coconut, it was so very delicious! Especially on such a hot day! All the kids really loved it, especially Monster! He couldn't get bites fast enough and would get frustrated if a second went by that he wasn't getting a bite.
We explored around Cape Hero for a while. There were statues and landmarks, small Buddha statues, and neat rock formations.
There was a nice pathway that went around the tip of the cape. The pathway took you to some neat lookout points.
Poor Monster was so very hot. He had super red cheeks and sweat beads on his nose.
M&M was so cute. She kept seeing all the beautiful look out points, and would ask over and over again if we could take her picture.
We snapped a few pictures before we went on our way to the Kijoka Falls.
And here are our amazing Friends: Dustin, Corianne, Daphne & Rhett! I am so glad there were with us, Little Monster absolutely loves Rhett. They get along so well. They kept walking and holding each other's hands. Little A played so well with Daphne! It was wonderful she had a friend with her.
Everyone had super red cheeks, and we were all sweating, so we decided to leave Cape Hero. We went searching for the Kijoka Falls. From what I read, there would be a small parking lot, and you could just walk a few steps to the Falls.
I got a little nervous when the directions turned us down a super small road with a lot of overgrown trees. I was really worried that we were not going the right way.
I didn't want to get our rental car stuck in a ditch or down a cliff, so I told Kevin to park and wait, and I would run ahead to see if it lead anywhere. Sure enough just down the bend, there was a small parking lot, and directly next to it was the Tori Gate that lead to the falls.
To get to the falls you walk down this super short narrow rock walkway. There was a beautiful natural retaining wall that had moss and bugs and plants! It just added to the beauty of the area.
What makes this waterfall pretty neat, is that it is like a stairway waterfall. You can see there is a small falls to the left, then it zigzags over to the right. It looks super small in the pictures, but it was about 10-15 feet high.
There was a really nice pool at the bottom of the waterfall, but since we didn't have swimsuits and since I didn't know if it was bacteria-free, we opted to throw rocks and skip stones instead. Poor Big Sis got a rock thrown right at her head by Rhett, she has such a hard head that the rock split in two. Poor girl had a headache for the rest of the day. Just a few minutes later, Little Monster threw a rock and it hit Rhett in the head. We decided it was a good time to drop all rocks and head back to the cars.
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