Izu Peninsula Travel: (ヒリゾ浜) Hirizo Beach, (龍宮窟) Ryugu Sea Cave and (石廊埼) Irozaki Cape

Izu Peninsula has enough trains and buses to get you around, but if you wish to maximize your time, a car is definitely the way to go.

I'll write about a weekend where I panned for gold and did a little walk to see the waterfalls (all public transport), but for now I'm writing about a beach-snorkeling-cave roadtrip.

Budget: JPY13,504 (~USD127)

• JPY26,150- Car rental
• JPY9,840 - Toll & parking
• JPY4,906 - Gas
• JPY28,165- Dormitory
• JPY11,960 - Snorkel & Mask

Total of JPY81,021, divided by six participants = JPY13,504 per person.

Visit Date
August 1-2, 2020

When to Go
If you don't plan on getting into the water, then anytime during the year. Otherwise, July to September, probably, else the water will be too cold.

When we went, the water was pretty cold, and I definitely had to stay under the sun to keep warm. The other people I was where shaking! Haha.

Special Notes

• Hirizo Beach (ヒリゾ浜). According to my friend, Hirizo Beach is the best place for snorkeling near Tokyo. The crowd there is proof. (As a Filipina, I'd say wait til you can go to Okinawa. Or Philippines if you can)
• Access. It is only accessible via ferry (JPY2,000 round trip), which takes less than 10 minutes.
• Drive to the port (google maps pin). The area has a huge parking lot, so there's plenty of space for cars.
• Take the ferry to the beach.
• Gear. Rental is available, but have to be returned by 4pm. Lifevest rental is JPY1,000. Snorkel rental is JPY1,000. Fins I think was also JPY1,000?
• Restroom. The port has a coin shower - put JPY300 and you get 3 minutes of uninterrupted fresh, warm water from the shower. Can you, er, interrupt it to, say, use soap? No. It's 3 minutes uninterrupted flow. Some people brought their own gallons of fresh water that they just use to wash the saltwater off.
• Toiletries. There's none. The shops nearby were out of toiletries when I went there.
• Ryugu Sea Cave (龍宮窟). It's a little cave... and it's cute. That's all. I wrote more about the logistics in a separate blog post.
• Irozaki Cape (石廊埼). I have pictures below, and that's really all there is to it.
• Access.
• Drive to here. There's a bus stop too, so definitely accessible via public transport.
• The cape is about 10 minutes walk from the parking lot. Just walk to the restaurant and the entrance is on the other side.

Itinerary

We didn't really have one, so let me just share some pictures.

We stopped by Costco to buy some snorkeling gear for less than JPY2,000/head. The rental almost totals JPY2,000, so it is worth it for sure. 

You get the goggles, snorkel and fins. Pretty good quality - they are heavy, but I was able to stay in the water for as long as I wanted.

We spent day 1 at the beach, and some people were surfing. Definitely a good place for beginner surfers. 

Driving to Hirizo Beach, we took a lot of breaks. 

One break was to see Irozaki Cape. Hirizo Beach was to open at 12:30pm, so we had time to kill in the morning. After parking here, just go inside this restaurant/shop, and the entrance is on the other side. 

We just kept walking, and it was less than 10 minutes and we could see the ocean. 

Just a little bit more...

And here we are! Irozaki Cape (石廊埼). After this we went straight to Hirizo Beach...

The beach was definitely crowded. After snorkeling for an hour or so, we were done and ready to head home. But we figured we Ryugu Sea Cave was less than 15 minutes away, so might as well go there. 

The sea cave is about 15 meters' of stairs descent from here.  There's a trail behind this sign to see the cave from above. We decided to start with the one below. 

And here's the cave! From the bottom. 

And the cave from the top.

Oh, and they also say it is heart shaped, and here's the heart shape.