The forecast was looking stellar for the coast off Muroran’s Etomo Peninsula for the Saturday and morning of Sunday. So, we hatched a plan to meet up for a paddle early on Saturday, a rough sleep over in the surf beach car park that night, and if we were lucky, a surf session on Sunday morning.
This would be the second time we would paddle the first section of coast, from Ebisu-jima island to Horai-mon rock, west of Chikyu-misaki. This time, however, we would paddle the full 18km or so all the way to Itanki-hama beach.
The last time we paddled the initial section of coast, we had a really hard time finding exactly where we could access the coast for the put in. We ended up, unbeknownst to us, trespassing around the front of the Miyakoshi Coffee place (attached to a private home) in order to get to the small beach we would set off from.
On that day, we had started at 5am in the morning, so at the end of the day I visited the coffee shop and explained what we’d done.
“Yeah, that’s completely trespassing,” laughed the French-Canadian chap who runs the coffee shop.
It turned out that he was a follower of HokkaidoWilds.org, so we had a good chat about paddling in the area. Crucially, however, he showed me the rough trail that recreational fishers use to access the small beach below his home.
“As you can see, it’s a bit of a scramble, unfortunately,” he said apologetically. “But it’s the easiest option,” he argued.
Sure enough though, on this second trip, we went straight to the rusty fence between the concrete breakwater and the cliff, and it was a relatively easy walk/haul to get the kayaks to the water.
We were early – about 7am – but already the day was shaping up to be a warm one.
It was great to get on the water, and straight away we were impressed by the clarity of the water and the white cliffs.
It was already hard to believe that just a few kilometers away over those cliffs were the heaving, apocalyptic steelworks of Muroran.
We made our way past the numerous minor capes as we approached Oinashi Port.
Just as we were upon the port, a thick mist rolled out over the water, giving everything a sudden eerie atmosphere. The large bridge connecting a fishing dock hung silently in the mist. The coast suddenly took on more depth.
By the time we arrived at Charatsunai Bay, it was time for a long-ish break. If we gave the mist a bit of time, it might burn off too.
So we pulled up at the sheltered boat ramp and set about having a very leisurely break in the sun. Timbah and Ben went for a swim. Haidee practiced her rolls.
One of the main highlights of this section of coast is the Horai-iwa ‘gate’ rock. This enormous rock has a 4-story high archway in the middle of it. With today’s swell, there was a decently exciting surge running through the archway given the right timing. Ben managed to catch it at just the right time, resulting in an unexpected surf.
Horai-mon was the furthest we’d made it the last time we paddled this coast. We took out at Oinaoshi Beach that time.
This time around, we were now on our way to round the main event – Chikyu-misaki. This towering cape was every bit as impressive as I’d imagined it.
Our next stop after Chikyu-misaki was at Tokkarisho-hama Beach, just north of Tokkarisho Cape. This large beach is protected by a few large breakwaters, so would be a good place to escape heavy swells.
By the time we got away from Tokkarisho Beach, the forecast southerly was starting to blow hard. It was at our backs, but it was quartering. With skegs down, we pushed out the last few kilometers to our take out at Itanki-hama beach.
When we arrived at Itanki-hama beach, the swell was up, and we were able to enjoy an hour or so of kayak surfing. That night, we rough slept in the surf zone car park, and made the most of a slightly smaller swell the next morning for some more surfing in the kayaks.
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