The great thing about sailing around for the Navy is that we make frequent stops in Okinawa. Okinawa is where the marines are based out of. This makes for great exploration and the area reminds me a lot of Hawaii. On one particular occasion when we were dropping the marines off, there was a dragon boat race happening and we decided to join the festivities and watch the Navy women’s team go against the Japanese.

Everyone was full of energy as the races began.

The 3 boats lined up. I wonder who is going to win this race?

The Navy women’s team. I didn’t know any of the racers but it was still cool to see them.

 I thought this was an interesting children’s ride, one in which I would have loved when I was little.

This is what I do at every festival. Enjoy as much food as I can eat. I bring my spare yennies (Yen: Japanese currency) to every festival I go to so I can load up the snacks. There’s nothing better than some great Japanese festival food.

If I were participating in this race I think I would like to be the guy in the back that moves the rudder to steer the ships, forget about all of that hard work on the paddles.

I just couldn’t get enough pictures of the ships, they look so cool in the water.

These guys were working hard for the win!

This littler girl won this elephant at one of the festival games. I thought it was the cutest thing ever! Japanese babies are adorable.

Afterwards we headed to the next best thing in the area… a castle! This one was quite large and we walked through the outer perimeter. It was a good time and well worth the experience. Overall it was a very exciting day with very exciting festivities. That evening we ended up meeting up with a bunch of other people in what everyone calls American Village. Stay tuned to see what a small Japanese girl was wearing but didn’t know any better. haha.