Japan Hidden Gems: Secret Islands

Very pleasant night trip from Fukuoka to Fukue island of the Goto island. Nice private cabins with a large window offering beautiful views after the sun starts to rise. Clean and convenient bathrooms nearby. Very reasona... moreble price. I slept well and enjoyed the 9 hours trip (from 11:30 pm to 08:30 am approximately).

Hat an interesting tour! While I speak some Japanese the rest of my family does not. I did my best to translate what I could, but I know we missed out on a lot of the interesting facts about the water buffalo and the tr... moreadition and origin story of this interesting mode of transport. We wished we had also understood more about the mangroves.

The ferry was really nice. There's a microwave! Instant noodles on board + drinks. I got the dorm bed and that was easy and comfy. The view was really nice.

Personally for me I had really bad sea sickness 😔 the heating... more was also way too high indoors so that didn't help. Thankfully I was able to lie down in the dorm bed and sleep it off.

This aside pretty easy and spacious ferry. Internet was great except in dorm rooms (upstairs) were a bit spotty

I slept like a baby. Staff was great getting on and getting off

Everything really clean and efficient. Room comfy and big

A wonderful day even if the weather was bad the first hours of walking (rain). The misty forest, the big old and mysterious trees and the little world of the moss are so beautiful and well preserved! We were two with the... more guide (who speaks English contrary of what is written on the website). Read that some people had problems with the guide but he has done the job seriously. Yes he walks quickly sometimes, but we have no choice: we need to go down for the last bus. The problem is the bus schedule (which should pass one hour later), definitely not the guide! So he knows exactly what he's doing, we walked quite well and we finally arrived 10 minutes before the bus departure! If you feel that you are not in condition to walk quickly in hard mountain road (the last kilometers) it's better to give up this activity, and please don't try it without a guide during winter because we saw a few irresponsible guys underestimating the dangers of nature (no crampons on icy path, no warm clothes, walking late...)! Personally, I like this kind of guide who looks severe at the beginning, but little by little you discover that he just ask you to do what you need to do. He is kind too: giving some of his hot miso soup for lunch, taking lots of beautiful photos for you (because I must say it's hard to take photos by yourself, no time to fool around), giving very useful crampons for walking in the snow (two minutes to put it on your shoes), talking with you... Finally it was an amazing natural and human experience!