Zamami Island: the beaches, the turtles and the hills

Zamami sits in the Kerama group west of Okinawa's main island, and the usual way over is the high-speed ferry from Tomari Port in Naha, which takes between 50 and 70 minutes.¹ A car ferry also runs, but it leaves once a day and takes twice as long.⁹ For a day trip that difference decides your schedule, so check the sailing times for the date you want before you plan anything else around them.

The island is the second largest of the Kerama Islands, yet it has only a single village and a population of 600.^2,3 Everything a visitor needs sits close to the harbor: the ferry terminal, rental shops, small restaurants and the path out to both of the main beaches. You can get around without a plan, and the map shows how short the distances are between the port, the sand and the lookouts.

Zamami village covers three inhabited islands, Zamami itself, Aka and Geruma, and Aka and Geruma each have their own page on this site.¹⁰ Zamami is also where the whale watching association has its office near the port.¹¹ That makes it the natural base if you want a night or longer in the group rather than a single long day. Our page on Aka and Geruma covers the neighboring islands, which are linked to each other by bridges.

Ama Beach, the other of the beaches on Zamami Island, lies the opposite way, a 20-minute walk or a 5-minute bus ride west of the port.⁵ Compared with Furuzamami it is more basic, with shower and toilet facilities but not much else.²³ What it offers instead is calm, shallow water that is ideal for children, and a chance to swim with the sea turtles that call the area home.¹³ Shade comes from the nearby campground during the day.²⁴ Bring a hat, as there is little else to hide under between swims.

The good snorkeling at Ama is farther out, so you have to swim some way from the sand to reach it.²⁸ Plan for an unhurried swim rather than a quick dip. Green sea turtles can be spotted here, and some come ashore to lay eggs during the spawning season.⁶ From the beach you can also see the uninhabited islands of Agenashikujima and Gahijima, which makes a handsome backdrop between swims.²⁹

Turtles are wild animals, and the guidance from Japan's tourism board is plain: if you spot a sea turtle, do not approach it or chase it, and watch from a distance to protect its safety and habitat.⁷ Our page on the sea turtles of the Kerama Islands goes further into species, season and what a respectful encounter looks like. For this beach, the rule of thumb is simple: let the animal decide how close it comes.

You can rent a car or a bike in Zamami village to get around the island.³⁷ For the beaches a bus is enough, and a bike is the pleasant option on a dry day, since the lookouts are the only places that demand real effort. A rental car feels like overkill when the harbor, both beaches and the village are this close together. On a small island like this you rarely need more than a bus pass in your head and a pair of comfortable shoes, and a bike turns the lookout climbs into a pleasant detour rather than a chore.

Food is part of the visit. Local restaurants serve mozuku seaweed, jimami-dofu, which is tofu with peanuts, Okinawan soba and seafood caught in the morning.¹⁴ Order the seafood at lunch and treat the beach hut as a snack stop, not your only meal. A picnic from a shop near the harbor is a sensible back-up for a long afternoon on the sand, along with plenty of water, since the beach hut cannot cover every hungry swimmer at once.

The sea stays warm for most of the year, so snorkeling is possible even when summer is over.³⁸ That makes Zamami a reasonable destination in shoulder months, and the islands get less busy in the whale season.³⁹ If you only have a day, a guided boat trip from Naha such as our site's tour covers a few snorkeling spots around the group, while staying on the island lets you do the beaches and the hills at your own pace.