Boat Launch + Sand = Beach?

The answer to the title equation is "yes!"

We had intended to go to our favorite Tateishi Beach this morning. But, at 9 am, there was a line of cars waiting to park and they had closed the gates to prevent other people from waiting. So, we turned to our trusty GPS (in Japanese, mind you) and looked for another symbol for beach. After driving just a few minutes, we found ourselves at a public boat launch next to a swanky marina. The boat launch was covered in sand and there were a couple people laying out and a few others fishing. So, we figured, "why not?" We planted our beach blanket, bags, and toys in a nice little spot and dug in.

We observed a few schools of fish and a moon jellyfish. RJ (more like Jip) built a road with a fiberglass stake he found. Ryleigh got sand everywhere she could.

We also observed some Japanese ingenuity while we were there. A guy came back from fishing and drove his boat as far up the ramp as he could. He then brought his van to the ramp and anchored the boat to the van. He wheeled the trailer down and wedged it under the boat. Then he hooked up a winch to his car battery and pulled the boat onto the trailer and pulled the trailer and boat up the ramp. He got stuck in the sand a couple times, and a nice man finally helped him. But, we still thought that for an almost solo operation, he was pretty successful!

We stayed about 90 minutes. In that time, the "beach" filled with swimmers, picnickers, and even some couples who took their dogs out on their sea kayaks. Our random boat launch beach was a great way to get off base and spend the morning!