Personalized Service in Nishinoshima

What?
Nishinoshima (西ノ島) is part of the Oki Islands (隠岐の島). There are 4 main islands with biggest one called Dogo (島後) and the three smaller ones called Dozen (島前). Nishinoshima is one of the three smaller island with the other two being Nakanoshima (中之島) and Chiburijima (知夫里島). Nishinoshima is most famous for its western coastline that is spotted with grazing horses and cows. This coastline can be viewed from the sea by tourist boast services, but also by a sea kayak activity organized by Club Noa. Being an island, a lot of people make their living with fishing. In a different way, Yushin also makes it living by fishing by inviting tourists to have a fishing trip on their boat. For fishing enthusiasts it makes for a different experience than fishing from the shore.
Where?
Dogo and Dozen are located to the north of Shimane Prefecture (島根県). To get to Nishinoshima you can take the ferry from either Shichirui (七類) in Matsue (松江) or Sakaiminato (境港). You can also take a plane to Oki Airport in Dogo and go by ferry from there.
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Yushin (JP) Club Noah (JP) Mitsukejima-so (JP)

While planning my trip to Nishinoshima, I knew immediately I wanted to spend one day with activities. I had never fished before but wanted to know why my father always hopped on a boat to go to Denmark for a week, solely to catch fish. I am more familiar with kayaking, so watching the beautiful Kuniga Coast from a small boat seemed to me way more interesting than boarding a bigger sightseeing vessel.

Of course these activities are very subject to the weather conditions. And while a little bit of rain wouldn’t be a problem, the upcoming typhoon did appear to spoil my fun. The evening before I was set to enjoy my fun, the kayak place canceled on me citing strong winds in the afternoon. My fishing trip would take place just before the typhoon would hit Nishinoshima, so luckily that would go on as planned.

Yushin offers pleasure fishing trips on their boat. It doesn’t matter whether you are experienced or not, they will adjust themselves to your level. You don’t even have to prepare anything – you can rent everything from them. I was alone so it was quite pricy, but if you can get some friends to get along you will have a whole lot of fun for a reasonable amount of money.
I know I did have a lot of fun. The young owner showed me how to fish with and without bait, told me everything about the fish that I caught and tried to catch some squid that we saw passing the boat, creating an atmosphere of pure relaxedness. It would have been more fun with some friends around, but I thank the owner for his incredible friendliness. I don’t know if my father will ever make it to Japan again, but if he does I want to invite him to Nishinoshima and then we’ll enjoy catching – or not catching – fish together.

Yushin is the name of the boat.

The captain takes the pictures for you.

Kayaking in the beautiful bay before Kuniga coast.

Again, pictures are taken for you by the guide.

The three hours of fishing just flew by, but as my afternoon appointment was canceled I headed to the tourist office to see what I would do. And that’s when my phone rang. It was just after 10 in the morning, but if I wanted the kayak place would organize a trip just for me right now. I immediately said yes and headed to the hotel where the tour guide would pick me up. True, the weather wasn’t ideal, but there were no strong winds and high waves, so it was possible to hop in a kayak and crisscross the Kuniga Coastline’s many rock, islands, arches and caves. I was the only participant which resulted in a very relaxed private tour which lasted longer than what they normally offer. Just like the owner of Yushin, Club Noa gave me an extremely personalized experience, avoiding the sometimes overpolite distance that Japanese guides will display. As the guide clearly enjoyed the kayaking himself too it felt more like an outing with a friend than with a complete stranger. Due to the weather there were also no people walking along the coastline so that we felt to have this complete beauty for us alone.

Both Yushin and Club Noa delighted my day with a very personal and flexible service that I enjoyed so much that I was exhausted at three o’clock in the afternoon. I headed back to the hotel where I asked if the owner was interested in the fish I caught. She said “I’ll fix something”… resulting in a fantastic dinner with sake-steamed fish and very fresh sashimi. What was looking to be a day of cancellations and disappointments became one of the finer experiences I had traveling in Japan. I already know that one day I will be back.