On our second day, we joined a one-day tour we had booked on KKday:

08:20 Meeting point: in front of Blue Seal at RYUBO Department Store, Naha Prefectural Office area (08:30 departure)
09:05 Meeting point: Lequ Okinawa Chatan Spa & Resort, Chatan (09:15 departure)
10:05 Arrive at Manzamo (about 30 minutes)
10:35 Travel by bus to Kouri Island
11:25 Arrive at Kouri Island (about 30 minutes)
11:55 Travel by bus to the aquarium
12:25 Arrive at the aquarium (about 2.5 hours)
Free dolphin show (about 10 minutes): 13:00
15:00 Travel by bus to Yaedake Sakuranomori Park (about 60 minutes)
16:20 Return by bus
17:35 Arrive at Chatan American Village and end the tour (if no guests are getting off at American Village, the bus continues directly to Naha Prefectural Office)
18:45 Arrive at Naha Prefectural Office and end the tour

We hurried out a little after 8:40 and waited at the meeting point for a while before the bus arrived. Just as it pulled up, it started pouring. We were the only passengers boarding there; everyone else had boarded at Naha Prefectural Office. We had booked three seats, but once we got on, we only saw two seats right behind the driver, so we took those for the time being.

Our first stop was Manzamo. The rain stopped not long after we entered Onna, but then it started pouring again once we got into the Manzamo visitor facility. I thought we might miss it entirely, but luckily the rain let up and we got to see the elephant-trunk-shaped rock.

There was a very cute hat in the first-floor shop, and to our surprise, my daughter was willing to wear it.

The second stop was Kouri Island. The sun was strong, the beach was crowded, and it looked like high tide. We only had half an hour there, which was barely enough time to do anything.

My daughter wanted to go down to the beach and dig in the sand, but we talked her out of it. We also thought about buying Okinawan onigiri at the shop, but none of the flavors looked especially tempting, so in the end we only bought ice cream.

The third stop was Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. It took about half an hour to drive there from Kouri Island. My daughter kept saying she felt unwell. As we were almost at the aquarium, we loosened the seat belt and let her face forward. Her expression did not look good, but thankfully we caught the vomit in time. The driver must have been a little nervous.

It was not raining when we got off the bus, but it started again as we were walking toward the ticket area. By the time we had our tickets, it was pouring. We borrowed a stroller from the aquarium and pushed my daughter inside. The place was so crowded that the air conditioning could not really keep up, and the exhibition rooms felt a bit stuffy.

The main highlight of the day was, of course, The Kuroshio Sea.

My daughter finally saw the whale shark. She still remembered the video of The Kuroshio Sea that I had shown her before, and she stood at the railing watching for a long time.

If you set aside The Kuroshio Sea, the aquarium itself is not actually that big. After leaving the building, we bought hot dogs from a food truck down the slope, and they were good. We also stopped at the nearby gift shop and picked up a few souvenirs, including a whale shark wallet and a whale shark notebook. It was very crowded.

Fortunately, it did not rain again after that, so we went to see the manatees as well. Their bodies were huge, and by comparison the tank really did not feel large. It had a strong sense of confinement.

After leaving the aquarium, the next stop was American Village. It poured again on the road. The guide said she would let us rest, but she still talked for quite a while before stopping. She was probably from mainland China, and throughout the day she often interpreted Ryukyu history from a Chinese perspective.

By the time we arrived at American Village, the rain had mostly stopped. We were very lucky that day. Although the outer bands of a typhoon brought several bursts of heavy rain, they mostly happened while we were on the bus or after we had gone indoors, so they rarely disrupted the itinerary.

Back at the hotel, we bought Karaage-kun from Lawson for my daughter. She loved it so much that she even told her mom she could not have any. After she finished eating, it was still light out, and she started asking to go dig in the sand. Because of the typhoon, the waves were high and the swimming area was closed, so we only played in the sand beside the path and did not go near the sea. There were still people in the swimming area, and the management office warned them over the loudspeaker.

After the sand play, we went to an Okinawa soba restaurant across from the hotel that had pretty good reviews. It was not bad. After dinner we went to Blue Seal for ice cream, then stopped by AEON Chatan again to buy supplies. AEON really became our friend on this trip.

At AEON, we bought some brightly colored paper cups to use as toys.

Note: This article is translated from Traditional Chinese.