Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tamoto Lily (
Lilium nobilissimum
)
Of the more than 200 genera called
Lilium
found within the Liliaceae family, and the more than 2,000
species of lily, a good number originate in the Ryūkyū Islands where they are called
yuri
(
百合
).
One, in paricular, comes from the volcano island of Kuchinoshima, an indigenous white lily known as
Tamoto Yuri. It has very fragrant pure white, funnel-shaped flowers with bright yellow pollen on the
inside and green shading on the outside.
Quickly enough, at 11:00
AM
, the ship is underway again, now a long 22 miles (35 kilo-
meters) southwest to the next little cluster of three islands, starting with Kotakarajima, where
arrival is scheduled for 12:20
PM
. The ship bypasses tiny uninhabited Kojima just over a mile
(2 kilometers) before reaching Kotakara Island. At 12:30
PM
, from Kotakarajima it's 9 miles
(14 kilometers) southwest to the last island in this subgroup, Takarajima, arriving at 1:05
PM
.
The trip takes altogether about 13 hours from departure at Kagoshima the previous evening.
If the ship departs from Kagoshima on the Friday sailing, it will dock at Takara on
Saturday afternoon, stay there the remainder of the day and over night until 7:15
AM
Sunday
morning. Then it will depart northbound, make all the same Tokara Island stops in reverse
and arrive back in Kagoshima at 8:30
PM
the same day. If, however, the ship departs Kagoshi-
ma southbound on the Monday sailing, it will first make all the same ports of call described
above and likewise arrive at Takarajima at 1:05
PM
the next day, which in this case is Tuesday.
But rather than docking and spending the night, after a 15-minute stop, at 1:20
PM
, the ship
will depart and continue due south another 56 miles (90 kilometers) to Nazé, the princip-
al city of Amami-Ōshima, the northernmost and largest island of the Amami-shotō. About
midway along the way, and approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) to the west, lies the final
cluster of Tokara Islands—the two uninhabited volcano isles of Kaminoneshima and Yoko-
atejima. They are too far away to be seen from the ferry.
