Just south of Naha Airport lies a small island called Senaga Island, connected to the mainland by causeway. It has long been known as a prime spot for watching planes take off and land at the airport, as well as for viewing sunsets over the sea. In addition, commercial development has progressed in recent years, and it seems to have become a popular tourist destination featuring hotels and a neat little mall.
Relying on the weather forecast that said “it will clear up by evening,” I took the monorail and then a bus to get there, and sure enough, by around 5PM, the sky had completely cleared. This is the view from “Umikaji Terrace” on Senaga Island looking toward the airport (north).
Since this was during north wind operations, landing aircraft were coming in one after another from the front, heading for the second runway (on the left side in the photo above). By aiming my camera at the western sky, even a beginner like me could take a photo like this with the sunset sky as a backdrop.
The weather cleared up beautifully, so the silhouettes of the Kerama Islands can be seen in the distance against the crimson-tinged horizon.
Here’s one shot taken in portrait orientation with the telephoto lens.
A composition that captures a large portion of the sky with its sunset gradients. This one is also good.
I apologize for posting so many similar photos, but I was so excited by the beautiful scenery that I just had to share one more. I wanted to capture the silhouettes of the navigation lights lined up in the sea.
Setting the airplane aside, I’ll try taking a photo of just the sunset.
Are you done? I see.
By the way, sunset on this day was a little before 7PM. I was so absorbed in taking photos of the sea to the west, but if you’re wondering what Senaga Island looked like at that time, it looked like this.
The sight of the white buildings lined up on the slope glowing orange in the setting sun was quite beautiful. For someone who has never been there (like me) to indulge in a little daydreaming, I think it might be forgivable to imagine that it looks just a little bit like the island of Santorini floating in the Mediterranean. The people passing by also looked quite happy in front of the beautiful sunset.
And so, having wrapped up my first attempt at photographing the sunset and airplanes on Senaga Island with a fair amount of self-satisfaction, I headed back to Naha City. The bus back toward Naha right after sunset was packed to the brim—so crowded that some people were left behind (that was a close call)—a testament to its popularity.
