Let’s travel!

I want to introduce you to a relatively minor tourist destination in Japan, the Ogasawara Islands! The Ogasawara Islands (Bonin Islands) are, if you look at a map, like this… very far away!

About 1,000 km (about 620 miles) from Tokyo!

And the only way to get there is by ship! There are no airplanes! It’s a 24-hour one-way trip on the Ogasawara Maru, and there’s basically one trip a week between Tokyo and the Ogasawara Islands. That’s why the Ogasawara Islands are said to be the most remote place in the world!

The Ogasawara Islands are surrounded by coral reefs and a sea called Bonin blue, which is highly transparent and deep blue, and offer a variety of activities such as dolphin swims, whale watching, diving, and turtle nesting sightseeing tour!

Ogasawara also has a unique ecosystem and is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site.

I want to introduce you to my dolphin swim experience in the Ogasawara Islands!

I joined the tour at Take Nature Academy!

Here is the schedule!

Once everyone is here, we’re off!

We will go out to the sea and practice swimming.

The waves were a little rough due to the aftermath of the typhoon.

I borrowed a life jacket.

And finally, the Dolphin Swim!

The first thing to do is to find a school of dolphins.

Can you find it?

Here!

Once we spotted the dolphins, we dove in at the right moment!

The dolphins are right in front of us! Then we swim after the dolphins as hard as we can. After a short swim, we cut off and looked for another group of dolphins. The rest is a repetition of the same process.

After a few repetitions, we went to an island called Minamijima Island. This island has various strict restrictions to protect flora and fauna, and the number of people landing there per day is limited to 100.

When we arrived at the island, we were greeted by seabirds.

First, we headed to the top of the island.

Once you reach the top, you will be greeted with a spectacular view!

This is the Bonin Blue! So beautiful!

After that, we will head for this sandy beach.

Usually, there are no waves, and you can stop the boat and swim ashore, but unfortunately, today, it was a bit choppy.

It was like this.

But we had a surprise guest!

A conservation crew had come ashore, and they were protecting baby turtles that had gotten lost on their way to the ocean. And just in time, they showed us the babies they had rescued!

But nature is harsh, and we saw the corpses of babies here and there who could not make it to the sea.

By the way, if you look carefully at the foot of this island, you will see many snail shells like this.

In fact, these species have already become extinct, and the fallen ones are semi-fossilized snails about 1,000 to 2,000 years old. And these ones are designated as a national natural monuments!

And Minamijima Island is also designated as a national natural monument because of its geographical features.

Well, now that the Minamijima Island tour is over, after a lunch break, it’s time to resume the dolphin swim!

It was pretty tiring, so the second half was free for those who wanted to do it.

I did it every time!

After that, we had a leisurely dolphin-watching session on the boat!

Thanks for playing with us!

Finally, snorkeling in the shallows!

The guide fed the fish, and we were in fish heaven!

So many corals and clear water. It was so beautiful!

The tour ended like this!

It was a great experience, and the guide was very nice!

The Ogasawara Islands are isolated in the middle of the ocean.

There is so much more to the Ogasawara Islands than I could show you this time!

Check this one out too!

Let’s travel!