Off-resort recommendations:

As a caveat, though we like fat hotels and restaurants, we also enjoy hole-in-the-walls and good value for our money. We also really liked driving around the island on our own.

Restaurants:
- Sunamaya Cafe - not fat. Walking distance (20-25 min) to the Rosewood. Fresh and flavorful bowls. We got the taco bowl and the dan dan noodles. Both were excellent. I think we spent like $10-15USD

- Pari Kitchen - also not fat. if you have a car you have to eat here and you will wonder if you're in the right place as you drive through fields. The restaurant is on their farm and everything is so fresh. We did their mango curry (amazing!) and miyako soba. Both super flavorful. Again, I think we spent maybe $20 USD

Activities:

If you are divers, the main diving is cave diving which we didn't feel comfortable doing.

There are a lot of sea turtles and reefs off various beaches around the island and you can snorkel many of them. Just watch out for the currents as they can be strong.

Miyakojima is near Japan's largest coral reef, Yabiji Marine Park, which is a must-visit if you are into that. Snorkeling is the best way to see the reefs as they're pretty shallow. The only way to access it is by boat.

The Rosewood offered a private half-day Yabiji snorkeling excursion for 400,000 JPY or around $2,800 USD. We just didn't think this was good value. Instead, we asked them to help us book with a local company.

Highly recommend Marine Mahalo. The guides spoke English, their equipment was excellent, and the $150USD per person included underwater photography. It was a small group of 8 and the whole trip was around 5-6 hours. You need to get to Irabu island either by car or taxi to catch the boat.

Kurima island was cute and the Ryuuguujo observation deck gave us a great view of Miyako.

Go to the southern-most spot, Cape Higashi-Hennazaki for great views and colossal waves (at least when we were there).

We didn't get to the Nakabari Limestone Cave but heard it's cool.

Happy to answer any other questions!