We took a trip off Okinawa to neighboring IE Island over Memorial Weekend. It was approximately 45 minutes by ferry, and they have a wonderful little resort over there. The island is very small - only took us about an hour to drive around it, and it is mostly a farming and cattle raising community. We loved the quiet beaches and the resort. The resort caters to the Americans, so we actually saw people we knew, but it was still a great weekend of relaxation for us. We will definitely go back for special occasions. There isn't much to see or do on the island, but we hit all of the main attractions. IE Island is known for their lily fields, which are in bloom in early May (we missed the best showing, but still saw some), caves in which 1000's of people hid in during the bombing of WWII, Ernie Pyle's Memorial, and Mt. Gusuku which is the lone high peak on the island. It was about 300 steep steps up the mountain to get there, but the panoramic view was awesome. There was a geo-cache that we found on the tippy top, so the kids were excited about that. Dinner at the resort was ok, but we preferred our night "in town" where we chose via a picture menu - no English anywhere!! Everyone was sad when we had to board the ferry back to Okinawa. It was a great weekend.
