Rebun Island 2019: Sunset at Momodai Nekodai Observatory

Having returned my bicycle to the rental shop and then been brought back to the pension I assumed my sightseeing for the day was over but I soon got a call from the staff asking if I was interested in seeing the sunset on Rebun’s west coast. A short while later I was getting into a car along with two of the staff and another guest staying at the pension and we drove through a tunnel to the west side of Rebun. Soon we arrived at Momodai Nekodai Observatory. The sun was low over the ocean as we pulled into the parking lot.

The sunset was painting the rocky coast of Rebun with a faint orange glow. Near the observatory there are two locally famous rock formations called Bird Rock and Cat Rock. Bird Rock was easy to find and reminds me of the old Twitter logo but I couldn’t find Cat Rock among the cliffs.

We stayed at the observatory to see the sun go all the way down on the ocean. Although my favorite sunset of all time remains the one I saw in 2015 in Tarifa, Spain, this one was definitely my favorite of my 2019 trip across Japan and Korea.

While we were at the observatory the staff took a couple photos of me with the sunset in the background. I struck a somewhat dramatic, somewhat humorous pose for this shot.