We’ve been away on an onsen vacation for almost a week. Today we ended it by snorkeling with Dolphins in Shimoda. It was a wonderful one hour with constant 3-4 dolphins grabbing our arms – “play with us, play with us!”

On the third day of our vacation we checked into Gyokuhokan ryokan. It was a 40 minutes or so ride from Tofuya ryokan.

It took as a while longer as we stopped at a waterfall, slowed down to watch some wasabi fields, and got dizzy in one of the strangest road constructions I’ve been rising in. A 720 degrees circular road to (from our perspective) descend about 75 meters (guess anyone coming from the other direction would not agree, they would probably say it was ascending 75 meters).

Gyokuhokan was a very nice place too. Just outside the entrance was a giant pump that pumped natural hot spring water, and made an whoozing noise while shying away in a haze of steam.

The dinner was superb. There’s no other words for it. And I had the most expensive tea I ever had. But it was worth every yen.

Before and after the dinner we used both the public baths and the hot tub we had on the veranda to our room. Very relaxing.