Our 2024 Golden week choices had echoes of 2018 within them. We had hoped to do a final camp and ski tour at Nakadake onsen at the foot of Asahidake with Timba and Roo, however forecasts of ferocious winds scuppered those plans and we quickly changed tact convincing our friends that it was prime season for a tour of the bird watching paradise islands Teuri and Yagishiri.
In 2018, we took our folding bicycles and camped on Teuri Island, however times have changed and it is no longer possible to camp on Teuri Island, however since we had not camped on Yagishiri Island before we were happy to have this decision made for us. Since we were already north of Sapporo, we decided to make it a backpacking tour to avoid wasting time returning to Sapporo to get our bicycles.
The winds were still strong however, and the afternoon ferry we had hoped to catch did not sail. The seas were looking huge, so I was secretly thankful to stay on land until the seas calmed. The auto campground on the hill at Tomamae with its adjacent onsen treated us with a spectacular sunset over the islands as we cooked up dinner before retreating to the warmth of our sleeping bags, it was 2 degrees overnight with additional wind chill making it feel all rather cold.
The highlights of our 2018 trip to Teuri island were two bird watching tours, one in the evening to see the rhinoceros auklet return to feed their nesting partners (U00005), and a sunrise boat tour (U00001) to see the spectacled guillemot and common murre. You can see all the tours here (numbered U00000X).
Teuri Island Nature Live appears to operate all the tours on the island, if you are lucky you’ll have long time local and photographer Takaki Terasawa as your guide (most likely on the sunrise/sunset boat tours).
However, since we had decided to camp at Yagishiri, these tours would not be possible due to the ferry schedule. The first ferry in the morning to Teuri Island arrived just after 9am, so we decided to join a 9:30 driving tour of the island visiting all the major colonies and look-outs (U00007).
Afterwards, we enjoyed our packed lunch in the sunshine at the outdoor tables with bird song, finished off with hot drinks bought from the café there. Eager to see the island and birds up close from the water, we joined a 13:30 boat tour to circumnavigate the island while observing birds and seals (U00003). The offshore islands of Hokkaido are renowned for being windy, and so it was not surprising that our boat tour couldn’t complete the full circuit due to the northern winds.
The bonus of the day time tours over the sunrise or sunset was that we had the warmth of the sun, it was still plenty cold though enough to wear my winter down jacket to keep cosy. The explanations on the tours were all in Japanese, however I think the guides would also speak English if you asked them. The waters around the island were a deep blue colour and the cliffs where the birds nest were really impressive viewed from the water.
If you don’t have your own binoculars, I highly recommend paying the extra 500 yen to rent some from the tour company. Tours are based out of the Umi no Uchukan which is a 5-minute walk from the ferry terminal.
Tours completed we walked back to the ferry terminal and caught the ferry back to Yagishiri island and walked about 20-30 minutes to the campground. There were several other tents already set up but still plenty of space for us to find our own area. The campground was lovely, with well maintained and clean facilities. The beach is a short walk from the campground.
The night sky has amazing stars on a clear night. Latham’s snipe was croaking and buzzing above the campground in the evening and early morning with territorial flying displays making zooming sounds as they plummeted with the tail fanned out. Apparently, Latham’s snipe/Japanese snipe spend the winters in Australia and return every spring to Hokkaido to breed! We also spotted many small songbirds around campground and nearby forest.
In the morning, we walked back to the port via the inland forest paths (entry is via the road leading inland from the campground) enjoying seeing flowers, birds and Japanese yew trees stunted by the wind.
We hired some bicycles from the port (Bicycle rental Umehara) and then cycled around the island to have lunch and a nap (holiday vibes) at the campground before packing all our gear onto the bikes and cycling back to the port.
I was very happy to have chosen the electric bike option for the hills, the wind and packing my gear onto its sturdy rack!
We found the famous sheep of the island on the ride back and stopped to admire the lambs that were out in the front field.
Returning the bikes, we caught the ferry back to the Haboro where we enjoyed a long awaited wash and bath at Haboro Sunset Plaza followed by dinner at the restaurant there before camping out in the van.
