Tropical Dream Center

The ceiling in the lobby........ GORGEOUS!!!

The first garden area

Then into the FABULOUS orchids house

Some fun Shi-sas :)

Rodney and Rachel feeding the koi

This is what comes out of the food machine

Break open the ice cream cone box and there are the pellets. When the pellets are gone, simply tear the box into pieces and toss those in, too!

And, obviously, they LOVE it!!

Then, to the top of the spiral building.

A few of our other "west" visits were Nakijin Castle, Pizza in the Sky, Pineapple Park, and a few fun little stops along the way.......

West to Expo Park

**I realize that technically Motobu Peninsula is not the most west point of Okinawa, but for all practical purposes of this "story," we're going to pretend it is :) Therefore, . . .**

Having gone all the way North, South, and East we had to make a trip to the West which meant we were headed to Motobu Peninsula and its many adventures. We decided our first adventure HAD to be Expo Park, home of a variety of exciting places to visit, but Churaumi Aquarium and Tropical Dream Center were our destinations.


We made a pit-stop along the way for Rodney to do a little rock climbing....

...and Rachel to do a little posing!

An unexpected site!

Expo Park

Entrance to the central plaza

They have some of the cutest topiary!!

Upper level of the aquarium entrance

Of course, there was a picture spot! We mimed our way through offering to take a group picture for a family and asking them to take a picture of us all together :)

Then it was into the aquarium....

Nothing like lunch with the rays

A few candid sealife shots

I love to watch these garden eels!!

This was one of the coolest things! They'd made a clear plastic shell for the large hermit crab to wear so you can see what the rest of his body looks like.

After the aquarium, we visited the manatees and the sea turtles. Then, as luck would have it, when we stopped by to see the dolphins, it was just in time for their practice!!

Ready?? 

Shake!! 

Good job!!

After this fun surprise, we grabbed some ice cream and caught the tram over to the Tropical Dream Center....

East to White Beach

Our East destination was White Beach (a Navy base)!!

Too bad we didn't have our snorkeling gear, because snorkeling out to that little island looks like awesome fun!!

But, Rachel and Rodney enjoyed gathering shells and sea glass :)

After leaving White Beach, we drove over to a couple of little islands.

A little road stop spot...

Then to the further even smaller island

Imagine having this in your front yard!!!
(I believe if you click on the picture, it will enlarge and you can see the "spaceship" rock in the far left of the picture :)

Another beach we stopped to visit...

I thought the stones put into these steps just added a nice little something to the picture :)

Just loved this one.....

"There's a gator in the water!!!!"

As you can tell, we found our excitement of the Eastern peninsula of Okinawa to be some lovely beaches!!
Then we made a few trips to the West......