This was my first time seeing water this shade of blue before, and that's including my trip to the Grand Cayman Islands in 2016. The Yakena Straits Observatory is located in Uruma, Okinawa between the Katsuren Peninsula and Yabuchi Island. Near the overlook is a small port where you can see small boats coming in and out, and some fisherman along the water.
When I went to the observatory with my husband, we were looking forward to climbing up to the top and getting a nice view of our island, as well as looking out over the bay and the Philippine Sea! Unfortunately the stairway leading up to the lookout was roped off and had a large sign in front in Japanese. We used the Google Translate app's camera to translate, and while it wasn't perfect, the words "danger" and "rock fall" were enough for us to turn back around. Even though we didn't go to the top, we still got to experience an incredible view.
Luckily there is a stairwell that leads down towards the water and a small cave. There is also a public restroom down there for those that are visiting. Please keep in mind that some people still pray in the cave, so I recommend to be respectful of the space.
I am going to keep checking this location for updates on the barricade because I would love to see how it looks from the top! Several people reached out to me to say that they went past the barricade to get to the top anyways, and I know that sometimes it's a little okay to break the rules, but if a sign is saying "danger" and it's at the top of a cliff - you should probably take that as a sign to not climb over the ropes (pun intended).
In order to emphasize how blue the water is - the photo gallery below is completely unedited and shot on my iPhone 11.
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