Dogashima

The rock along this stretch of the western Izu coast is white tuff, soft enough that the sea has worked it into caves, arches and islets close inshore. The best known is Tensodo, a sea cave whose roof has fallen in at one point, so a small boat can go in under the rock and sit in a chamber lit from directly above by a shaft of daylight falling onto the water - the effect gives the cave its reputation and the boat trips their business. Trips take about twenty minutes and run frequently from the harbour when the sea allows. Ashore, a path leads out to the Sanshiro islands, joined to the shore by a tombolo that emerges at low tide and is walkable for a few hours around it; the tide table matters. Western Izu faces the sunset, and Fuji shows across Suruga Bay on clear winter days.

What you actually see

• Tensodo - a sea cave with a collapsed roof and a shaft of light onto the water.
• A soft tuff coast - caves, arches and islets worked out of white rock.
• The tombolo - a sand bar to the Sanshiro islands, walkable around low tide.
• Sunsets and Fuji - a west-facing coast with the mountain across the bay in winter.

When to go

October to May; check the tide table for the tombolo. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Boats do not run in swell, and the cave trip is the main reason to come. The tombolo is only walkable for a few hours around low tide. Western Izu is slow to reach - the bus from Shuzenji takes over an hour. Facilities are limited out of season.

Nearby

Matsuzaki is south along the coast; Shuzenji is inland to the east.