Once we had eaten we all trooped back to our boats and cast off for a night sail to Koniya Ko on Amami Oshima, about 112 nautical miles to the north east. It was a beautiful evening as the sky darkened and the stars came out in the moonless sky. The lights of Nagado Ko slowly disappeared behind us along with the lights from the northern end of Okinawa. Ahead the lights from several other islands appeared to take their place - it was a magical sight. We had lights from one island or another all night until dawn broke - not much more than eight hours since the last light. As dawn came upon us the wind died so we had to crank up the iron spinnaker to keep going to make our destination of Koniya Ko. It was a frustrating section of the passage with tide varying and sometimes trying to carry us off track. As we approached Amami Oshima strong currents and turbulence from the islands off the southern end made things tricky but we finally entered the channel between Amami and the island to the south and made our way to the visitors wharf.
The visitors wharf is relatively new and is approached by heading directly towards a small bridge and then turning sharply to the left as the entrance opens up. Bannister had already arrived and organised room for us - the inn was almost full! We made our way in and tied up. Each side of the narrow strip of water is some parkland with running water - bonus! The Coast Guard were soon there to welcome us and let us know that they had visited Australia. We have now left the Okinawa Prefecture and are in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Shortly after a group of sumo wrestler students arrived to do some training. They seemed to be aged from about 8-10 years up and stripped off and donned their wrap-around pants(?). Proud mothers looked on as they did their stuff.
Position: 27 deg. 57.260 N, 129 deg. 17.480 E
