I woke to the sounds of Chris and Mick readying to paddle out to Utoro. Mick saw that I had rolled out of my tent, and came over to chat.
“Chris and I are thinking that today’s sea state is looking good to go,” he said. “We can get to Utoro ahead of you guys and sort out the shuttle.”
The sea state was indeed looking much better than yesterday, and a shuttle all sorted and ready to go sounded appealing. But I wanted to see where Timbah and Ben were at in their thinking of the group splitting versus keeping together. I know I was partial to staying longer in the wilderness, but there were also benefits to heading out with Chris and Mick. Getting out earlier rather than later, for example, would allow us more time to explore other sea kayaking locations that I wanted to check out on our way back to Sapporo. It would also cut our losses, so to speak, and avoid any delays should the weather pack it in again. Haidee had a bias towards keeping the group together for risk management.
It dawned on me that all of a sudden, my mind was looking ahead, rather than the here-and-now mindset I’d had for the last five days of the trip. Civilization was invading my thought space, and I didn’t know what to think of it. It felt too soon.
It was about 8am. Ben and Timbah were just rousing themselves, and getting ready to cook some breakfast.
“Chris and Ben are keen to head out,” I told them.
“The sea looks good for it,” observed Ben.
We discussed some pros and cons for staying put for a day and paddling out tomorrow versus paddling out today, and in the end, it made sense to exit today. Perhaps the biggest pull to exit today was the extra day it would give us to explore the coast around Nemuro, high on my list. Yururi Island, Notsuke Peninsula, Cape Nosapppu, they were all spots we’d not paddled before.
Chris and Mick were ready to go, but they agreed to wait till noon as a compromise. We’d all have lunch and then get on the water for the final three hours or so of paddling to Utoro. It was a happy decision that ticked lots of boxes for the crew. Not least of all, we’d finish the expedition together, as a crew.
Breakfast morphed into brunch, which morphed into an early lunch. We still had plenty of food in our food bags, so we were eating like royalty.
Over brunch, I realized with all the commotion yesterday of the bear in the camp, time spent stonemasoning a platform, and all the discussions of what we would do today, I hadn’t yet made a foray into the cathedral arch.
A water collection mission was forthwith executed.
Up close, the arch was something to behold. Dizzying.
Ben and Timbah were quick to get their kit off for a spring water shower.
<enter world’s most epic shower statement here>
The spring water also supplied us with our drinking water (not the easiest to gather). With water sacks full, we headed back to camp to get ready to head off on the last paddling leg of the trip.
Obligatory group photo, pre departure.
We launched Chris and Mick off first, and the rest of us followed.
Out of the cove, however, the sea state was not as flat as we had anticipated. The messy wind chop had reduced somewhat, but there was a moderate swell, creating considerable reflective wave action next to the cliffs. By now, it appeared Mick and Chris had developed somewhat of a sixth sense of lumpy conditions, and were already dots on the horizon, paddling far off the shore to avoid the reflection. Timbah, Ben, Haidee and I, however, didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to experience the bold granite cliffs and the numerous coves up close, so we decided to stick close to the cliffs, revelling in the heaving swell as we wove in and out of the shoreline, keeping close to the contours of the granite.
Mick and Chris seemed to be making progress along towards Utoro, so we figured they’d be fine.
I was appreciating being in the P&H Scorpio kayak – a perfect photographer’s kayak. The wide base and good primary stability means it’s not a particularly maneuverable (unless cajoled into a difficult-to-maintain edge) nor fast kayak, but it’s very stable. Even in the gnarliest conditions we encountered during the Shiretoko trip, I was able to hold my heavy(ish) mirrorless camera with long zoom lens to my face with both hands off the paddle. It really shone as a kayak in the lumpiness close to the cliffs today.
We’d made it about 30 minutes along the cliffs, and every now and then I would look out to Mick and Chris, the two dots on the horizon, about 200m out off the cliffs. At some point, Haidee, keen as always to make sure the team was safe, pointed out that it appeared as though they had not moved for a while, nor were they paddling. I volunteered to paddle out to see if they were OK.
A few minutes later, I came up on them as they sat bobbing in the water, rafted up.
“What’s up guys?” I asked.
They only then noticed I had arrived.
“I thought you guys had gone back to the cove,” said Chris, startled.
From the time they hit the water in the cove, Mick and Chris had put the pedal to the metal, and were out of the cove before the rest of us were. Chris had seen us come around the point, but when he looked again, we were gone. Being so close to the cliffs, we had blended in with the shoreline, and he’d missed that we were also moving south towards Utoro.
Chris and Mick had been bobbing there for the last 40 minutes, and Chris would later confide that he was starting to feel sea sick, and was very close to turning around to come find us.
I explained that we were trying to make the most of the dramatic cliffs and coves up close, but that conditions were dynamic and lively.
“I’m not going in there,” declared Mick.
It wasn’t far to Utoro now, and the sea state, far out from the cliffs, was moderate but predictable. We agreed that they would be fine to just make a straightline beeline for Utoro, and we would meet them at the take out. It was unlikely we’d be much more than one hour behind them. I wished them luck, and we went our separate ways for the final couple of hours of paddling.
I paddled back to the others, and we carried on along towards Utoro, hugging the lively shoreline.
Here and there, we’d find small, beachless coves, cliffs and granite on all sides, acting as a beautiful wave-echo chamber.
Timbah found the horseshoe cave at the Goko Cliffs, but reported it too wild to enter.
I was immensely proud of Haidee, looking completely calm among the lump.
Timbah was in his element, leading the way into some truly inspiring nooks and crannies in the cliff cum shoreline.
As for Ben, he had a healthy dose of confidence peppered with just the right amount of ignorance. If I’m being honest, there was at least one moment where I caught myself imagining how we might rescue him and his boat.
A natural highlight of this section of the Shiretoko coast is the Otoko-no-namida Falls (Man’s Tears Falls). Gorgeous mineral water gushing from cracks in the cliff face fall straight into the water.
For the remaining 1km or so to the end of the cliff section, we could really feel the wind picking up. A strong tailwind was whipping across the water.
And then we came around the corner, and we could see the Utoro township.
My eyes teared up.
We’d actually paddled around the Shiretoko Peninsula.
I hadn’t expected the ending to be so emotional. But it made sense. It was a mix of joy that we’d made it despite all the uncertainty over the last six days, a deep sense of satisfaction and pride in Haidee and me for building up the skills to enjoy the trip, feeling confident and comfortable in all and every sea state we encountered along the way, and a release of all the pent up anticipation and planning that went into the trip.
I’d worked my butt off to get us prepared for the trip, and I was just so happy we pulled it off.
People talk about adventure being transformative. I know that for myself – arriving at People’s Square in Beijing after cycling and skateboarding around the world was a pivotal point in how my around the world trip transformed me. And now, for the first time in a long while, I was feeling like an adventure, these past six days, had transformed me in some way.
Such a beautiful feeling.
The fun wasn’t over yet. We now had to get six kayaks, plus one extra, on the van and back to the put-in.
Chris had already made the 1.5km walk to the michi-no-eki to get the van (via the 7-11 to get drinks and crisps for the whole crew), so he and Mick were there waiting at the beach, ready to start the shuttle. Fist-bumps and hugs ensued on the beach. It had been so amazing to share the journey with the whole crew.
Chris, Kayak Shuttles of Doooom and kayak stacking extraordinaire, had no doubts whatsoever that we would get all the kayaks on the van’s roof. He was not wrong.
A young kid on the beach took an interest in what we were doing, and Mick, a natural teacher, took him under his wing and explained where we’d come from, using the maps. A future explorer in the making.
We had hoped for some sort of sit-down celebratory meal, but in the end, the sleepy town of Utoro was only giving us booked-out restaurants, closed restaurants, or restaurants with hour-long queues. We settled for convenience store food and the local park.
Done and dusted, finished and final.
We were all deeply tired, but deeply satisfied.
“I’m really looking forward to sleeping on flat ground tonight,” quipped Ben. “Since leaving Australia ten days ago, I’ve either been sleeping in my car, on rocks, or on boulders, most of the time with a deflated air mattress,” he laughed.
After gobbling down some food, we made the drive back over Shiretoko Pass to Rausu.
“I’m not sleeping in my tent if I don’t need to,” declared Chris. He promptly booked into a hotel in Rausu.
In Rausu, we stopped at Minenoyu Onsen for a well-deserved soak and rotenburo debrief.
Then we boosted it to Aidomari, back to the put-in proper.
We had intended to all drive back to Rausu, but it was after 9pm by the time we had Mick’s boats transferred to his van. We’d left Chris at his hotel in Rausu, so we’d miss him in the morning, but Haidee, Timbah, Ben and I decided to sleep at the Seseki Onsen parking lot, because we were exhausted.
The sleep was deep. The sleep was blissful. The Shiretoko Peninsula Kayak Circumnavigation mission was over.
6 thoughts on “Shiretoko Circumnavigation Day 6 – Mamushi-hama to Utoro”
What a fun trip that was … I miss it! So many highlights. Thanks again for the write up Rob very enjoyable and so fun to relive it 😍
I miss it too Ben! The simple life!
Congratulations! Epic adventure. Thanks for sharing it…it made a very entertaining story!
Thank you Gregory!
Well paddled! Terrific write-up and photos as usual. What resonated with me the most was when you mentioned the emotion you felt rounding Cape Shiretoko, a place that had occupied your imagination for a long time. It really is a great feeling to finally reach a place like that and to fully appreciate the moment.
Thanks David! It was amazing how larger than life the cape had become in my mind. Here’s to many more capes, peaks, and rivers 🙂