Taking the Boat to Miyajima

I've been to Miyajima twice and I've got very beautiful memories of the scenic landscape, the ropeway ride and Itsukushima Shrine, the sacred spot so frequently covered on tourism posters and brochures.

Like most visitors I visited the Hiroshima Peace Park before going to Miyajima and I hopped on the boat to the island after lunch. The so-called World Heritage Sea Route starts at the Atomic Bomb Dome and it's about a 45 minutes ride to the wonderful little island, which has been full of adventures both the times I visited.

Shortly after we set off from the terminal, we passed the Hiroshima Peace Park and moved away from the Hiroshima metropolitan area towards the island. Like a kid in a toy shop, I jumped on to the boat's upper deck. I took a lot of snaps for about 15 minutes, but I was soon exhausted due to the cold weather. But I was soon up there again, because when the land thinned out, out of nowhere seagulls started to crowd and were then flying along with us; a couple of travelers even started feeding them.

It seemed like the seagulls were accustomed to island visitors feeding them and I found out that you can even by the appropriate food from many stores in Hiroshima. The birds were flying so close by and so low that one could comfortably take snaps of the birds in flight even with a smart phone camera. In fact, the first of the attached pictures was taken with an iPhone 4.

The seagulls kept us company for around 15-20 minutes, but as we approached Miyajima Island, they flew away. The boat crew informed me that the seagulls are around mostly in winter and springtime, so do not miss them if you do travel around that time of the year.

As the boat reached Miyajima I wished that the birds would accompany me on the way back, too, but as with the first trip, the time on the island just flew by and on our way back it was too late in the evening for the birds to be there. Anyway, I got some great shots and had wonderful time on Miyajima again. Beautiful Japan!