Trip to Kumano Vol. 3: Kumano coastline boat cruise—A spectacular view of the rocky Kumano coastline created by nature, Blue Cave
Along with Onigajo, another beautiful scenic spot on the Ria Coast in the southern part of Mie Prefecture is the Blue Cave. While Onigajo is an amazing view that can be seen from the land as well as the sea, this spot is only able to be viewed from the ocean as it is tucked away at the base of the cliffs.
Written by Pete Leong
When you think of “blue cave,” you can see a beautiful blue sea comparable to that. For me personally, it reminded me of the famous blue cave diving spot I would often scuba dive or snorkel into on the west coast of Okinawa. One of the main differences is that this Mie’s blue cave has many beautiful tall rock cliffs and formations around it, which are equally impressive to see.
Take a cruise to see it. There are three trips per day 10am, 12pm, and 2pm (weather permitting) from Matsuzaki Port, and a reservation is required for boarding.
For this trip, I got on the 12 o'clock trip. The boat leaves pretty much right on time so be sure to arrive at least 15 minutes earlier for parking, trip briefing and to pay the cruise fee. The cost of the cruise depends on how many people are taking that cruise with you. For five or more people it’s 3,000 yen per person, 3,500 yen for four, 4,000 yen for three, 4,500 yen for two, or 9,000 yen for a single booking.
The voyage takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes. We first headed west along the coastline to see the world heritage site Onigajo from the ocean side. I had just visited Onigajo earlier in the day to hike its exposed cliff trail, but it was also very nice to view the entire ocean side cliffs and formations from a direct front-on perspective and watch the people looking like little ants, as they make their way across, traversing the huge rock walls.
From here our boat makes a U-turn and heads back east along the coast to visit some more of the beautiful majestic coastline.
The cliffs of columnar joints continue. When the lava from the eruption of a volcano cools and hardens, it becomes rock and forms tall straight columns of pentagonal or hexagonal cracks called a “columnar joint.” It seems as though the vertical rock pillars had been hand-carved and designed to fit together perfectly. This is a Mother Nature's work of art.
Along the cruise to the next main points of interest and we passed several small rock islands that are popular bases for anglers to hang out on. There were also many anglers dotted along the cliffs in precarious positions.
The cliffs got higher and higher as we made our way along. Soon enough we spotted an opening in the base of one of the cliffs in the distance. This opening is known as the “Gamaguchi” (a metaphor for frog’s big mouth) and forms the entrance to the Blue Cave.
Although sea conditions were quite rough on this day, our skilled boat captain was able to pull the nose of the boat up into the mouth of the cave for us to get a close-up look. The shade from the rock roof above combined with the sunlight refracting through the clear ocean waters makes the cave appear to be illuminated by a blue light from beneath the water.
Further, into the cave, it tapers down to a smaller tunnel not accessible by larger vessels. It would be great to explore it on a kayak or snorkel through it on a calm day.
In addition to the Blue Cave, the huge rock wall known as Tategasaki with columnar joints is also a highlight. It is called Tategasaki because it looks like tate (a huge shield) thrusting out of the sea. If you are the adventurous type you can hike to where you are able to see Tategasaki from land. But you can get a much more powerful up-close view of its sheer vertical walls from its base via the cruise.
For a fun time while at the ocean side of Kumano take a leisurely cruise and marvel in the dramatic close-up views of this impressive land and seascape!
