Sunset Dinner Cruise

I continued the torture for Ed as our anniversary celebrations continued…..the weather held out and we were able to go on our Sunset Dinner Cruise on the East China Sea. I thought it would be fun to take a dinner cruise, since we have never done that before and it is in the ocean that we dive and became scuba certified in……We headed down to the Naha port and got their about 30 minutes early. I checked in at the window. I had bought our tickets awhile ago and wasn’t quite sure how it worked…..I showed her my ID card and the cute Okinawan lady gave me a laminated brown card that she said I would need for when I boarded the boat. We just walked around for a little while. When we were outside by the water there were a ton of the conex boxes. They brought back bad memories for Ed. We were laughing as he was telling me some of the stories from when he and his buddies lived in those in Iraq. He said they were flippin freezing in the winter and they were very stinky! We were laughing that our household had been in this very place August 2003 and would be back here in just a few short months! It was now time to get on the bus to take us to our boat. It was funny as Ed’s head touched the ceiling of the bus, it was one of those you stood on and held on to the little handles hanging from the ceiling. We climbed the ramp to the boat. There was a sign that said to watch your step. They needed a sign that said “watch your head” as Ed had to duck getting into the boat. LOL Once in though, it was plenty tall enough. I showed them my little card they had given me at the port and we were led to a table that had our name on it. Ed was releived to find that our place settings had regular silverware with the chop sticks. He can eat fine with chop sticks, just prefers not to, where i prefer chop sticks. That's just because i used them alot when i lived with my Dad and have just always preferd them. I ordered some sort of tropical juice thing that was really good! Ed just wanted water. This is when he informed me he doesn’t like boat rides. I didn’t know that as boat dives and deep sea fishing are things that he likes to do…..e said those are different. I had bought some Dramamine or whatever that stuff is called for our boat dives for him, so he had brought that with him. Yay! He didn’t get sick either, thank goodness! I’ve already made this week miserable enough for the poor guy! LOL The Enya song “Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away” was playing as we were all getting seated and served our drinks. The appetizer came first…..not so appetizing! But, I did try everything except the sardines. I just have never been able to get myself to try those! So, I don’t really know if they taste bad….but just looking at the head and the eyeball and like, yeah, just can’t do it…but did try everything else. Not bad. The quiche looking yellow thing had this taste to it I didn’t like. The veggies were in some sort of vinegar and were good. I think that was the only thing on the plate that Ed ate. The sea weed thing was alright, but just couldn’t bring myself to eat more than a few little strands, don’t care for the texture…..the other thing tasted like shredded chicken. It was really good. The soup, salad, and bread was delicious, as always! We had chosen steak for our entre when I bought our tickets awhile back. The main course was really good and Ed got my shrimp. Just another one of those things that I have no idea if I like or not, but just can’t bring myself to try! For dessert, we each got a plate that had several different treats on it. Obviously you can tell what the fruit was, than there was a cream puff, a brownie, a cake thing, and another sort of pastry thing. We were entertained by an Okinawan who played the guitar and sang beautifully! Most of his songs were in English and there were only 3 American’s on the cruise, so I don’t think it was for us! Ha! Later we went out on the upper deck and watched the sunset. It was beautiful! There was also a full moon, so you could see the sun sinking into the ocean while the moon was up on the other side. I used the camera timer to take some pictures of us and then the Okinawan who had been singing saw us and offered to take some photos for us. His turned out much better than mine that were balanced on railings. Ha! When we were looking down into the water we were wondering how many unexploded ordinances were down there. It's a lot!!! There was a never ending stream of planes taking off from the Naha Airport. We were laughing that soon we would be on one of those planes flying out of here. There was a ship headed out loaded with who knows what along with military families households, and an airplane flying overhead. We were just like wow, that will be us in like a blink of the eye! I got a photo of it all, sun setting, plane in air, and ship full of conex boxes headed away from the island. I’m going to put it on my fridge to remind me how little time I have left on my little piece of paradise. I’m gonna really miss the sunsets here! I love watching the sun drop into the ocean! As we approached land the singer began playing one of the main Okinawan songs that you hear everywhere. Everyone sang along and clapped. It was a really fun evening, worth the $132 I paid for it! The bus ride back was packed and as everyone kept squishing in I told Ed this is what it felt like riding the subways in Tokyo. Everyone was laughing about Ed’s head touching the ceiling. All in all, it was a fun night and I think Ed actually enjoyed it!!!