Sarushima-Monkey Island

Dylan and I had signed up for the Mt Fuji sightseeing trip as our Labor Day celebration. Unfortunately this trip was cancelled so we had to make other plans no sitting at home for these two!

On to Monkey Island for a day at the beach for little man, who as you all know loves the beach.

Here is my buddy sitting on a bench at Mikasa Park waiting for the ferry.

Our ferry left at 10:30 from Mikasa Park in Yokosuka. A very short walk from one of our gates. Ok for you good ole civilians a gate is the opening into the real world off base:) The short part is all relative but for us it seems short.
Here is our destination - Monkey Island. It is the only natural island in Tokyo Bay and popular during beach season for barbecuing and swimming. Japanese Beach season ends with the close of August. We were a day late but that just meant more space for us.
This picture was taken while on Monkey Island looking back at Yokosuka.
I am dressed in beach attire - bath suit, skirt, top and flip flops. As you will see it was more of a hiking day but I survived and Dylan passed out (sleeping)

From what I could gather from the Japanese signs Monkey Island used to be some kind of fortress. This of course makes sense being it is the only natural island in the bay.
It was slightly eerie walking through these old tunnels and down in between the fortress wall all the while listening to the sounds of helicopter blades beating the air. I have a very vivid imagination and enjoy history. These are great qualities except when hiking by yourself through old Japanese fortressed listening to the sounds of the military. I knew I was totally safe. Interestingly enough the helicopters ended up being US helicopters from base. They were doing exercises out in the Bay over Monkey Island. You will also see a picture of the USS Essex which was training nearby as well.

There were myriads of stairs or so it felt when wearing flip flops and carrying your one year old son on your back. By the end of the morning I can guarantee you I had an awesome leg workout. I knew for sure because my legs were actually shaking from fatigue -just like a wonderful killer leg work out.

I was unsuccessful at getting my camera to focus zoomed in on this area. It looked like a memorial, make shift altar or something of the sort inside one of the caves. There was a rope barrier to protect it from the curious like me.
Some one was obviously beyond exhausted. I kept trying to get his head to rest of my back, but it just wasn't happening. Can you imagine how we would feel as adults if we slept like this? Dylan was great after he awoke refreshed from his nap.
Here is the USS Essex which was doing maneuvers and training right off the side of the island. The noises of which added to the strangeness of hiking around an old fortress.

As you descended the steps (in the picture you saw above) the ship was right there. Also numerous professional looking Japanese photographers were all along the stairwell taking shot after shot of the training exercises. ????


We had our picnic lunch and ran into some people from our church who had just come over to enjoy splashing in the tidal pools on the back side of the island.

After lunch I thought we would head down to the beach and have some fun. I had planned it out that we would catch not the next ferry but the one that would be there in an hour. That would be a great amount of play time yet we would still get home in time for a nap.

Dylan was anything but thrilled with this beach. Hello Mom where is the white sand? Literally he didn't want the sand on him unlike in Saint Augustine where he was loving the beach
Dylan didn't want the sand on him and after seeing the water I didn't want the water on him so we ran to catch the ferry that had just arrived. The water of the bay was ice tea color and I wasn't too sure about it. Come to find out that rumor has it a lot of the Japanese ship just dump their nastiness into the bay. I don't think I want my little man covered in whatever that may be.


Oh yes I know many of you are wondering where are the pictures of the monkeys. Strangely enough there are no monkeys on monkey island. I have no idea why it got that name.

We were able to head to Mt Fuji on Sept 7th so keep your eyes open for those pictures in the future.