Yesterday was a long day, but I started off by waking up for 7:00 breakfast, being way too tired, and going right back to sleep. Once I got up, I went straight for Shunkunitai. This is the view I am greeted with just after parking the car.
As I began up the boardwalk, I caught sight of a fox on the left, just below the boardwalk. I froze and used my silent camera to take continues pictures of it. It stopped to scratch itself, before moving right past me, mere feet away.
I continued the walk towards the fork. I went left and snapped some pictures of the scenery. I read the sign closely. It said that the damage was caused by "atmospheric depression(heavy storm + high tide+ tidal wave)" on three separate instances.
I have not had luck with wildlife on this side, so I stuck to watching for insects. There was one insect, that when flying, looked like a fairy. I eventually caught one sitting and it was my red and black friend that was sitting on a leaf in Kushiro. I patients waited and was able to take a few shots when it was taking off in flight. It was a cloudy day, so not the best of pictures.
Taking the other turn in the fork brings you along a path where it ends with a lovely view of the marsh.
As I left, I caught a nice, small bird on the side of the boardwalk.
I decided to visit three lighthouses that I had bookmarked when looking for where to find birds. The first one was the longest drive, taking me too the eastern most point in all of Japan, Cap Nosappu.
There were many seagulls and cormorant looking birds flying along the water as well. The lighthouse was ugly. Next stop was Hanasaki Cape. Along this drive, it struck me for the first time that the houses on Hokkaido were largely not the traditional looking Japanese house with the beautiful roof tiles. The houses were more western style from the outside.
This lighthouse was blocked off from the public and even uglier than the first. Luckily, the scenery was beautiful. I loved the rocks and pathway out in the ocean, so took pictures from different viewpoints. I am not actually sure of its intended use, but now it is inhabited by birds.
After going down this right side, I turned toward the left side.
Aside from this view, there were views of cliff sides behind it. I enjoyed watching the constant stream of seagulls come toward the bird runway that I photographed earlier.
West of the bird runway, I took this picture for no real reason.
The last stop of the day was Cape Ochiishi. Funnily enough, I was just thinking about how well Google Navigation had been on Hokkaido on this drive, and it led me down a rock path to a dead end. I retraced my drive and saw signs directing me onto another rock path that led to two rusted gates and signs toward a walk to the lighthouse.
To my left were a family of deer with antlers. Shortly after the deer, the dirt and gravel path turned into a poorly maintained wooded boardwalk, with barbed wire fences to the left and right of it.
Eventually the woods gave way to the coast. There was no one but deer on this path.
I walked along a path that brought me behind the lighthouse. In the ocean, there was a long white area that was floating. With its two trails, it looked like the Enterprise.
The lighthouse itself was clearly abandoned, but beautiful in its solitude, unlike the previous two.
As I returned to the car, the deer eyed me while munching away on grass.
As with the previous night, I was greeting with a beautiful sunset after dinner.
