As per usual, this was a last-minute, spur of the moment plan. Other coasts were looking a little sporty, but Uchiura Bay was looking glassy, with next to no wind. It made sense for Ben too, since he was living closeby in Niseko.
Haidee and I drove down from Sapporo on the Saturday afternoon, and camped at the Rebunge Campground. It turned out it was the campground’s last night operating for the year.
The next morning, we met Ben at the take out to drop his car off. We then drove together with the boats to the put in at Shizukari Beach. It was an incredible morning. Calm, sunny, idyllic. Where we chose to drop the boats down to the beach was a bit of a scramble, but we got them and the gear down there eventually.
There was very little surf, so launching was a breeze. We covered the 1km or so from the beach to the cliff-bound coast quickly, and were immediately struck by how unique the flora was atop the cliffs. It had a very distinct Honshu (main island of Japan) feeling to it. Conglomerate rock with stunted trees clinging to any flat surface. It looked all very Japanese.
We’d started very early, so the sun was somewhat low in the sky still. Paddling eastwards, we had the sun reflecting off the water into our eyes. To make things a bit more pleasant, at the first cove we found, we had a long impromptu break, so that we could wait for the sun to get a bit higher in the sky. Ben napped for 30 minutes. I took photos. Haidee had a snooze. It was picture-perfect relaxing Sunday paddling.
At noon, we finally got on our way again, now with the sun above us. The mainland Japan vibes continued.
Next stop was lunch at the curious Kamanatamoi Inlet. This peculiar inlet was once a ferry landing for a boat from further south on Oshima Peninsula. Now defunct, there’s just an old pier, a hut, and a grotto with Shinto artifacts in it.
Adding to all this peculiarity is that the inlet is accessible on foot from the remote Koboro JR station on the Muroran Honsen line.
We went for a 20 minute wander to find the station, and were suitably perplexed as to why the station still exists – it seems to exist only to provide access to the two inlets in the area. Long may it remain.
We gobbled down some lunch, and pushed off from Kamanatamoi Inlet at just before 4pm. It was getting late in the day now, so we were now focussed on getting miles under our belts. In hindsight, we should have planned to take out at Rebunge Beach – most of the interesting coast ended there.
Along the way, though, we chanced upon a cave. Low ceiling. Dark. Deep.
We took a brief look in the cave and pushed on.
We finally arrived at Okishi Beach at 5pm after paddling 20km.
While this section of coast appears to be rather off the radar for paddlers in Hokkaido, it offered us some very unique scenery along the way. The curious Koboro Station was the icing on the cake.
