SNORKELING on YAKUSHIMA
There are many great places to snorkel in Yakushima. Here are a few of the best:
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| Isso beach |
The best place for snorkeling is actually on
the other side of the car park to where the beach is. Cross the small
road that runs by the side of the main Isso beach carpark and there is a
rocky bay. It is here that many of the diving companies come and there
are wonderful fish.
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| Tzukazaki Tide Pool |
Tzukazaki Tide Pool can be reached right at the end of the track that runs through Yakushima Youth Travel village to the sea. Head to the left andf there is a natural protective area to snorkel at the mouth of
the river.
Harutahama is also great for snorkeling but not where you may think. From the
car park walk across the small concrete bridge and the snorkeling area is
to your left where the river flows into the sea. When the tide is in
snorkel out a little way to where the rocks mark the end of the river
mouth.
Check out LOW TIDE TIMES before snorkeling.
For more information about Yakushima check out the one and only Yakumonkey Guide to Yakushima
We just spent our holiday in Yakushima. I am quite surprised Yakushima is more famous for hiking and not for water aktivites. We went diving and snorkeling ( both in Isso) and it was just amazing. We did both aktivites with a very experienced local diving center, Mori to Umi. For diving we went out with a snall fishing boat from Isso Port for only about 5 minutes. For norkeling we were in that part of Isso Beach also mentioned in this article. The water was very calm, and we saw a lot. I think it is better to go there early in the morning, since, we did meet people from different diving schools. They use this part of Isso Beach for One day diving experience courses.
We were diving last year in Sardinien. Yakushima is 100 time better!