Day 4 of our travels in Okinawa was a visit to all the attractions in Okinawa Ocean Expo Park. The Okinawa Ocean Expo Park itself, is open 8:30am to 6:30pm daily. In summer months, hours are extended till 8pm. At Okinawa Ocean Expo Park, you can visit attractions such as the world-famous Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, Tropical Dream Center (a botanical garden with observatory and conservatory) as well as the Okichan Dolphin Theater where visitors are able to watch dolphins doing jumps and flips – for free! :O

This morning, we woke up at 7am and collected our breakfast at the lobby of Westeria Condominium Resort…

Breakfast at Wisteria Condominium Resort Okinawa is a bento set that consisted of plum/miso on rice with small portions of dishes such as pasta salad, turnip salad, chicken fish and fishcake. We also packed some of our snacks bought from our trip to Family Mart last night. Starting to think that Family Mart is an indispensable part of a traveller’s itinerary in Japan. This is because, we also started the day at Family Mart with a cuppa for 150 yen (coffee with milk and hazelnut syrup). 😛

Visiting Attractions in Okinawa Ocean Expo Park

After getting our coffee, we headed south, in the same direction as the night before, towards Hanasaki Marche. Across the road from there is the South Entrance to Ocean Expo Park. The building next to the security seemed to be pretty much abandoned…

This pretty much toned down our expectations of the Okinawa Ocean Expo Park. Perhaps it’s not such a huge attraction afterall? We scanned through the local map and arrived at the first attraction – Banko Forest (Ocean Expo Park)…

The area was very well-maintained (unlike our first impression above) and offered a nice little walk within a small “forested” area. At the lawn area, you’d also be able to play some mini/putt golf. As we were at the southern most part of the Ocean Expo Park, we started to walk along the paths that head northwards to the Okichan Dolphin Theatre where the first show would start at 10:30am. During this walk, we passed by several attractions such as…

Tropical & Subtropical Arboretum

As we passed through the Tropical & Subtropical Arboretum (free entry), we saw some kids working on handicrafts. There are also different zones displaying flowers and plants from tropical and subtropical climates.

Sea Observatory

The Sea Observatory is really just a pavilion and not worth a visit. The views have since been blocked by overgrown trees. Unless the view is restored, save your strength on climbing the flight of stairs up.

Sunset Plaza

Sunset Plaza, as the name suggests, is a HUGE area where visitors can sit and just enjoy views of the sunset daily, over the horizon. Here, you’ll also be able to find a playground for kids. We also found a secluded beach access area where we saw some kids enter to do paddle boarding.

Okichan Dolphin Theater – Free Shows at Okinawa Ocean Expo Park

The walk from the south entrance to Okichan Dolphin Theatre took about 1 hour (inclusive of all the photo stops above). Enjoyed the walk because of the fresh ocean air, well designated footpaths and clear directional signs. Before long, we arrived at Okichan Dolphin Theater, just before the first show started at 10:30am!

There are 5 dolphin shows throughout the day (10:30am, 11:30am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm). As the shows are free, we thought that the quality would be second-rate. WE WERE SO WRONG! Check out this short clip and you’ll understand what we mean…

Have you seen the height of that jump? It practically summarised that the quality of the show was exceptional and we thoroughly enjoyed all the stunts and comical elements embedded within the show. It was so good that we headed back in the afternoon for a second time! 😛

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

After the show, we left by the back of the theater and bought ourselves a sweet potato ice cream for 330 yen…

As we did not plan to pay to enter Okinawa Aquarium, we were pleasantly surprised that you can visit some free areas outside. These include a manatees and sea turtle enclosure where visitors can come up close and even participate in some of the feeding activities…

We also took the escalator up to the main entrance of the Okinawa Aquarium. On the way down, you’ll be able to take in this view as well…

From there, we continued our walk north towards Emerald Beach.

Emerald Beach

As the name suggests, Emerald Beach is famous for its clear turqoise waters. The sand is fine but not super fine. Which is fine. Because it allows you to rather easily remove the sand after you leave the beach. During our visit, it was actually close to the end of the beach season. The beach was actually slated to close a few days later for the winter months. Hence, it was a little chilly and windy. Strangely, though it was cloudy, the water was relatively warm. Showing the intensity of the UV rays huh? After losing to Kate at a game of Scrabble (argh), we headed to the little township nearby for lunch. To get there, we walked along a road outside of Hotel Orion which led us to the north entrance of the Ocean Expo Park. From there, we made a left turn and arrived at the town.

We originally wanted to visit コッコ食堂 for their ramen covered in a omelette. But after negotiating the narrow, unmarked paths within the town, we found it to be closed! Hence, we headed back to フクギ屋 for lunch…

This time, we ordered the tofu set (750 yen) as well as the soki soba (750 yen). The saki soba is the pork rib version of the Okinawa Soba. Unfortunately, the auntie misheard our order and instead of soki soba, yaki soba (700 yen) was served. Fortunately, both orders were yummy!

Somehow the tofu soup had wok hei (lightly charred taste)! Probably the tofu was lightly stir fried with egg, before immersion into the pork-based broth. The yaki soba was also delicious. Huge portion with loads of vegetables and spam. Yum!

After lunch, we took a little stroll around the village/town and came across this row of Fuguchi trees that framed Le island (Mount Gusuku aka “Tacchu”) in the distance. We then headed back to Emerald Beach for a little nap, which was quite enjoyable given the gentle breeze that caressed us and sound of the waves in the background. We woke up a played some frisbee (almost got stuck on the top of a shelter due to the strong winds) before heading back to Okichan Dolphin Theater for the 3pm show. This time, it was so full that we had trouble finding a space to stand!

Tropical Dream Center at Okinawa Ocean Expo Park

After the show, we walked back to the south entrance via a different path. Instead of walking by the ocean-facing path, we decided to walk by the path at Tropical Dream Center. To our surprise, we found out that it was a free entry day for all visitors! 🙂

Tropical Dream Center is a smaller version of the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. Here, we were able to see tropical plants (durian tree, hibiscus), a flower field and enjoy views from the conservatory here. There’s even a small aquarium where we were able to visit – which essentially cancelled our need to visit the actual Okinawa Aquarium, especially when we have already visited the 2 largest and most famous aquariums in the world. Singapore SEA Aquarium and Monterey Bay Aquarium. Thank the Lord for coinciding the free-entry day with our day of visit to Okinawa Ocean Expo Park!

Enroute to our hotel, we stopped by our favourite place again. You’ve guessed it! Family Mart! This time, we had a cup of coffee, black sugar mochi and cream cake (360 yen in total). We were thoroughly surprised by the refreshing mochi topped with generous portions of peanut. So delicious that Kate took more than her share of it. The cake was also light and fluffy with a light, non-sweet cream. Back in the condominium, we had our own in-room spa before chilling and listening to Klove at our balcony before heading out to dinner at Papaya.

Papaya Restaurant is located right next to Westeria Condominium Resort. If you stay at Westeria Condominium Resort, you’ll be able to enjoy a discount at Papaya Restaurant. Unfortunately, we did not know about that. But now you know 🙂

As we did not manage to try Soki Soba during lunch this afternoon, we had it at Papaya Restaurant. The pork tendon was sooooooo tender. As for the pork/beef curry, we mixed in the onsen egg and that really lifted the entire taste of the curry, making it irresistible. Totally worth it for the additional 100 yen.

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Stay tuned as we check out Orion Happy Park (Yes! For draft Orion Beer!) on Day 5 of our travels in Okinawa!

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Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 1: Driving North and Checking Out the Attractions of Henza Island

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 2: Tasting Okinawa Soba, Driving on Melody Road Okinawa and Seeing the Yambaru Kuina (Rail)!

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 3: Playing Putt Golf, Visiting Cape Hedo and Checking in to Westeria Condominium Okinawa!

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 4: Visiting Okinawa Ocean Expo Park, Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, Tropical Dream Center and Okichan Dolphin Theater

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 5: Visiting Okinawa Fruits Land, Daiso, Orion Happy Park and Capes Manzamo, Maeda and Zanpa!

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 6: Okinawa Outlet Mall and Free Flow Awamori at Hotel Aqua Citta Naha!

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 7: Cooking Experience at Taste of Okinawa and Dinner at Akamaru Ramen Shop

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 8: Hotel Maruki, Motobu Beef Restaurant and International Street Okinawa

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 9: Chillaxing in Naha City and Watching the Japanese “Bucket List” Movie (最高の人生の見つけ方)

Okinawa Travel Itinerary Day 10: Shurijo Castle, Nishihara Marine Park, Cape Chinen, Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Park and Umikaji Terrace Senagajima