Furuzamami Beach

Furuzamami is the reason snorkellers cross to the Kerama islands, and the water lives up to the talk. A ferry ride west of Naha brings you to Zamami, and a short hop over the hill from the port drops you onto a bright seven hundred metre crescent of white coral sand, sloping into a clarity the islands are famous for, the so called Kerama blue. Swim out a little over the reef on the western side and the coral comes alive, green chromis clouding the branches, anemonefish guarding their patch, the occasional turtle gliding through. This is protected national park sea, and it shows.

The honest catch is that everyone knows it. As the island's easy, signposted beach, Furuzamami draws the day trippers off the fast ferry, and on a peak summer afternoon the near shore shallows can feel busy and the parking and hut get stretched. The reef is also fragile and very close in, so the real harm is not crowding but trampling, fins and feet on living coral. If turtles are your goal, the gentler Ama Beach on the same island is the more reliable spot, with seagrass the turtles come to graze.

So treat Furuzamami as the headline it deserves to be, and tread lightly to keep it that way, swimming above the coral rather than standing on it, reef safe sunscreen only, nothing touched or fed. Come in the calm of the morning before the boats, or better still stay a night on Zamami and have the reef nearly to yourself at dawn. For an even quieter swim, the white sand of Nishihama on neighbouring Aka is a short island hop away.