Summer activities by the sea in Tsu
During the COVID-19 pandemic I always had the urge to go overseas and enjoy the sun and the beach. That urge seemed too good to come true when I found out about an amazing place in Tsu City where I would be able to enjoy the sun, the sea, the beach, and even a ride on a horse along the beach. You heard me right! Riding a horse along the beachline.
As I said, this seemed too good to be true and I had to go check it out.
Written by John Ng
The name of this place is EL CABALLO. It is located just 75 minutes by train and about an hour by car from Nagoya. It opened for business in 2019 and as I stated above, this place is one of few places in Japan where you can enjoy a ride on a horse along the seaside.
EL CABALLO provides various plans depending on the rider level, from beginner to advanced level and above. The courses available for beginner visitors are the Palm Tree Ride, Pony Ride, Beach Ride, etc. Well, I wasted no time and headed over. When I arrived at EL CABALLO, I was greeted by a big white horse statue and a super cozy clubhouse. I could feel almost that I was not in Japan anymore. When I wanted to register myself for the ride, I was shocked to learn that there is a body weight limitation of 65kg for the ride by the sea. I had no choice but to pass this opportunity to my partner.
After we were prepared, we headed to the beautiful beach along with the bright sunshine. The view was simply gorgeous. Our pony arrived and we were good to go for the ride. I had no choice but to be a photographer for her ride. As the lesson started, I felt not so bad anymore because photo shooting the ride along the beautiful beach line was not bad at all. To be frank, that too was super fun!
During the ride, the instructor taught us the correct posture to ride. According to her explanation, it seemed that horse riding would help to train the body’s trunk muscles, which helps in preventing any injuries in the future.
With the calm sea, refreshing sea breeze, beautiful sky and clouds, horse riding along the coastline was not like something in everyday life. This experience was priceless – simply wonderful.
Before the ride, we worried about whether the horse would let us mount, but I found our worries were needless. All the horses here were kind and gentle.
At the stable, there are 13 horses, and it occurred to me to think which horse could be the one that I could ride on. Not all of the horses like to walk along the shore – some don’t like to go near the sea. Therefore only a few horses that have gone through training will be able to do the coastline ride.
There are thoroughbred horses at the ranch that can do rides too but also have a weight limitation of 75kg. I thought I had to lose more weight before I could realize my dream to ride on a horse along the shore line. But to my surprise, I learned that thoroughbred horses will not perform rides on the beach and will only perform rides at the riding ground.
This place provides a rental helmet and airbag vest (fee applied), so all we need to prepare are clothes that we can move around in easily. There are also lockers, a changing room, and even a shower room. Nothing beats a nice shower after a good ride on a beautiful horse – right?
It was around noon after we had finished our horse riding at the beach, and we were hungry. About 700m from EL CABALLO, Marina Kawage is a marina with a café restaurant that provides BBQ by the sea where you can enjoy your meal while listening to the waves and enjoying the view of boats at the dock. Reservation is required for the BBQ set. Without reservation, during the busy period they say they cannot provide the service.
Since we had a reservation, the restaurant had prepared our BBQ grill when we arrived. The menu for the day was sirloin, spareribs, herb sausages, scallops, squid, various vegetables, and most of all there was sardine ajillo. The sardines were from the nearby ocean.
For drinks, I ordered a bottle of Corona with Lime while she ordered a “Cream Soda by the Sea.” In the middle of the day having BBQ by the sea and drinking beer, I have to say nothing will ever beat this combination. It seemed just too luxurious to be true. Just make sure you come here by public transportation and don’t drink and drive.
The BBQ has three types of courses. The middle one which we had today was super good so I couldn’t imagine what it would be for the top-of-the-menu course that included Matsusaka Beef.
After lunch, we had the privilege of enjoying our time on a short cruise in the bay for about 30 minutes. In the inner bay the water was super calm but when we left the marina the waves were coming in and the ride got bumpy. Still, it was a perfect day for cruising with the ocean breeze and thrills of a fast cruise.
Normally this cruise is only for groups, and we got lucky to be able to enjoy the cruise with just two of us. To my surprise, the cruising company was the same as the one which runs private cruise trip down south at Shima in the prefecture, where I had lots of fun the other day. During that private cruise trip, I had the chance to cruise along the inner bay of Ago Bay, enjoy BBQ, and even go to the local fish market to get fresh seafood for the BBQ. There are also options to experience Ama-goya (female diver’s hut) BBQ, sea kayaking, and lots of other activities to enjoy. I’m going on that trip again soon.