Will boat ride to Miyajima be rocky?

Hello,

I�fm hoping someone can confirm this question as I will be a first time visitor to Japan this coming April.

Will the ferry ride from Hiroshima to Miyajima (both ferry service options: the 10 minutes boat ride from the pier close to Miyajimaguchi Station; and the longer direct boat ride from Hiroshima Peace Park) and back be rocky/shaky? As in, are the waves going to be choppy? My family and I are planning to visit on April 24.

I experience severe sea sickness and Gravol/anti-nausea medication will only do so much. So I just want to mentally prepare myself and plan ahead should this boat ride be rocky. I�fd rather do the 10 minutes ride over the 45 minutes direct service if this will be the case. Or are the waves calm, like sailing on a lake?

For context and comparison to anyone who is a traveller: a ferry ride from where I live in Toronto to our Toronto Islands or a bot ride along Lake Lucerne in Switzerland — both over calm lakes — is OK for me. But a ferry ride between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island or the ferry between V&A Waterfront to Robben Island in Cape Town, South Africa were no-go�fs for me. Both the HK and Cape Town ferry rides became nightmares/disasters that no amount of Gravol/anti-nausea medication helped.

The Seto Island Sea is generally quite calm. I have taken the ride from/to the Peace Park a few times, and it was always calm. However, if you travel on a day with strong winds, it will naturally be a little bit more rocky.

The ferry from Miyajima-guchi tend to be even calmer because they are bigger boats and the sea is further protected by the island.

Thank you very much for this intel!

Yes, go with the bigger boat.

I've taken the ferry from Miyajimaguchi more than a dozen times, and have never seen anyone onboard suffering from seasickness, so barring extremely stormy weather, it probably shouldn't be a problem.

The train is a more rocky ride than the boat.

I see you are from Toronto. You can go into any Shoppers Drug Mart and buy a package of "sea bands". They are fabric bracelets with a plastic nub that sits on the inside of your wrist at a pressure point, and they have been an absolute game changer for me. You can use them at the same time as gravol. They are not expensive and can be used over and over until the elastic starts to wear out. I have even used them on an iceburg tour in St Johns Newfoundland and was the only one on the boat who didn't get sick (:->)!

Thank you so much everyone!

And thank you Sue. Great to meet another fellow Canuck! I have seen these bracelets in the past and wondered if they work. I�fll look into them. But hoping based on what everyone here has been saying so far regarding it being calm waters on the 10 mins boat ride from Miyajima-guchi station, I won�ft need these bracelets or Gravol. But I might bring them both just in case!

Hi, another fellow Canadian offering some tips. Not sure if you have already done this trip since you initially asked but if you want some really recent info: I took both ferries just today and based on how you described your sensitivities I would recommend only taking the JR Ferry from Miyajimaguchi. The boat that runs between the island and the Hiroshima Peace Park was pretty bumpy. And roughly 40 minutes.

Yikes, thank you for this. My family and I will be heading there this April so this is definitely good to know!

Yes, I hadnt wanted to chime in because it was about 10 years ago that we went on the fast boat, my recollection is that it was quite bumpy, also you are stuck inside because the water sprays up. I dont know that you get seasick because it isnt the rolling kind of feeling, it is more the bow bouncing away.