On land, everyone knows about this country’s delicious street food, powder snow, cultures that date back thousands of years and extraordinary outdoor experiences, but there is also plenty to be found underwater as well.
The Kerama Islands are one big national park, comprising of 36 islands, populated by just under a couple of thousand people. We don’t know what the true population of colourful fish swimming in schools and dancing in and out of reefs, dodging seaweed and hiding behind colourful coral, but go underwater for even just a few minutes and your perception of Japan will change forever. There are about 250 species of fish in the islands, humpback whales, manta rays as well as one other major drawcard: sea turtles.
From May through to September/October is the best time to see sea turtles in the Kerama Islands.
These big, friendly beasts live to up to 70-80 years in this part of the world. As you’re swimming in Kerama’s exceptionally blue waters, it’s mind blowing to think that the gentle green beasts in front of you were probably around in 1972, when the Okinawa prefecture was returned to the Japanese from the U.S., who had ruled the area for almost three decades. Or when Japan emerged as an economic superpower in the 1960s, or when they hosted the Olympic games in 1964 and 2021, or throughout any of this country’s major historic events over the last half-century and a bit.
And as they swim serenely in thrillingly clear turquoise waters in front of you – oblivious to any of those happenings – you’ll think that they’ve probably had the right idea all along.
An array of beginner to advanced diving spots, drift diving and cave diving, with schools of migratory fish, gorgeous coral and more. Epic.
Ijyakajya
If you want to see sea turtles, this spot on Aka Island is where to come, between the months of May and October. Also plenty of manta rays, who gather to be cleaned by the other sea life there.
Tokashiki Island
The caves located beneath Aharen Lighthouse create an epic light display.
Onna Village
Onna Village has the nickname ‘Coral Village’ for a reason. Check it out below:
Looking for work? How does getting paid to travel, skydive, climb and capture content for the world’s premier adventure content specialists sound?
Even if you’re not in the market for a new job, we think this one is probably cooler than the one you’ve got.
Adrenaline and GoPro are on the hunt for an adventure-seeking content creator to become an official Adrenaline creator in 2022. This means swapping the office for cliffs, the ocean, the dunes and the sky. Sounds cool, right?
The role sees one grand prize winner receive a $100,000 contract to participate in and shoot 12 adventures across four campaigns for the adventure marketplace over a year-long period.
This means travelling around the world and filming epic adventures and experiences. It’s being billed as ‘The Best Job in the World’ but it actually is, the best job in the world.
Photography and adventure enthusiasts can enter from today by uploading a photo or video of their adventurous activity to the GoPro awards website.
Some countries have a couple of beautiful natural attractions and then you have Iceland, which seems to have one around every corner. The best thing is that the extraordinary Nordic country last week threw open its doors to travellers, meaning we can all take in these unbelievable experiences once again.
Iceland experiences frequent volcanic activity, due to its location both on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. One of these is Thrihnukagigur, which last erupted around 4,000 years ago. Phewph! Wipe the sweat from your brow – that was a close one.
The underground volcano was only discovered in 1974, and has only more recently been open for travellers to walk/scale down its depths.
Harnessed in though you are, travelling 120 metres down a colourful magma chamber is as much epic as it is disconcerting. It is not the height or the crazily coloured rock formations that are lit up from a man-made lighting system that is most striking, but the sheer depth of the cavern that exists on the inside – big enough easily fit the Statue of Liberty inside. If you’ve ever felt slightly insignificant when looking at the size of the Indian Ocean, Thrihnukagigur will give you the same feeling.
Perhaps most unnerving is when guides turn the lights – all of them – off, to leave you a hundred or so metres deep inside a volcano without any shred of light.
*Editor’s note: Although get lost have been to this site, we are still none the wiser on how to pronounce Thrihnukagigur. Best to consult an Icelander here.
Skiing in the middle of summer? No problem, if you’re in Norway.
And while most think of snow and northern lights when it comes to Norway, its a great place to be at anytime of the year, not least the warmer months. The Nordic country recently announced it was re-opening its borders to the rest of the world too, just in time for the European summer.
Stryn is a municipality in central-west Norway, blessed with majestic mountains and typically dramatic Norwegian fjords. Take the unbelievably epic Loen Skylift up to the top of Mt. Hoven, a five minute trip which is surely the best way to spend five minutes outside of a bed or a disco.
From there, fly down the slopes to your hearts content – with the sun not setting until around 11.30pm, there’s plenty of time to make the most of the 12km of lightly-dusted groomers.
And while Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Nha Trang and the like are epic places, get lost is steering you away from the well-trodden path to another beach town on the southeast coast.
Mũi Né is a haven for travellers for fishing, kitesurfing, beachside chilling and its massive sand dunes.
Rent a board and go flying down the sand. The red dunes in town aren’t bad, but the white dunes slightly further out are the best.
When you’re done, grab a cold Saigon Red on the water’s edge in town – we doubt there’s anywhere else you’d rather be.
A circle of children hold hands in eerie stillness while nearby, a man sitting at a desk taps blankly at his typewriter.
This surreal world lies beneath the calm waters of Grenada’s Molinere Bay where are number of life-size figures made mainly from concrete sit at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea, nibbled by tropical fish.
Hurricane Ivan swept through the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada in 2004 tearing up trees, houses – in fact, anything that stood in its path. The destruction occurred underwater too. The coral surrounding the island that had made it so appealing to snorkellers and divers was also severely damaged.
Killing two birds with one stone, sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor installed a series of underwater sculptures which also act as artificial reeds on which marine life can develop. They have attracted tourists armed with snorkels and diving gear, easing pressure on other reefs in the area, and have also drawn a wide range of marine life back to these waters.
The sculpture park continues to grow, with artists continuing to add their own work to the surreal space.
Ever wanted to join the Mile High Club? No need to bother with cramped Qantas toilets.
There’s an actual flight you can take where you and your spouse/significant other/lover you met at Bingo can get down to business while the plane you’re on flies 5,280 feet up in the air. And yes, for those playing along at home – that is exactly one mile in the air.
In what is possibly the most Vegas thing ever, Love Cloud are a ‘scenic’ flight tour company that offer short ‘joy rides’ over Vegas. For $995, you get your own cabin just back from the cockpit, with “custom made romantic interiors, a wireless sound and light system, red satin sheets, sex position pillows and cushions, and a custom made foam mattress to make your flight extremely comfortable.”
If you’re more of a ground-level sort of operator when it comes to getting frisky, Love Cloud also do romantic three-course dinners ($1,595) as well as weddings (weirdly cheaper at $1,195).
But it’s the ‘MHC Flights’ that are most popular, with participants even receiving ‘His and Her Mile High Club VIP Certificate Cards’ which you’ll be able to proudly display at home for friends and family to see.
Super-yachts that stay purely on water? That’s so pre-2022.
‘Air Yacht’ is the name of the half yacht, half blimp concept thought up by Italian company Lazzarini Design Studio, designed to sail both the sea and the sky.
The idea is absurd, ridiculous and outrageous…and we absolutely love it.
It moves slowly in the water at about 5 knots (around 10kph) but a bit quicker up in the air, at about 60 knots (or around 110kph). Constructed from carbon fibre, there will be 10 passenger suites on this extraordinary vehicle, and somehow even swimming pools, which defies belief.
Ever thought you would make a great undercover agent?
If you’ve got an everyday job like an accountant or a nurse but have watched a lot of spy movies and have secretly always fancied yourself as a 007 type of operator, then this might be for you.
get lost sent our man on the ground Roberto Serrini (undercover, of course) to the International Spy Museum in Washington DC recently, to see if he’d make the grade.
Arcadia Expeditions’ new ‘Story of Aotearoa’ is no normal lesson in history.
Certainly, the history lessons I had at school did not feature full-day private cruises, helicopters up to helicopter-only accessible areas of pristine wilderness or seafood dinners cooked in a geothermal pool.
That’s what you’ll get on this expedition though, a 13-day journey led by Dr James Robinson, one of New Zealand’s leading archaeologists, and the award-winning Māori guide Ceillhe Sperath.
There’s incredible food and wine to gorge on, and the absolutely majestic Bay of Islands to take in (seriously, that place is something else).
But as much as anything, it’s a chance to understand that country across the ditch: how did they get here, what is Maori culture and why on Earth do they say fush and chups like that?*
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