Port Description

Iwo Jima, Japan

The image is etched in America’s collective memory--that of the soldiers who raised the flag on Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi. The iconic photograph that captured the moment was transformed into a moving memorial in Washington, D.C. Iwo Jima means sulfur island, and it is a cauldron of boiling mud springs and black-sand beaches surrounded by sea as blue as can be. The battle that took place on its strategically important shores was long and arduous. The tiny, volcanic island proved difficult to capture due to its extensive network of underground tunnels and caves.