I’m now back in Okinawa.

Had an interesting time on Yakushima, and although not everything went as I’d hoped, it turned out to be a very useful trip in terms of planning future visits to both Kagoshima and Yakushima.

Learned many  useful things…

1) Kagoshima Airport is not close to Kagoshima City. It’s 45-60 minutes by expressway bus from the airport to the city center and then a 10 minute taxi ride to the ferry port.

2) You can get to Yakushima by plane, slow ferry, or high-speed Toppy ferry.  Plane is a great idea if you are in a hurry and already flying in to Kagoshima Airport from elsewhere in Japan.

3) I had booked tickets on the Toppy. Usually it is around 11,000 Yen for a return ticket from Kagoshima to Yakushima. As this was a couple of days before the eclipse I had to pre-book the tickets months in advance  and they cost around 22,000 Yen return.

The Toppy ferry is fantastic.  It is a jet-foil which means it can go up to 45 knots (83 kilometers an hour) and is not affected as much by waves compared with conventional ferries. Fantastic piece of engineering. Managed to make both trips without throwing up. Anyone who has been boat diving with me will know this is nothing short of miraculous.

Jetfoil Propulsion System

Arrived in Yakushima. Weather cloudy, couldn’t see the sun. Not a good sign.