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Kurushima Strait Tidal Cruise

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

Kurushima Straittidal whirlpoolsImabariMurakami piratesboat tour

Ehime · Imabari

34.1280°N, 133.0395°E

A visit to Kurushima Strait Tidal Cruise is easy to underplan — bring more time, and less certainty about what you'll find, than you'd expect.

The Kurushima Strait is one of the three fastest tidal channels in Japan, alongside Naruto and Kanmon, and the current through it reaches around ten knots. Whirlpools form, the surface visibly humps and boils, and the shipping lane through it is one of the few in the world where vessels keep left instead of right because of the currents.

A small boat runs out from the roadside station on Oshima and takes about forty to forty-five minutes, going in under the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge and across the races. Sailing times change every day with the tide, which is the point — the operator sets them by the tide table rather than a fixed schedule, so you have to ring. An optional extra puts you ashore on one of the strait's islands, including Kurushima itself, which was a pirate stronghold.

What to know before you go

Access hours

Sailing times change daily with the tide — confirm by phone

Closed: Cancelled in rough weather

When to go

Year-round | Around spring tides for the strongest current

Fee

¥1,500 junior high school students and above | ¥1,000 elementary school children | Preschoolers free | +¥500 for an island landing

Time to allow

40–45 minutes on the water | 90 minutes with the roadside station

How to reach it

Getting there in detail

Yoshiumi-cho Myo 4520-2, Imabari, from the Michi-no-Eki Yoshiumi Ikiiki-kan on Oshima. Around 40–45 minutes on the water. ¥1,500 for junior high school students and above and ¥1,000 for elementary school children; preschoolers free, with a 10 per cent discount for groups of 10 or more. An additional ¥500 adds a landing on Kojima, Kurushima or Umashima. Sailing times change daily with the tide — confirm by phone. Bookings two or more days ahead; same day and the day before.

Beyond the guidebook

**Times change every day.** The operator sets sailings by the tide table, not a fixed schedule, because the whirlpools only appear around the fastest flow. Ringing ahead is compulsory rather than advisable. **Add the ¥500 landing.** Going ashore on Kurushima, which was the base of the Murakami pirates who controlled this strait, is worth the supplement. **Ships keep left here.** The Kurushima Strait is one of very few places in the world with a left-hand shipping rule, because of the currents. Watching that from a small boat is the substance of the trip. **Two different phone numbers.** Two or more days ahead goes to Shimanami; same day and the day before goes to the roadside station. **Combine with Kirosan.** The observatory above the strait is fifteen minutes away and gives the aerial version of what you have just been through.

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