Anyone dove Okinawa or Surrounding Ryuku Islands?

[tibbs2]

I'll be diving there in a month and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for dive spots or who to charter for dives.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[dsvbohica]

My wife and I was there the last weekend of May and we did three boat dives near Black, Zamimi and another island from Naha. The water and corals are beautiful there. If you can speak Japanese it is much easier of a trip. Go through Padi.com and you can find several places listed in Naha. We used http://tea-da.pobox.ne.jp . Ask for Kaori, she can somewhat speak english and was a wonderful guide. Just tell her Brian and Aya said hi if you contact her . ( My wife is Japanese so it was easy for us)

 

[TPS-Dive]

There is a guy I work with that runs charters out to the Karama's, small islands about 2 hours from Okinawa, and around Okinawa. His company is called Asian Dive Tours. He is an American so there's no language barrier. I'll PM you his email address.

There are lots of great places to dive in the Ryukyu's. If you are US Military/DoD and on Okinawa you can use any of the Military scuba lockers where you can rent gear and they also offer tours out to the Karama Islands. There are also tons of Japanese dive shops. Most speak Japanese only but there are some that speak English too. http://www.18services.com/marina/index.html is a URL for the Kadena Marina run for the Air Force. There is a map of Okinawa on this site that shows all the dive locations.

Reef Encounters is a local shop that speaks english. http://www.reefencounters.org/

Okinawa only has one wreck that I know of, USS Emmons. Most dive shops will require deep dive certification to dive the Emmons. Other Islands in the Ryukyu's are also well known for their diving, Yonaguni for its underwater stone steps and hammerheads, Ishigaki for its manta rays and Miyako for its coral.

There is a Club Med on Ishigaki that you should have no problem communicating with. http://www.clubmed.co.nz/kabira/index.php

The Grand Mer hotel caters to the US military so reservations and communication should be easy. http://www.hotelgrandmer.com/

 

[TPS-Dive]

Here's another website for you: http://www.yonaguni.jp/sawes.htm
I dove with Sawes probably 3 years ago and had a great time. Yonaguni is a very small island and very "country". I think there was only one stop light on the island when I was there (it was one of those single flashing red lights). Since the island is small any wind shift can blow out the dive sites so plan for more than 3 days.

 

[TPS-Dive]

Another thing to keep in mind is summer time is typhoon season. You may want to consider trip insurance I you're coming all this way. It seemed last year every 3 day weekend there was a typhoon in the area. Last year I don't remember Okinawa taking a direct hit from a typhoon but they were close enough to wipe out the diving. The surfers had a good time. Here another website that tracks the typhoon here in the Pacific. http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc.html. Looks like we got one headed for us.

 

[tibbs2]

Thanks for all the info guys. I speak some japanese but my wife is 100% nihongo-jin so I should be ok at any shop. I'll be calling and looking around. Also are there any good shore dives you can reccommend?

Thanks again.

Chris

 

[TPS-Dive]

Maeda is a very popular site but get there early because parking goes fast.

Onna point is one of my favorites. Onna has a very strong rip tide during tide changes so be careful.

Bolo point is another favorite. It is probably one of the deepest shore dives. Since Bolo kind of sticks out on a peninsula it can be tricky getting in and out because of the water conditions. Only dive there if you see locals diving.

Toilet bowl and horseshoe are also very good.

Sunabe sea wall is very popular. It's a shallower dive with great soft corals.

Channel crevases on the south end of the island is really cool. In the summer the winds usually come out of the south and can blow this site out.

I did Hedo Misaki at the top of the island once. Its a long drive and the diving is just as good closer.

I haven't dove Ikei Island but we have lost a lot of divers here. I'm told the currents are very strong.

I dove around Ie Island on a boat but haven't done it from the shore. Most of the diving around Motobu is boat diving. There is a site we call Gorilla Chop, it is next to Three Rocks, that is accessable in almost any weather condition. There's not much to look at but if you got to get wet and all the other sites are blown out you can probably get in here.

I haven't dove that much on the Pacific side. Oura Wan Bay is a long snorkle and pretty much dead. I think I was at Gesashi Loran or maybe a little north of there (hard to say...its pretty much jungle on this part of the island). Again it was a long snorkle.

 

[tibbs2]

Thanks for the shore dive info. Unfortunately my wife washed out of the open water cert program. She wouldn't go under water with me and the instructor in the rock quarry because the vis was only 6 feet.

So not having a dive buddy now I will be reduced to doing boat dives.

Again, thanks for all the info.

I'll post with some pictures and reviews when I get back.

Chris

 

[TPS-Dive]

Here's a preview of what you can expect to see.

 

[jeffb3t]

Man, TPS, Sweet pics. Wish I could dive but the ears won't let me. I might have to swipe the cuda pics for a screen saver.