Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Kuro has two beaches. One is popular for its clean fine sand, the other is better known as
a diving and snorkeling site. The best sun-bathing and swimming beach is West Beach (
西の
浜
; Nishi-no-hama). It's located on the northwestern shore, not far from the port. One warn-
ing, it's also popular with sea turtles so you must be careful in the spring and summer months
not to step on their egg sites. Sections of the beach, or the entire beach, may be cordoned of
by the Marine Park Institute. The other beach, a good diving place, is Nakamoto (
仲本海岸
;
Nakamoto kaigan) on Kuro's southwest coast.
The rest of Kuroshima is essentially a large cow pasture, for it is commonly said that on
Kuro there are ten times as many cattle as there are people. That's actually an under-state-
ment. A recent article listed the cattle population as 3,000. Most of the island's residents are
employed directly or indirectly in cattle ranching. Kuroshima's main industry is the produc-
tion of beef. These are not dairy cattle.
Kuro's Marine Park Institute has a small museum on the sea life of the island.
Kuroshima's West Beach is where sea turtles come to lay their eggs in the spring and summer months.
7
ARAGUSUKUJIMA
新城島
A little less than 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) due west of Kuroshima as the crow flies you'll come
to Aragusukujima (
新城島
; Ara-gusuku-jima; lit. “New Castle Island”), but before going any
further we'll have to mention a few things. One, you can't get there from here. In other words,
from Kuro, or almost any other Yaeyama Island, unless you have your own watercraft you
must return to Ishigaki Port and take a ferry from there. With a very few limited exceptions,
