Naha

MariCAR Okinawa

Posted on by Greg

MariCAR is a unique experience exclusive to Naha or Tokyo. You get wear a custom and drive a street legal go-kart around the city. The go-carts easily keep up with 50 KPH traffic and the entire trip is a hoot.

Cons: It’s expensive. It’s ¥90,000 for a two hour trip, though they’ll reduce the rate to ¥75,000 if you leave a review on a Social Network Site (Facebook). On top of the cart rental fee, we decided to rent two cameras as well. When you rent the camera, you have the option to buy a 16GB micro SD card for $10 or a 32GB micro SD card for $15. We decided to get the 32GB SD cards. Since you’re reading this, you probably won’t be impulsively buying a SD card, but, if you do, the 16GB is probably sufficient for the trip. On our two hour tour at night, our recordings each totaled about 13GB. You’ll also get to decide whether you want to use a head or chest mount for the cameras. We chose to try each option. You can tell the difference in our video below. I like the perspective from the chest mount, but it definitely captures a lot more vibration and you can’t focus it at interesting things.

The cameras were fun, but definitely not necessary. The guides took pictures at almost every stop light and they came out surprisingly well. They took about 90 pictures over tour hours and provided all of them when we got back to the shop.

We went for impromptu evening ride. The costumes are lightweight, but they’re still essentially one piece pajamas. If I was wearing it in the heat of the day, I would have been sweating profusely. The evening ride was a very pleasant temperature. The downside is you can’t see as much. The 2 hour course takes you to Senagajima Island, which has beautiful views during the day. You won’t see anything at night. The first hour went by really quickly and we were glad that all of the one hour slots were already booked on the day we wanted to go. As you drive down Kokasai street, expect lots of people to wave and take pictures of you. Kokasai was a slow, relaxing drive, which is unique to go-kart driving. The constant stop lights would be maddening in a regular car, but in the go-karts I felt like a celebrity.

Cost:
One Hour – ¥60,000/person
Two Hours – ¥90,000/person

Hours: 1000 – 2200

Website: https://maricar.okinawa/en/

Location: 7-1 Higashi-Machi Naha City Okinawa, Japan

Reservations: Facebook messenger is the easiest way to make a reservation. Alternatively, you can call them or just show up.

Whale Watching in Okinawa

Posted on by Greg

Every December, Humpback whales migrate to the warm waters off the coast of Okinawa. Many humpback whales can be found near Kerama Islands and Naha. The whales will hang around until April-ish. That’s it. January to March is peak Whale Watching Season in Okinawa.

We booked our whale watching adventure through ITT, but there are several companies in Naha that offer whale watching services. We boarded the ITT tour bus at Kadena at 7am and had a peaceful ride down to Miegusuku port near Naha. It was a nice, calm day. I popped a couple of dramamine tablets and spritzed my exposed skin with some sunscreen before we boarded our whale watching vessel.

At the beginning of the day, it seems as though all of the different charter companies zip off to different sectors around the Kerama islands to search for Humpback whales. 30 minutes into our cruise our guide found a solitary humpback whale in an empty section of the South China Sea. I climbed up to the second story of the boat to get a better view and to ensure I could really feel the boat rocking back and forth. We remained stationary and rocking for a while as the guide tried to figure out where the whale was going. Every few minutes we’d see a new spout off in the distance as he swam around. He wasn’t really headed in any particular direction.

Fun fact: The Humpback whales don’t eat anything the entire time they’re visiting Okinawa. Normally, the migrate to procreate. I guess they’d rather start a family in a tropical paradise than in frigid Alaska.

The boat operator got a call from another guide that had found a family of three whales. We changed course and sailed away from our solitary friend. When we arrived at the new location, it was already quite crowded. There were four other charter boats in the area. This must have been the best find.

There were a lot of different boats.

All of the boat operators were very professional and executed a seamless dance, constantly shifting position to ensure every boat’s passengers had equal opportunity to see the massive whales. The two parents swam about like reasonable adults and would surface at regular intervals to breath. They already had a calf, so I’m not sure what they were doing fasting in Okinawa, but the young calf seemed to be having a blast. He didn’t so much swim as he did jump, spin, and fall. We probably followed the family for a full hour and he jumped the entire time. I’m sure his parents were just waiting for him to fall asleep.

It’s a little guy!

After 2 hours at sea, and very successful whale sightings, we headed back in to the port. I’ll not that it’s possible that you won’t see any whales at all. There is a lot of water in the ocean. But since I saw whales and had a good time, it was definitely worth the trip.