We had a momentary break from the seemingly-ever-present rain of late, so we decided to make the most of it and take a drive out to Cape Zampa in search of the Giant Shisa. This adds yet another shisa photo to Brandon's ever-growing collection. :)
To give you an idea of where we were:
While we were there, we found this prime example of cute Japanese signage:
Only in Japan can they make a sign warning against car vandalism cute!
We also came across this wonderful lighthouse in our wandering!
We were surprised by the rock surrounding the area. Possibly volcanic rock?
And all the greenery growing on it!
We decided that we'd climb the lighthouse and visit the tiny attached museum while we were there. I've climbed a number of lighthouses Stateside, but I've never climbed one that didn't have a spiral staircase. Here's a model from the museum to better explain the layout.
And here's what it looks like from the inside if you lean back as far as possible against the wall and look down the stairs:
And the stairs directly above those stairs:
Only once did I start to feel claustrophobic. It was hot, humid, and there was no way to know how close to the top you were. Finally we found a helpful sign.
Unfortunately, it showed that we were only half-way to the top. It was funny to hear people's reactions to this sign while we were below them. They'd make happy noises that there was a sign, and then sad noises that this was only the half-way point.
When we finally reached the last set of stairs, they were more of a ladder than stairs.
And then, you had to climb out a hatch to get to the observation ring.
But oh, the view was so worth it!
If you looked straight down:
And when you looked up, you could see the light.
A boat was kind enough to go by while we were enjoying the breeze. We loved the white against the deep blue.
And I loved the amazing color variations of blues in the water. Photos just don't do it justice.
Brandon holding his giant shisa in the palm of his hand.
And me enjoying the breeze and slight break from the heat and humidity.
After soaking up the sights, we prepared for the descent.
No optical illusion here: the hatch really is as small as it appears.
My poor, tall, bigfooted hubby had to climb the stairs backwards on the way down. His feet are just too long to descend the narrow stairway the way most people can. But he was a good sport and we made it down just fine.
We enjoyed checking out the models of other lighthouses they had in the stairwell. This one reminded me of Bodie Island Lighthouse down on the Outer Banks, NC.
After you climb the lighthouse, you are welcome to go through the small museum at the base. It's only three rooms, but the displays are very well done. I liked seeing the original light.
We enjoyed our time up at Cape Zampa. They have a Beni-Imo Shop that we want to stop at next time. We also found this statue.
All-in-all, a very nice way to spend our no-rain afternoon.
---Arielle
