Gemstone Hunt on Okhotsk Beach
This was one of my favorite weekend activities when I was a kid! On a shore of Okhotsk Sea that you can access through the Wakka Nature Center, you can hunt agate stones while exploring the beach. Get a rental bicycle at the center, and bike to the beach! The way to get there is only 1 km. Of course you can take a walk, but I definitely recommend to cycle to enjoy a nice breeze from the sea.
When you arrive at the beach, you would want to carefully examine areas with medium size gravel to larger stones like the picture below to find agate stones.
Sometimes it is easy to find many of them, and sometimes not. It depends on the tide and your luck! There are different kinds of agate stones found on this beach.
My sisters and I used to spend hours looking for the gemstones here until my parents dragged us to cycle back to the Nature Center at sunset. We usually asked someone at the center to check if the stones we picked are really agate stones (and more than half of them got rejected haha). This is such a fun activity if you come here with your children, or even without!
Wakka Nature Center（ワッカ原生花園）
Hours: 8 am - 5 pm in May and from September to mid October
8 am - 6 pm from June to August
(Closed in winter)Bike rental: 650 yen for over 12 years old, 320 yen for under 12 years old
Access: One hour from Kitami and Abashiri by car