You can get to Niijima by airplane from a local airport West of Tokyo to the tiny airport on the island, but the space for luggages is limited and surf boards are not allowed on the plane. The next option was to get there by water, either on a faster, smaller boat, or on a big, slow ferry. Alex (my brother) and I chose the cheapest of the two, of course! On the ferry, there are different classes of traveler, from fancy rooms in first class, to bunk beds in second class, to train-like seats in third class, and, finally, to a common tatami mat in fourth class.
What we didn't know was that there was also a fifth class of passengers, who had "deck" tickets. At first we thought we understood wrong. But soon, after glancing around and seeing people lay on the floor in sleeping bags, we realized we would have to spend the 9 hour trip sleeping on the hard floor!
Understandably we woke up early the next morning after a not-so-good night of sleep... But Alex was still looking sharp, as usual!
After landing, we jumped into the first cab (equipped with board racks on the roof!) and told the cabbie to take us to the beach. He didn't speak English, but he understood where we wanted to go. He grabbed the surfboard, threw it on top of the car, and secured it. You could tell he was used to dealing with surfers. Then, after a short trip that turned out to be a little longer than expected, he left us at the beach around 8am.
Our first surprise of the day was to find the beach completely empty...
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