Kayaking in Yakushima : worth the price?

9 comments

1. In general I’d say $100 for renting a kayak is pretty absurd unless you’re getting a private tour guide through a restricted area or something. Personally, I’d save that money for another activity that’ll get you a better bang for your buck! You’ll be able to see plenty on Yakushima by foot. Or, if you really like kayaking, for $100 you could probably go kayaking 4 times in other beautiful parts of Japan (in Kyushu, there’s Takachiho gorge for instance)

2. My wife and I did the river kayak. It was beautiful. Our guide was very friendly and easy to talk to as well as informative. Taught us about the history of the island, geologically and socially. Told us about his own life living there and what lead him to leave Tokyo and become a kayak guide on a small isolated island. We ate lunch on a beach up river. Overall it was fun and I’m glad we did it. I dont remember what we paid at the time though (3 years ago).

   How often do you get to go to an island like Yakushima? Once in a lifetime? I’d say its worth it. Though the hike up through the cedars was definitely the highlight. Also driving around the entire island was very cool and we saw a lot of wildlife.

   edit: highly recommend renting a car, it is hard to get around on the island and there are a lot of hidden gems.

3. When are you planning your trip for?

   I was supposed to go September of 2020 but have obviously faced nothing but delays.

4. I went in 2019 as solo trip. Booked a half day activity with a guide and ended up doing river kayaking for 8000 yen – ‘ended up’ because I originally booked for diving, but he checked all of the nearby locations in the morning of and the condition wasn’t good. Experience wise, it was pretty much what the other person said. He was very friendly and helpful, I actually still has his business card since it was pretty unique.

5. I do not have any experience with kayaking. However I was fortunate enough to spend 4 incredible days on Yakushima. I would say that every thing you can do there is worth whatever they’re asking. It is an otherworldly setting. I think any experience whether it’s hiking, hanging out in hot springs or kayaking will be an experience unique to the place. It won’t be like doing those things in other places. I’ve been hiking all over the U.S. and several other countries but the hikes I took on Yakushima blew them all away. Also, Yakushima isn’t exactly easy to get to. Will you ever go back to do things you wish you had done during your first visit? Do whatever you really want to do, err on the side of making the memories instead of risking regret or passing up a once in a life time opportunity. That’s my two cents worth. Have a great time!

6. I didn’t kayak, but a cheap, fun alternative is [snorkeling](https://www.yakumonkey.com/snorkeling-on-yakushima) – weather and temperatures permitting. Isso beach was really nice. Renting your own equipment is much cheaper than going with a tour.

7. We did the Anbo river kayaking and it was a very different experience from kayaking back home – back home, I do regular sea kayaking, where I’m dealing with cold ocean water and a fair bit of distance before you can “get” anywhere interesting – I’m used to kayaking being a workout.

   Anbo river cost us (I think it was 75 cad pp?), but it was instead delightful and relaxing. The water was warm enough to not need a wetsuit and there was a ton of fish, crabs and birds to watch as we slowly paddled up the river. We got to paddle up the the first rapids, stopped for tea and a snack, then got back into our kayaks and simply drifted down the river without paddling to watch the wildlife.

   the guide we got really only spoke Japanese and portuguese, so we couldn’t really talk to him, but he was super nice.

   pics [1](https://imgur.com/78dyk44) [2](https://imgur.com/1u8uhSi) [3](https://imgur.com/n0GYzU7) [4](https://imgur.com/lkonH2h) [5 (the white blob is heron)](https://imgur.com/rGOum5W)

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9. Looking for someone to talk to text me