"IWO JIMA ON THE BONIN ISLANDS" Iwo Jima by Thestumps

Iwo Jima Travel Guide: 1 reviews and 4 photos

Mount Suribachi and Black Sand

Our vessel, the MV 1st LT Jack Lummus went to Iwo Jima to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that battle. This was the scene of heavy carnage in 1945 where about 5 thousand Marines lost their lives and more than 20 thousand Japanese perished on this little dot of volcanic real estate in the Pacific ocean. In the backdrop, you can see Mount Suribachi where the famous flag raisers gained their fame.

Deep drop off on Iwo's coast

Look at the guy in the water. He tried to walk ashore from the boat but found no bottom. See how close he was to the edge of the shore? It is a significant drop only a few steps towards the water from where this man is standing. I encountered the exact same scenario. The boat couldn't go all the way ashore because the surf was too strong.

Landing Craft on Iwo Jima

This is one of the Navy's more modern landing crafts. They ride on air. It's a hydrofoil. They can take tanks, equipment and troops ashore.

Pros and Cons

Pros:Nice opportunity to see some historical significance
Cons:Couldn't stay on shore and nothing there really
In a nutshell:This rated as one of my strongest impacts in all my travels.

Last visit to Iwo Jima: Mar 1995
Intro Updated Mar 10, 2004
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taigaa001 Dec 10, 2011 at 3:51 AM

Thanks for sharing your experience and photos of Iwo Jima which is off-limits to travellers. Thank god Bonin(Ogasawara Island) is now a World Heritage. To get there we need at least one week break....