Private 3 Day Island Experience.

Itinerary.

• Day 1

  Into the north

  Collected from your door in the morning. The road north, with Okinawan teas and island snacks in the car. Into Yanbaru on foot, along the river or through the dry forest, to a waterfall most visitors never find. Lunch is your choice: a bowl of soba from one of the island’s most celebrated houses, a vegetable café deep in the jungle, or a bento by the falls. In the afternoon, a slow cycle through the fukugi tree lanes of Bise, with a quiet stop at a local power spot along the way. Then a mango salt smoothie, or a salt coffee, by the sea. As the light goes, the road climbs into the mountains. Your lodge sits high above the forest, with a view that stops you at the door. Dinner is a BBQ on the deck. The sauna and ice bath are there for anyone who wants them, and the stars come out on their own.

  Mountain lodge, or hotelA private lodge in the mountains with BBQ dinner and breakfast, and a sauna and ice bath to use if you wish. Or a hotel with dinner and breakfast. See terms.

  Soba at a top ranked local house, a vegetable café in the jungle, or a bento at the waterfall (included)Mango salt smoothie or salt coffee on the Bise coast (included)BBQ dinner and breakfast at the lodge, or dinner and breakfast at your hotel

  1 optional extra

  • Katsudake summit hike, in place of the Bise cycle
• Day 2

  Izena, off the map

  Morning at Unten port, and the ferry out to Izena. A private half day charter with a local captain who knows these waters. A line over the side and a swim over the reef. Sashimi is cut on deck from your own catch. The rest comes ashore with you, to be cooked for dinner that night. In the evening, dinner at a local’s home. Your catch from the morning is on the table, alongside dish after dish of island cooking, and a glass is poured before you sit down. Before long the neighbors wander over for a drink and a conversation. On most nights the sanshin comes out, the three stringed instrument of the Ryukyu islands. The old songs begin, and everyone is pulled to their feet for kachāshī, the dance that closes an Okinawan celebration. It is the night guests talk about long after they leave.

  Island hotelPrivate rooms on a quiet island, with breakfast. Booked through the Izena tourism association. See terms.

  Bento for the crossing (included)Sashimi on board, from your own catch (included)Home cooked dinner and drinks at a local’s home, with the rest of your catch (included)
• Day 3

  Izena, by hand

  Breakfast at your island hotel. If you wish, check out early and take up to 45 minutes on one of Izena’s untouched beaches. The sand is quiet, and often it is yours alone. Then out to the sugarcane. Satokibi is one of Izena’s most important crops. With a local farmer, you step into the field and cut the cane by hand, and hear why islanders have always sworn by it. Then it goes through the press, and you drink it fresh. A glass or two each, sweet, green, and full of goodness. Nothing like sugar from a packet. Late morning, a kuba basket class at a local woman’s house. Kuba is the fan palm long held sacred in the Ryukyu islands, and she grows her own in the garden. She shows you how the leaves become the baskets islanders have woven for centuries. You take yours home. Lunch is a bowl of Izena soba. We recommend the mozuku soba, made with seaweed grown in Izena’s own waters. Or a gluten free kitchen on the island, known for its rice and rice noodle dishes. The afternoon ferry to the mainland, and one last stop on the way home. Yakusō means medicinal herbs, and Okinawans have a word for food that heals: nuchi gusui, medicine for life. At a small yakusō café, a woman in her eighties brews the teas the island has drunk for generations, said to keep you well and living long. You would never guess her age. She gathers every leaf herself from the hills nearby. She will tell you what each one is for and pour you another cup. If you like, she will send you home with some. Then a quiet drive back to your door.

  Breakfast at your island hotelFreshly pressed sugarcane juice in the field (included)Izena mozuku soba, or rice and rice noodle dishes at a gluten free kitchen (included)Herbal teas at the yakusō café (included)

The practical bits.