It looked as though we'd have calm seas on this sunny day, and shortly after departing Naha, we passed our ferry's twin headed the opposite direction: 
About halfway into our voyage, the wind picked up, the sky darkened, and the waves churned more violently. My photos don't capture the experience very well, but it was wild!
Tidbits you probably don't want to know: first, Davin saw a guy puke over the side of the ship. I sought to settle my stomach by relaxing in the indoor seating area, then the lady next to me started puking into a bag. Back outside for me, even though rain was blowing in onto the deck.
We were thankful to arrive at Kume-jima, and a great lady at the ferry terminal even gave us a ride to Shinribama, the beach where we planned to camp, after we discovered the bus had already made its last trip for the day.
Windy, but beautiful.
We took a walk around the Shinribama area and discovered one small grocery store, lots of farmland, a few scattered houses, and—surprisingly—an airport. 
Papayas, sugar cane, and some awesome friendly goats...I loved this place!
Okinawan shiisa (lion-headed-dog guardians sold in male-female pairs; the female smiles to invite happiness into the home, and the male’s mouth is open to swallow bad spirits that may try to enter) could be spotted on almost every single building, either perched on a corner of a roof, kneeling on a front stoop, or in this case, cemented atop a pedestal near a driveway.
Mysterious messages...in English?!
Quite serene...until a jet came in to land. I could not believe there were enough people traveling to tiny Kume-jima to necessitate so large a plane. Admittedly, however, we found our dinner this night at the airport souvenir shops (no other options).
There was a little bar area connected to the restrooms at the camping area; we were the only people camping, but there were two locals hanging out at the place, drinking cups of awamori and passing the snakeskin guitar back and forth, playing traditional Ryukyu tunes.
Another day, another beach to explore. We left Shinribama and waited over an hour at a nearby bus stop, for a bus that never came. Passersby stared at us, strangers with huge backpacks...and eventually a guy stopped and said he didn't think the bus would be coming for another few hours, so he'd give us a ride to where we needed to go. Score!He had a very small car (with a lot of Lilo and Stitch décor inside). We had large backpacks. He had his granddaughter along, and had to make a stop along the way to pick up another granddaughter from school. The two girls then shared the passenger seat (one of them smashed up against the windshield), but we were all laughing about it and no one seemed to mind. And there was a melodica in the backseat of the car, so it was meant to be.
He dropped us at Ifu beach, then we walked the rest of the way to “tatami-ishi”—a rock formation only seen at low tide and named for Japanese tatami mats, because the rocks seem to fit together geometrically, like the woven straw mats in Japanese homes.
Harvesting seaweed, which we saw in many dishes and for sale at the markets.
That evening, we gobbled sashimi tacos and rice at a Mexican café in Ifu and camped near the tatami-ishi beach. And the next morning, for the first time in Kume-jima, we waited at a bus stop for a bus that actually came to pick us up.***The night before, we went to the Mexican café shortly after 6, according to Davin's watch, but the place wasn’t open yet (although the sign on the door said hours were 6-10 p.m.). We were sad because we wanted those tacos in the photo on the door; I even may have made some snide remarks about businesses running on “island time” and busses that only pick people up whenever the drivers aren’t busy scuba diving or hanging out in hammocks. A man in the adjacent shop noticed us staring at the café door, and called, “It opens at 6!” We thought, “6? It’s past 6!” But then Davin checked his cell phone. Only quarter past 5. This may have been the reason we’d been waiting for busses that never arrived. Of course, I don’t even wear a watch, so…
The ferry trip back to Naha was vastly more pleasant, and we even got to witness a great send-off for a young guy from Kume. Don’t know where he was going or what he was all about, but a crowd had assembled for him, long streamers unfurled from spools held by children on land as the boat eased away from the dock, and he was just beaming—it was great entertainment.
We monorailed to the Naha airport the next morning, and were met by brisk air in Tokyo. Sadly, the last vacation for a while, but it's definitely time for work.
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