Location: check out Google earth to get a better look at the islands off of Uruma peninsula. Going north to south is Ikei, Miyagi, Hamahiga (all connected by bridges and to the mainland) a small island with sandy beaches, a smaller island with just one beach, Tsuken, then the sand bar then connects to Kudaka. Ferries run to Kudaka and Tsuken. The Hamahiga resort runs boats for their guests out to the smallest island, and does banana boat rides along the reef. You need a boat to get out 
to the island ringed in sandy beaches. We hear this island is the site of Japanese Defense Forces survival training. While we were there, a helicopter landed and then took off on the island, so the rumor rings true. Apparently, the signs on the beaches request that visitors do not enter the island's interior. We also hear they put rabbits on the island so the hungry soldiers have something to eat if they get desperate. We didn't see any rabbits. The leeward site has a lovely sandy beach with nice swimming in front. Boats drop anchor here and people snorkel, swim, or wade ashore to lunch or camp. The snorkeling is not very good. Pine trees provide some shade. We tried to walk around the whole island, and made it 80% of the way u
ntil the rocks dropped off steeply into the sea and we could not find an overland route. All around the island there are beaches; all but two have rocky tidepools where sand and water meet. This is not ideal for swimming, but nice for exploring. On the northern part of the island, there are some larger tidepools with purple coral and fishes, but nothing spectacularly different from other places on Okinawa mainland. The fun of the place is the sense of being a castaway, and the views to Tsuken, Hamahiga, and Ikei. The island just south of here is the one used by the Hamahiga resort - they park the boats 
and jet skies off the beach where the ex-coral tidepools drop off, and people then walk over the rocks to the sand. In between the two islands are some groupings of coral that offer snorkeling opportunities. The outer reef is a nice place to snorkel if the water is calm. Where the shelf drops off, there are quite large fish. The reef itself is half covered in small multicolored hard corals with all sorts of critters in the crevices, including conch and cowrie shells. A Japanese fisherman had collected 2 parrotfish, an octopus, and a bag full of some crustacean from the area. On the way back to the port 
(at the end of the sea road), one can pull a boat up easily at Hamahiga beach. The sand there is not as white as on the little island, but it still a decent beach for lounging and swimming.
to the island ringed in sandy beaches. We hear this island is the site of Japanese Defense Forces survival training. While we were there, a helicopter landed and then took off on the island, so the rumor rings true. Apparently, the signs on the beaches request that visitors do not enter the island's interior. We also hear they put rabbits on the island so the hungry soldiers have something to eat if they get desperate. We didn't see any rabbits. The leeward site has a lovely sandy beach with nice swimming in front. Boats drop anchor here and people snorkel, swim, or wade ashore to lunch or camp. The snorkeling is not very good. Pine trees provide some shade. We tried to walk around the whole island, and made it 80% of the way u
ntil the rocks dropped off steeply into the sea and we could not find an overland route. All around the island there are beaches; all but two have rocky tidepools where sand and water meet. This is not ideal for swimming, but nice for exploring. On the northern part of the island, there are some larger tidepools with purple coral and fishes, but nothing spectacularly different from other places on Okinawa mainland. The fun of the place is the sense of being a castaway, and the views to Tsuken, Hamahiga, and Ikei. The island just south of here is the one used by the Hamahiga resort - they park the boats 
and jet skies off the beach where the ex-coral tidepools drop off, and people then walk over the rocks to the sand. In between the two islands are some groupings of coral that offer snorkeling opportunities. The outer reef is a nice place to snorkel if the water is calm. Where the shelf drops off, there are quite large fish. The reef itself is half covered in small multicolored hard corals with all sorts of critters in the crevices, including conch and cowrie shells. A Japanese fisherman had collected 2 parrotfish, an octopus, and a bag full of some crustacean from the area. On the way back to the port 
(at the end of the sea road), one can pull a boat up easily at Hamahiga beach. The sand there is not as white as on the little island, but it still a decent beach for lounging and swimming. 