Morning Beach Ride (Photo Post)

Had a delightfully cool, clear morning today. (Well, cool for this town, at least.) So I took a long bike ride along the river near our house, and along the two nearby beaches. Here are a few photos from the ride.

View from the small beach just east of Momochi, looking west towards Fukuoka Tower.

("Our" beach, Momochi Beach, is right in front of the tower.)

From the jetty at Meinohama (the next beach to the west), looking towards Momochi.

There were a ton of people out fishing this morning. Our landlord says Hakata Bay is famous for sea bass, but I only saw people reeling in these dinky little things, which you could see swimming by in big schools.

Here are some more folks fishing, with the outlet malls in the background.

That big ferris wheel doesn't run anymore, but the small one behind it does.

In the shot below you can see the wedding chapel near the outlet mall.

These wedding chapels are big business in Japan, and you can find them almost anywhere with a nice view.

Here's one more look back towards Momochi. We get some great clouds rolling down off the mountains, especially in the afternoon right before it rains.

Finally, what seems to be some kind of octopus warning on the jetty at Meinohama.

Don't know if these little guys are supposed to be endangered or poisonous. I'm betting endangered--if they were poisonous, it'd make a lot more sense to warn the swimmers!