We were on our way to Tottori sand dunes, but missed our stop. We landed up in Iwami and its beautiful coastline. Brownies to the lost ones. Wahaha. I just love Japan. Anywhere I get lost, it only gets better.
This place was geared for local tourism. All pamphlet and sign were in 100% Japanese. No Korean, no Chinese, no English. This only adds to the local experience (love).
They were very proud of their squid products, all sort of flavours – dried, grilled, marinated, fried, cookies, squid sheets… After doing too much free tasting, we went for a mini-boat ride. Per their poster, the boat will sail into the caves and discover the beauty of Sanin coastline (Sanin Kaigan Geopark).
There were 2 types of boat size available. Large and small. Basically, if you want to see the inside of the caves, you have to choose the small boat. The large one cannot go into the caves. The small boat ride also offers 5min of fish observation time. The large boat was more stable and offered and more steady ride to observe the gorgeous coast.
When I boarded the boat, they gave out these snacks called “Kappa Ebisen”, shrimp something (LOL don’t know how to translate). Threw some in the air and the seagulls would catch them mid air!!! It was such a beautiful thing to do! First time for me to feed seagulls while they’re flying.
The guide proceeded to share information about the coastline. I didn’t understand everything. What I understood was Sengan Matsushima (small island) was a symbol of the Uradome coast. Problem was, I didn’t understand which one he was pointing to… This was the first ‘feature’ that we saw. Lots of small island / oddly shape rocks along the coast. It was really lovely to see. O and the white topped rocks… full of bird poop haha.
The boat ride proceeded to go inside one of the ‘caves’. Er… no photos? It was totally too dim for my phone camera LOL I only had my phone on me on that day. Reflex cameras were clearly essential to capture this one. (regret)
We then went close up to some beaches. We uncovered the boards on the floor to do some fish observation 😀 I didn’t see any fish 🙁 I had excited children on my boat. We were SOOOO noisy LOL The water had very high clarity though. My photos just don’t look right. I really shouldn’t travel without my camera sigh
Want to share this ‘manly’ looking official video that they have. LOL It is sooo weird how they presented themselves. In real life, it was so much more relaxed and less ‘military’ like wahhahah You can tell from my photos, right?
Warning! If you have motion sickness, I highly recommend that you take the large ferry and skip visiting inside of the caves (large ferry doesn’t go in). These little boats moved up & down like crazy. I was quite hardy, but XXXX it was CRAZY challenging.
Where was I?
Sanin Matsushima Yuran
2182 Otani, Iwami-cho, Iwami-gun, Tottori Prefecture
山陰松島遊覧株式会社
鳥取県岩美郡岩美町大谷2182
TEL : 0857(73)1212
mail : info@yourun1000.com
How to get here?
Approximately 15 minutes by bus from JR Iwami Station (towards Tottori). Get off at Shimameguri Yuransen Noriba-mae stop.
Personally, I feel more safe to travel straight from Tottori CBD with a direct bus. JR Iwami s literately in the middle of nowhere. There will be no body to ask for direction or help if you get lost from that point. My GPS & phone didn’t get much signal over there. I don’t think it is worth the risk. From JR Tottori, there’s a bus that heads to Iwami. The bus ride was JPY590.
Large boat
JPY1200 per adult
40min ride
Operates: March to November
Every 30min 9h10 – 16h10
Small boat
JPY2100 per adult
50min ride
Operates: April to October
8 rides a day
9h00 – 14h00
Please refer to the official site for the most updated information. www.yourun1000.com *Japanese only.
Can also canoe 😀 I was too chicken to do it. I can swim, but the water was so clear and it looked so deep O_o
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P.S. Featured photo belongs to Chugoku Navi. My photo quality was just too poor. I wanted to show how beautiful it really was.