Rodney's HUGE in Japan!

At a shopping mall, we walked by a Family Restroom and there inside was this bitty child's toilet!! Just could NOT refuse that photo op!! 

Typhoon Season

Our typhoon (basically the same as hurricane) season runs May to October. When Rachel was visiting, our season kicked off strong!!

She was expected to hit us as a Category 3, but hit as "just" a 2. We reached Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 1-Emergency (TCCOR 1-E) about 9pm, Saturday, May 28. At that point, all outside activity was prohibited, so we were in lock down! (It only lasted overnight :) But, we had food and supplies together to prepare for power outages, which we, unlike many others on the island, never experienced. She produced winds registered on Rodney's work base of 125 miles an hour!!! But she was very dry giving us maybe 10 inches of rain.

But, then in August we were visited by Typhoon MUIFA....

TCCOR 1-E was declared Thursday afternoon, August 4, and we remained in lockdown until Saturday evening (yes, over 48 hours)!! That's when it's kind of fun to live in a tower--it was like being locked in a dorm! We were knocking on each others doors, "hey, whatcha' doin'?" and having hall parties here and there :)
As a Category 3 (expected Cat 4!), she had such strong winds (111-130 mph), it sounded like she was trying to rip into our bedroom fire-escape, so we pulled the mattress off our bed into the living room and just camped out in there! The winds were still pretty noisy, but not as loud as the bedroom. 

Then there was the rain... all 41 inches of it.....

I just can't quite find the correct word to describe the torrential rain that was being blown so hard that it was being blown through the "spaces" in the window frames creating lovely "window fountains"!! In the clean-up I found pieces of leaves that had been blown in, too!!

As the towels would get completely saturated, I'd throw them into the washer on the spin cycle to wring them out, then into the dryer. They'd be ready to go again about the time the other towels were hitting saturation. We ran that cycle 4 or 5 times.

We did lose a few tiles.

We had to roll the room-size rug back!! And even used throw rugs to try to block the water from running all over the floor.
After the eye of the storm passed and the winds were coming from the other direction, our "leaks" were relieved. Then, it was the other side of the building's turn to deal with them!!
We did learn (a little late for this one) that the trick is to stuff plastic shopping bags down into the window frames. They allow the windows to still move with the wind, yet provide a barrier to keep the water out! We'll be sure to do that next time :)

Ocean Sunset in Nago

We spent a FUN, albeit wet and stormy, day at the aquarium with our new friends, the Baileys. On our drive home, the storm had moved out to sea which made for a GORGEOUS sunset!!

We were driving along and got this shot...

Then Rodney saw a sign for "Nago Citizen's Beach" and pulled in. We walked the beach collecting shells, sea glass, and pictures as the sun set...

What a fabulous evening to be out for a sail!!
(I believe if you click on the picture above and the two below, they will enlarge and you can see the sailboat as it sails by.)





One last glimpse.......

4th of July Dive at Maeda Point

150 stairs down to the water.....
Notice the "shelf" at the edge of the water-- it goes out about 20-30 feet and is only about 3-4 feet deep there, then drops off to about 100 feet!!


There's quite a bit to see on the shelf when snorkeling out!!

Then, you slowly descend while exploring the wall of the shelf.

Looking back up the wall

"A-OK"

Re-surfaced and ready to head back up the stairs.

All smiles--it was a great dive AND I'm just about to the top of the stairs :-)