久々のおが丸 / Boarding the Ogasawara-Maru
(Scroll down to read in English)
出発前の心の準備もあまりできず、
竹芝のファミマでチケットを印刷し、慌てて乗り込んだおが丸。
もっと早く家を出ればよかったと嘆いていたが、無事乗れて一安心。
船の中でもずっとソワソワ。
5年前から変わらぬ船内。
今回は初めてのファミリールーム。
船内ファミリールームはハイハイするのにいい環境 / May in the family-room onboard the ship
Windyで調べた通り、海は穏やかだった。
多少の横揺れを感じたけど、娘はよく食べ、よく寝、他の子供やご家族との交流して楽しんでいた。
夜は爆睡して、あっという間に24時間の船旅は過ぎた。
到着1時間前。
デッキに出ると、快晴の中に父島列島。
ああ弟島、兄島、ひょうたん、父島。
べったべたの凪を滑るように走る。
並走するカツオドリたち。
船からみた父島とベタ凪の海 / View of Chichijima and calm sea from the ship
もわっと湿度の高い南国の風。
色々な人たちのワクワクが充満したデッキ。
もうそれだけで感動。
降りるのドキドキした。
相変わらず心の準備ができてない。
沢山のお出迎え。
夏の小笠原は賑やかで忙しい。
船を降りて10歩も歩かずに嬉しい再会。
おかえり！ただいま。
島を出る時には行ってらっしゃいと言って、また戻ってくるとお帰りと言う。
温かい家みたいな島。
今回予約した宿は、偶然にも、私が住んでたアパートの横。
ワイルドアパート。ウォーリーとえみちゃんの家。
よくみんなで飲んだ、マンゴーの木がある裏庭。
ほとんど変わってない。
宿に着いた途端、網戸越しにえみちゃんの懐かしい声。
お手製のパンと、娘のためにお手製の服をくれた。
もう心がいっぱい。
懐かしい場所 / Familiar place
ゆうくん、ますちゃんに迎えに来てもらって、ゆきえちゃん、がっつくん、さやかちゃん、子供達のいるウェザーステーションへ。
べたべたの海、クジラの季節だったらすぐに見つけられただろうな。
太陽ピッカピカで雲がぼやっと出ていて、水平線がどこかわからない、不思議な空間。
とんでもない絶景、それが日常の島の暮らし。
おいしいおいしいポキ丼をいただき、甘くて濃ゆいパッションもいただいた。
えみちゃんのパンも。
娘は、島の友達が作ってくれたおにぎりと島バナナを平らげ、初めてのパッション汁もお気に入り。
エネルギー満点。
水平線はどこへ / Where is the horizon…?
ちょっと島を回ろう、ということで、曼荼羅コーヒーでアイスコーヒーを買って、風変わりした洲崎海岸に。
ウミガメの調査でも来た場所。
自分の目につくのは、ウミガメの産卵跡。
洲崎は石とか木とか産卵が難しい場所。
石と砂と枝が掘り返された穴を見て、母ガメの姿を想像する私。
懐かしい感覚。
産めたのかな。
その後はゆうくんのDIY秘密基地と工房に遊びに。
好きなこと、楽しいことが詰まった場所。
時折ヤギが横断する山と、バナナの木と、パッションと胡椒と、かわいい家庭菜園。
人が集まれる空間をつくるっていいなあ。
私も将来やりたいこと。
その横では、東京都の大規模な砂防ダム工事で殺風景になっている様子も、小笠原か。
洲崎で海遊び / Having a little dip in Suzaki Beach
晩御飯は予約取れたチャラで、かっぽれの刺身にテンション上がり、暴飲暴食、明るいうちに食べ終えて、腹ごなしに大村海岸で夕焼けとペタペタの海を見て心満たされる。
娘は食事中に寝落ち。疲れたね。
大村でもウミガメの足跡を確認し、宿に帰る。
自分が知っている人、お店もあれば、
もういない人や、無くなったお店もあり、
新しい人や、お店もある。
もう島を離れた仲間たちも、今もインターネットで繋がっている。
濃ゆい濃ゆい2年間を過ごした父島。
いい思い出もあれば苦い思い出もある。
全部ひっくるめて、いい思い出だ。
夕方の大村海岸の景色 / After sundown at Omura Beach
I wasn’t really mentally prepared before setting off;
We printed the ticket at the FamilyMart near the port and boarded the ship, Ogasawara-maru in a rush.
My wife and I were discussing that we should have left home earlier, but were relieved to have made it on time.
I was restless the whole time onboard.
Same interior and atmosphere inside the ship since 5 years ago.
This was my first time to travel in a family-room.
Just as I checked on Windy, the sea was calm.
We felt a slight side-to-side sway, but my daughter ate well, slept well, and enjoyed interacting with the other children and their families.
We all slept like a log that night, and the 24-hour voyage flew by in the blink of an eye.
An hour before arrival.
Stepping out onto the deck, I saw the Chichijima Islands under clear, sunny sky.
Ah, Ototojima, Anijima, Hyotanjima, and Chichijima (all the names of the islands in the archipelago).
The ship glided across the perfectly calm waters.
Brwon boobies flew alongside us.
A muggy, tropical breeze.
The deck was filled with the excitement of everyone onboard.
I was excited and nervous to disembark.
As ever, I wasn’t quite mentally prepared.
Many peopler gathered to welcome the passengers.
Summer in the Ogasawara Islands is very busy with tourists.
I hadn’t even taken ten steps off the ship when my friend came running to greet me.
”Okaeri! (Welcome home!)”
”Tadaima. (I’m home.)”
When you leave this island, people say “Itterasshai (Take care, see you again)” and when you return, they say “Okaeri (Welcome home)”.
This island is like one warm home.
The guesthouse we booked this time happened to be right next to the flat where I used to live, goes by the name “Wild Apartment”—owned by Wally and Emi.
The back yard with the mango tree, where we used to have drinks in the summer.
It’s hardly changed.
The moment I arrived at the guesthouse, I heard Emi’s familiar voice through the screen door.
She gave us some homemade bread and clothes she’d sewn for my daughter.
Our hearts were already full.
Our friends Yuu-kun and Masu-chan came to pick us up, and we headed to the Weather Station (a viewpoint) where Yukie-chan, Gatsu-kun, Sayaka-chan and their children were hanging out.
The sea was so calm; if it had been whale-watching season, we’d have spotted them straight away.
The sun was shining brightly, with hazy clouds drifting by; it was a magical atmosphere, where no clear boarder between sea and sky was visible.
An absolutely breathtaking view, and that’s part of everyday life on this island.
We had delicious, delicious poke bowl, and some sweet, rich passion fruit.
And some of Emi-chan’s bread, too.
Our daughter craved the rice balls, the island bananas, and had her first taste of passion fruit juice.
We were fuelled with island energy.
We decided to do a little tour of the island, so we bought some iced coffee at Mandala Coffee and headed to the quirky Suzaki Beach.
It’s one of the many places I’ve visited for sea turtle surveys.
I would still naturally search for the sea turtle nesting traces.
Suzaki is a difficult place for nesting, with all the rocks and trees.
Looking at the holes where the sand, stones and branches had been dug up, I imagined the mother turtle.
It was a familiar feeling.
I wonder if she managed to lay her eggs.
Afterwards, we popped over to Yu-kun’s DIY “secret base” and workshop.
It’s a place packed with what he and Masu-chan love.
A mountain where goats occasionally cross, banana trees, passion fruit and pepper plants, and a lovely little vegetable patch.
It’s wonderful to create a space where people can gather.
And it’s something I’d like to do myself one day.
Right next to it, however, the landscape has been rendered bleak by large-scale sediment dam construction by the Tokyo Gov’t; and this is the Ogasawara, too.
For dinner, we’d managed to book a table at restaurant Chara.
I was thrilled by the sashimi of my favorite fish kappore (black jack).
We finished while sun was still setting, then had a little walk around Omura Beach.
My daughter fell asleep during the meal. Must have been really exhausted.
We spotted some sea turtle tracks in Omura too, before heading back to our room.
There are people and shops I still know, people who had left the island and shops that had closed down, people who are new and shops that opened newly.
Friends who had left the island are still connected via the internet.
I spent two incredibly dense years on Chichijima.
Good memories and bitter ones too.
Taken all together, though, they’re good memories.