This week has been the craziest week of my life. Over the holiday weekend I went to a small island off of Okinawa called Zamami. I went with 5 other camp adventure girls and 7 marines we know well. We camped for two nights on this remote island. The whole time we were there, all of us kept repeating that this didn't seem real. This place, these people, this experience, it's reserved for the discovery channel and the rich and famous. Not for us. The water was turquoise and crystal clear. No kidding you could see the ocean floor 30 feet down. I swam with sea turtles and jellyfish and schools of colorful fish. I've never been somewhere more perfect.
It's was insanely hot so we spent our time exclusively on the beach, only traveling the 20 yards to our campsite for food and water. This island is so small that there was only one campsite so we met so many amazing people. Everyone was so kind, in such a good mood, and felt so blessed to be there. We went into town for a local festival and got to see some traditional island dances. The food was amazing and it was so crazy to be able to be a part of some remote island festival, we had a blast.
I was given a baby goat, no kidding, by a local goat herder! The goats come on the beach so even were all petting them and having a great time, then a baby goat came trotting along. He and I became fast friends, he followed me everywhere and kept nuzzling me. I named him Sampson. When it came time for the goats to move on, the herder came over to get the baby goat but no matter what he did Sampson would run back and hide behind me. The herder then said "want the baby?" And I, thinking he was kidding, said "yes!" The guy shrugged, then walked away. At first I thought it was a joke, but the herder didn't come back. Myself and a friend quickly deduced that we were not ready to be parents of a baby goat just yet so proceeded to run along the each with baby Sampson at my heels to return him to his goat family. I miss him :((
Each evening someone would bring down some speakers to the beach and we would alternate between glow stick dance parties and calm country jams while looking up for shooting stars. (I saw 6 in case you were curious). At any given point there were between 15 and 40 people on the beach, most of us strangers, but all sharing this amazing experience together.
Sunday morning rolled around and we heard about the typhoon. Everyone had to get off the island, including the locals, so it was pretty crazy at the port. We got on the ferry no problems and headed home to get ready for the typhoon. We soon found out that it wasn't just a typhoon, it was a super typhoon, one that was projected to be the strongest they've seen in 15 years. Oh, goodie.
We were paired up and then put into lockdown on Monday night, expecting the worst of the storm to hit midday Tuesday. Luckily for us, the typhoon veered left in the night so we got hit with the equivalent of a category 3 hurricane as opposed to the category 5 we were prepared for. We were in lock down for 40 hours. We were out of power for 26 hours. We are in all clear now, and I've heard that there were no deaths, only mild injuries and lots of flooding. Basically, we got really lucky.
Thank you all for the prayers and support, it won't deny that I was definitely missing home during the lockdown. But knowing I had people thinking of me made it much easier! Much love to all.
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