4 Days in Ishigaki (Okinawa, Japan) Itinerary [Scuba Diving, Star Gazing Festival, Ishigaki Beef]

Hey everyone we’re Will and Alex and today we’re going to tell you what we did on a 4 day weekend to the Okinawan Island of Ishigaki.

We’ll go over how we got there, where we stayed, what we did, and our experience scuba diving and going to the Southern Island Star Festival.

Scuba Diving is popular on this island because the dive site “Manta City” is one of the best places to have a mantra ray encounter.

Due to its geographic location, Ishigaki is a beautiful place to view the night sky and stargaze. Every August, the island hosts a “Southern Island Star Festival” and we made it a point to attend in 2023.

Affiliate Links:

– Hotels in Ishigaki: https://www.booking.com/searchresults.en.html?city=-230719&aid=2163227&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2
– Where We Stayed in town: https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/gesutohausu-aparagi-shi-yuan-shi.en.html?aid=2163227&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2
– The House We Rented (not affiliate) Ocean View Sakieda: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/665568336072869803?source_impression_id=p3_1715579109_DehrIuyE9lD2E8sP
– Get 30 Days Free of Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/vfdgx7/
– Our Patreon Page: https://patreon.com/WillandAlexTravel?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

Get Your Guide Experiences:

– Starry Sky Cruising: https://gyg.me/4Rv2sV9X
– Private Stargazing Photography Tour: https://gyg.me/b01Q4G0F
– Kayaking and Snorkeling Tour: https://gyg.me/n1gMqWBz

Music from Epidemic Sound:

– Monarch Butterflies by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist
– Say It Again 2.0 by Chris Shards
– Goji by Ran the Man
– Getting Out Of My Own Way by Sarah, the Illustrumentalist
– Get 30 Days Free of Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/vfdgx7/

Sources:

– Ishigaki Island Top Attractions: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7201.html
– Visit Okinawa Japan – Southern Island Star Festival: https://visitokinawajapan.com/discover/events/southern-island-star-festival/
– Getting Around Ishigaki: https://visitishigaki.com/getting-around/
– Sky Rent a Car Ishigakijima: https://maps.app.goo.gl/tPYf9QdT9hHimk3j8
– Native DELi: https://maps.app.goo.gl/tfvC4x36EFz4rri89
– Ishigaki Beef: https://www.japan-experience.com/plan-your-trip/to-know/japanese-food/ishigaki-beef
– Ishigaki Beef Maru: https://maps.app.goo.gl/aYE8M6ZoW2cL5ZTN7
– Manta Ray Diving Spots: https://www.primescuba-ishigaki.com/en/ishigaki-divinglife/manta/
– Yaima Village: https://jigsaw-japan.com/2020/11/07/experience-local-culture-at-ishigaki-yaima-village/
– Yaima Village Official Website: https://www.yaimamura.com/look/
– Ishigaki Island Guide (Beaches, Nature, History): https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7201.html
– Stop Sightseeing Destinations: https://ooritoori-ishigaki.com/spot/
– First Magnitude Stars: http://www.kstrom.net/isk/stars/1magtab.html
– Southern Island Star Festival official page: https://ooritoori-ishigaki.com/hoshimatsuri/
– Great article about why the stargazing is so good: https://photoguide.jp/log/2021/01/yaeyama-stargazing/#why
– Ishigakijima Astronomical Observatory: https://murikabushi.jp/
– Stargazing tour on Klook: https://www.klook.com/activity/18477-island-stargazing-experience-okinawa-ishigaki/
– Ryuku Pearls: https://www.ryukyu-shinju.co.jp/eng.html

Images:

– Downtown Ishigaki: 663highland, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons
– Kobe Beef: Orlando G. Calvo, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
– Constellations: User:Cmglee, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
– Canopus and Sirius Stars: Bob, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
– The Milky Way: Kristian Pikner, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
– The Southern Cross: Edoddridge, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
– Pleiades: Filip LolićPermission from Filip LolićWith this statement I, Filip Lolic, approve to Vedran Vrhovac full rights to use, and modify my astrophotographs for commercial and non-commercial purposes., CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

hey everyone we are Will and Alex and today we’re going to tell you what we did on our 4-day weekend to the okan island of ishigaki we’ll go over how we got there where we stayed what we did and our experience scuba diving and going to the southern island star Festival okay getting there ishigaki is a quick 1hour flight from the main island of okanawa there is a bus system but we decided to rent a car for the fle ability it provided we used Sky rent a car but there are lots of options on the island to choose from where we stayed on our first night we chose to stay in ishigaki city we did this because it’s closer to the airport and we wanted to walk to our special ishigaki beef dinner more on that in a bit we stayed here which was kind of an odd place to stay and the fact that it felt like we were in someone’s apartment but it was only $35 a night and walk to the downtown part for the next three nights we stayed here we wanted a spot right on the water with a beautiful view of the Dark Knight sky this place was great for our group but having a car was definitely necessary because it’s in a pretty rural part of the island there are a couple great resorts on the island like the ANA InterContinental but we are happy with where we stayed on to what we did I mentioned that ishigaki beef dinner this is a meal we will never forget almost a year later we still bring it up regularly and it has ruined all beef for us for the rest of our lives most people think of Kobe when they think of wagu but what I learned was that about 80% of black cows born in ishigaki are exported all over Japan including Kobe so really ishigaki beef is just as good there were two restaurants I wanted to try while in ishigaki one is ishigaki beef maral we were unable to get a reservation so so we chose to eat at Native Deli and it was amazing the beef is simply soued served with only a small amount of salt and it melts in your mouth I would highly recommend this restaurant if you are on the island our first night was pretty tame because our next morning we went scuba diving I originally reached out to Prime scuba but they were fully booked they recommended Viking scuba and luckily they were available for a boat dive to yanara East and Manta City [Music] will and I are scuba certified but Viking scuba also offers introductory Dives for those who are not certified our friends did it and love the whole experience they had their own Dive Master with them the entire time and got great pictures out of it we especially wanted to go diving here because of our second diving location Manta city ishigaki is one of the best places in the world to scuba with manta rays and this cleaning station has a very high encounter rate Manta City specifically is a smaller dive point and only five boats can be anchored here at any time because of this we had to wait a while in the boat before we were able to Anchor and make our descent I look at Vikings scuba Instagram page and get so jealous because they have close encounters with Manas all the time when we went we barely saw one just as it was swimming away we’re lucky we saw one at all and the reef is still beautiful and full of life but we were pretty bummed that we had a 48-minute bottom time and only had about 30 seconds of action really this only encourages us to try again and we’re looking forward to planning another dive trip soon after lunch and a nice nap I brought everyone to shikaki Yama Village the village is a registered cultural property that contains a number of reconstructed traditional houses a mangrove wetland and a small zoo of squirrel monkeys there is also a cafeteria serving traditional and local food as well as cultural performances on weekends there are so many beautiful beaches and hikes on the island of ishigaki we stayed pretty close to the house we rented only hiking at the Ozaki Lighthouse and spending some time on yunara beach I’ll leave some links below to blogs that highlight top beaches and hikes on the island now the main event and the whole reason why we were there the southern island star Festival why come all the way here to stargaze well OTE ishigaki National Park which encompasses parts of isaki island is a designated International dark sky Park I found a great article by filbert Ono called the ayama stargazing what to know that explains how and why the stargazing here is so special I’ll link it below but some of the main reasons are one it’s in an excellent geographic location just above the Tropic of Cancer there’s also minimal jet stream turbulence making the atmosphere look clear from here one can see 84 of the 88 constellations and all 21 first magnitude Stars you can also see the Milky Way all four stars of the Southern Cross and pades aka the Seven Sisters as I mentioned the Festival is held in August but the exact date is not announced until about a month before I had to continuously check the website until they posted the date the main event in 2023 was on August 18th and started at 5:30 p.m. it’s held in this park across the southern Gate Bridge there are decent number of food stands and live entertainment starting at 6:30 I would recommend bringing chairs or blanket if you can because there’s only a big grassy field to sit on when the Sun finally sets all the lights are turned off and you can get a beautiful view of the night [Music] sky at some point someone gets on stage and in Japanese I’m assuming they point out all the stars and constellations you can see it’s a really nice moment lying on the ground surrounded by people all appreciating the beautiful star Sky we all share after the event was over we along with lots of other people walked across the bridge and into town we were able to Hill a cab back to our house from there we actually had a beautiful view of the sky from our rental house and some other places with good stargazing I’ve seen are kabira Bay and Banta Park during the festival weekend there are also opportunities to visit the ishigaki Jima astronomical Observatory and use the telescope I think you had to reserve a spot ahead of time using information on the official website um but we didn’t do that throughout the year there are several stargazing tours hosted on the island I’ll link a few of them below one last thing to note be on the lookout for ishigaki pearls the island is famous for being the first to culture black pearls and I think they’d make a beautiful souvenir there are several stores on the island but I had planned to go to the ryuku curl Factory Store near kabira Bay we spent all of our time on the southern half of the island and look forward to visiting again so we can explore more beaches do some more hikes and hopefully see a manay up close thank you so much and I hope that this helped you plan your trip to ishigaki feel free to share any recommendations in the comments and we’ll see you in the next one bye [Music]