At the end of July,  we experienced a hazy week. This was the sun at about 6pm.  By the middle of the week, a friend told us that it was the haze from volcanic ash on the mainland of Japan.  That was a first for us! There are over one hundred active volcanos in Japan alone (none on Okinawa) and one erupted in the middle of July.  For reference the main island of Japan is roughly 800 miles away. That’s a strong volcano to be sending its ash all the way down here! Thankfully, the ash drifted away as a tropical storm came through from the south Pacific. Both natural events created some incredible sunsets and sunrises.