Flying Fish....

Sunday, 9 September, Wesley and I woke up around eight and got ready for the day.  There are a lot of things to do, and we couldn't quite decide were we wanted to go, though both of us agreed that we wanted to be outside.  So, we walked over to the train station to find out when the next bus to Matsushima would be leaving and found out that we had an hour wait.

We decided to try for the boat replica in Ishinomaki, but the train would have also be an hour wait, so we decided to hop in my car, putting on appropriate hiking attire, and headed toward a cliff over on Miyato Island (actually, it is more like a peninsula).  On our way, we stopped and got some food to eat.

While passing by, we decided to stop at Nobiru beach so I could eat my breakfast.  Sitting there made both of us want to go swimming, so donning our workout clothes, we hoped in the water.  We stayed in there for about two and a half hours.

Tide was coming in, so the waves were pretty nice-sized.  We swam out to where neither one of us could touch, and enjoyed the beauty of nature while we talked.  Out of nowhere, something flew from the water and hit my forehead before disappearing again.  It moved so fast, we did not get a good glimpse of it.  While trying to figure out what exactly it was, we saw a fish fly from the water, only to quickly disappear back into it.

As more time passed, the instances of these fish grew, and it did not take us long to realize that we were swimming with flying fish, who appeared to be coming in with the tide.  As the tide evened out, the occurrence of the fish died down.  It was a lot of fun, and amazing to see.

Once we got out of the water, we tried to get to the cliff but soon discovered that we could not travel there by car.  Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to go for a hike, so we turned around and headed toward Matsushima instead.

There, we parked and got some food at a local restaurant.  Before walking Wesley to the train station, we went to the Island Shrine (called Godaido).  There is a small red bridge that connects the islands to the main land, and in older times, it was said that if you tripped or stumbled on the bridge, you were not ready to go to the shrine.  Now, they have slats to walk on, and it was funny to see how many people refused to walk on the original boards--they instead kept to the slats.  From the island, you can see the long red bridge--it is said that it is bad luck for any couple to cross it together.

Dropped Wesley off at the train station, and spent a little bit of time looking around Matsushima a bit more before heading home.  Went to Tati's for dinner and a movie (our normal Sunday ritual).  It was a really fun day =)