#1: Looking south from the confluence in the direction of the nearest land. The Yokoate-jima volcano is located (promise!) just under the small cloud on the left.
#2: The GPS screen. Incidentally displayed data shows our distance since leaving civilization in Amami and the paddling time of over 14 hour that was required to reach the confluence.
#3: Floating over the confluence in our double kayak.
#4: Looking west from the confluence. Nearest land is over 1000km away in this direction.
#5: Looking north. Ditto previous comment.
#6: Looking east. In clear conditions, Takara-jima should show; for us it became visible about 5km after the confluence.
#7: A rough camp on the uninhabited Yokoate-jima on the morning of the confluence visit. In East Asia, where environmental thinking is still in its infancy, this amount of flotsam is normal even on the remotest coasts.
#8: Kaminone-jima (foreground) and Yokoate-jima in a rolling sea; on the way to the confluence. My brother commented our our blog, "you guys are floating around in a life size Zen garden". And so it was.
#9: Takara-jima, or Treasure Island, is where we arrived in the late afternoon of the confluence visit. It is a tiny but beautiful subtropical haven 22km north-east of the confluence.
#10: A breathtaking sunset on the approach to Yokoate-jima. Worried about typhoon waves and landing possibilities on a wild island in the pitch darkness that would soon envelop us, we were nearly oblivious to the beauty around us and later didn't even remembe
