Amami Superman Photography

Last Sunday we took a canoe tour of the mangrove forest they have here in Amami. I've taken a few other mangrove tours here but I will be honest, they completely sucked and I couldn't believe I spent money on them. But! I have a friend who promised me that they had a certain tour here that would do me right. He was right; this tour blew the the others right out of the water.

Hikari started out paddling the canoe but she couldn't make it go straight for the life of her. The zigzagging across the river even tired Jade out and soon Jade took the paddle from Hikari and starting paddling. I have to admit, Jade kind of did a better job at paddling.





I straggled back a bit to be able to take some photos without the group obstructing my shots. I took a lot of shots and before I knew it, I was very much alone. But it was all fun. I suppose I get a kick out of that sort of scary sensation, just before panic sets in. If you've ever seen the 1981 movie Southern Comfort and you were alone in an area like this, I think you would understand the feeling I had. I suppose I make it sound scarier than it really was, but it was scary enough to make my heart beat a few beats faster.



This fishing boat was washed in during a typhoon years before. You can see on the hull of the boat how high the water gets sometimes.







We had an excellent tour guide who explained a bunch about the mangrove and knew the area very well. He took us into the thick of it and it was fun. At the very end, he said we were free to do what we want. !?! We can go off and see whatever we wanted?! So I asked him where a few of the nice places to take photos were and off I went.





The further I went in, the narrower it got. At one point I was afraid I wouldn't be able to turn my canoe around so I turned it around and started to head back.



On the way back I came across a couple that was in our group. It seems they followed me in but turned back a before I did. They were taking their time and I didn't want to bother them so I waited back a bit to give them some privacy. When we were near the entrance to this area, I passed them and found Hikari and Jade had already headed back to place where we got in. I didn't want to make them wait anymore so I hightailed it back and left the couple to themselves again.

I am definitely going to come back here sometime soon and try to take some different types of photos and what not. I didn't know what to expect this time around. Next time I'll have an idea of what kinds of shots I want to take. I had fun.