Yonehara Beach

石垣島で有数のビーチエントリーできるシュノーケルスポットです。少し泳ぐとサンゴ群が広がっているのでシュノーケルセットはお忘れなく！ビーチの入り口に売店があるのでそこでレンタルできます。ドリンクやフードも売っているので手ぶらで行っても楽しめます。カクレクマノミ等の熱帯魚がたくさん見られるスポットでなので大人も子供も楽しめます。

Certainly worth a visit when visiting Okinawa, Japan! While its sands aren’t as soft as some of the beaches in Okinawa, it’s nonetheless a fantastic spot to snorkel. Not only is jam-packed with kaleidoscopic fish, but it also has some eye-catching corals. To make things even better, you don’t have to swim far to catch sight of these underwater gems. Just don’t forget to bring a tent since there’s no shade on the beach.

Yonehara is a very tiny town on Ishigaki Island, home to only a couple of souvenir shops (heaps of shiisa, but that’s about it) and a camp ground. You'll need to drive or take the bus from Ishigaki to get there. We walked down to the beach and found ourselves a nice spot under one of the sparse trees dotted along the coastline (later on we found an awesome spot right at the end of the beach where there were some large rocks casting shadows onto the sand that made for a much more private and quiet experience). Unfortunately the beach had a little bit or rubbish that had washed up in recent storms, but this was compensated for by super clear water (a comfortable temperature in the low 20’s I reckon) and huge amount of fish out in the shallows! I didn’t go out as far as the waves that were breaking on the reef, but I reckon the coral would be pretty good out there. The only thing that you need to watch out for is the fairly strong current drawing you out to sea. Not strong enough to be scary, but you wouldn’t want to be fatigued and trying to fight against it. This is an awesome spot that isn't visited by too many people, making it a great place to spend an afternoon.