It is on the west coast of the island of Kyushu, in the Sasebo bay, where is the largest concentration of island throughout Japan. This is group of islands that is called Kujukushima 九 十九 島 , literally 99 islands and is designated as the Saikai National Park. In reality, there are 208 islands. The 99 Islands name was given because there are a lot of islands and at this period of time, the number 99 represented a very large number.
There are several ways to see Kujukushima : the views we find from north to the south of the bay and cruises around the islands. So we went towards the Saikai National Park, to the marina where cruise boats depart around the southern part of Kujukushima. There are 2 boats that go around the southern islands of Kujukushima: the Pearl Queen and Mirai. These boats leave every hour from 9am until 15:30. The Pearl Queen depart at fixed time (9 a.m, 10 a.m, 11a.m, ...) and the Mirai at halftime (9:30 a.m, 10:30 a.m, 11:30 a.m ...). The Pearl Queen is a small cruise ship and Mirai is a small replica of a pirate ship. The twofollow the same route around the southern islands. There are 2 possible routes and according to the weather, the captain decides which route he will take. The cruise lasts 50 minutes and you can see if the horizon is clear, 20 islands in total during this cruise. On the boat, a recording describes everything that you can see on a clear day, in Japanese and in English. Some islands have particular names due to their shape as they are naturally built like the silhouette of a lion or the top of a submarine.
It is a natural landscape where nature is still wild. It is a national park where animals are protected and there at the same time you can admire the incredible work done by nature. It is also pretty impressive and beautiful to see. If you go near the city of Sasebo and don't miss it.