Family Trip to Miyakojima with Dogs Part 3: Clear SUP in the Miyako Blue Sea. But Then, a Mishap!

This is a continuation of the following article

The second day on Miyakojima. We had signed up for a clear SUP tour for this day. We chose this specific tour because it is dog-friendly😊

Basically, they decide the location based on the latest weather conditions. The beach designated the day before felt like a bit of a local hidden gem, but the one designated on the morning of the tour was just a little north of the famous Yonaha Maehama Beach. We arrived at the meeting point a little early.

We arrived, and it was a place where I felt anxious, wondering if this was really the right spot...?!

However, after walking a little, a paradise view jumped out in front of us. The sea... the sea is incredibly blue!

White sandy beach and blue sea. It was truly a dreamlike view. Miyakojima... it's just too amazing. The locals said it was just a normal beach, but their sense of normal is off. It's an impossibly amazing view! It's exactly the same view as in this photo!

And we were about to go SUPing in this impossibly beautiful sea. When the instructor asked, "You're taking your smartphone, but are you okay with the fact that if you drop it, we can't retrieve it?", I replied, "Yes, that's fine!"

Clear SUP boards are transparent, so it feels like you're floating on the sea. It's a very strange sensation. However, they are extremely slippery. Still, the color of the sea is so beautiful, it's like someone poured bath salts into it!

The dog shoes we prepared for this day proved their worth! The toy poodles managed to stay on the SUP board without slipping. Although, they did fall into the water a little bit.

In the end, they ended up with my wife, the primary owner.

We enjoyed SUP as a family! The sea is crystal clear, and there were almost no waves, so it was calm. Oh, it was the best!

Without any editing, the Miyakojima sea looking like this is just insane. The sea around Katsuura and Kamogawa in Chiba is also beautiful, but this is in a league of its own!

HOWEVER!

After this, when I handed the Insta360 camera equipment to a family member who was with me, I reached out too far, lost my balance, and fell into the water. The fall itself was no problem at all since the sea was beautiful, but the problem was the smartphone I had hanging around my neck. After getting out of the sea, it was powered off, and even after pressing the power button, it wouldn't respond at all.

Come to think of it, when I dropped my smartphone the day before, it had a small crack in the corner... I started to get a bad feeling. A while after getting back on land, the camera started to fog up from the inside, and when I saw that, I thought,

"My smartphone is finished..."

I was in a lot of trouble because the smartphone stopped working. My travel plans, flight boarding passes, and other electronic money were all on my phone.

I thought about what to do to restore my environment as soon as possible. Since my personal smartphone has always been a Google Pixel, I really wanted to buy a device from Google, but since I was traveling and wanted to restore my environment that same day if possible, I decided to go to an electronics retail store and purchase a Docomo device, which I have a contract with, in the form of a model change. After finishing the SUP, my family returned to the accommodation, and I was dropped off at the electronics store beforehand.

As soon as I looked at the smartphone corner at the electronics store, there was no Docomo... It seems that Docomo's signal isn't very good throughout Miyakojima, so they don't seem to carry Docomo devices at all... When I asked the clerk where I could buy a Docomo device, they told me that if I went to a Docomo shop about 5km away, they would have them.

They said it was a 50-minute walk, but since that's about the distance I usually jog, I decided to run there😁. It probably took a little less than 30 minutes at a slow jog.

By the way, the Taiwan sandals I brought this time were the best. They are sandals you can run in, with excellent cushioning and heel support, so I had no trouble running in them even in this situation. The grip on the soles is also good, so I didn't slip on the rocky areas, and it's easy to brush off the sand at the beach.

Click here for the article about my new Taiwan sandals!

Even though it was April, the temperature in Miyakojima was over 25°C. I arrived at the Docomo shop drenched in sweat after my run.

I went into the store and asked for a Pixel I could buy right away! The only one they had in stock was the Pixel 10. They didn't even have the recently released budget-friendly 10a. Since I had been using a Pixel 8 Pro, it felt like a bit of a downgrade, but I had no choice. It was my own fault, so I couldn't complain.

However, restoring my environment went smoothly. Since I had just performed a factory reset on my phone the other day, I borrowed the Docomo shop's Wi-Fi and was relieved to have the main functions restored just four hours after dropping it in the water. Still, it was a painful expense to have to buy a new smartphone (and despite that, I bought a waterproof case that day and took the phone back into the sea the next day. I never learn😅).

After that, I met up with my family and had ice cream at Blue Seal. After all the chaos and sweating, the ice cream really hit the spot.

A Blue Seal opened in Makuhari, Chiba, a few years ago, but the interior of this one is really photogenic.

After eating ice cream at Blue Seal, we went to Seasar's for dinner.

It's a restaurant with a covered terrace where you can bring your dog.

They are known for their barbecue, but we ordered individual dishes.

And so, our eventful second day came to an end! It continues to the third day below.