brew77
Registered
Well, I've been in Sasebo since January, so I'll give my report. I have dove five times since arriving here at the beginning of January. The dive season starts up around April. I am told some people dive in the winter time but most wait till it warms up a bit.
My first dive was with the instructors from the Navy base. We went by boat to a wreck. The wreck was laying on its side in about 164' of water. The shallowest part of the wreck was at 50'. There is a buoy that marks the wreck so shipping can steer clear, but this makes it easy for divers to find as well. The wreck is a big Japanese merchant ship. After we descended, we swam along the side of the wreck, which would have been the main deck, at about 73'. Me and my dive buddy decided to just do a survey of the wreck since it was the first time either of us had dove this site. I was told that visibility was in transition at this time, it was about 15' or so. Water temp was still a little chilly at 64F. Overall it was a good first dive in Sasebo, I will be making more trips out there. I've found a dive buddy with a boat, so there will be more to come on this wreck.
The second and third dives were beach dives at a beach near Nagasaki called Oseto beach. The beach was a nice protected cove with rock formations and small canyons to swim threw. The dive was pretty shallow, so we could stay down for a really long time. Sea life in this area was minimal I thought and after a while it got a bit boring. But we did find some holes in the rocks that I shined my light into, but didn't see anything worth writing home about. Overall, these were fun little dives and it allowed me to test out some new gear. Oseto Beach does have facilities to wash your gear and to shower up after your dive. I will go back to this spot, next time I want to try going further out.
The fourth and fifth dives I did here in Sasebo were also beach dives at a very popular beach in town called Shirahama beach. Again, these dives were pretty shallow as well, but there was more to see at Shirahama. There were schools of fish, puffer fish, rock fish and a lot of Jelly fish. Shirahama was a bit bigger then Oseto with two different entry points. One down side to Shirahama was there were no facilities to wash your gear, at least we could find them. Overall, they were good dives and I will be making a lot of trips there, since its only 5 minutes from my house. I also want to go further out next time to see if there is a drop off or something.
Overall, I'd say the diving is good here in Sasebo. It may not be the greatest, but it felt good to be back in the water after making the move out here. Now it's time to find more spots and explore the wreck more. I'd also like to take the ferry to the Goto islands, I here there's good diving over there. I think my stay here in Sasebo is going to be awesome and I'm looking forward to the next dive.
My first dive was with the instructors from the Navy base. We went by boat to a wreck. The wreck was laying on its side in about 164' of water. The shallowest part of the wreck was at 50'. There is a buoy that marks the wreck so shipping can steer clear, but this makes it easy for divers to find as well. The wreck is a big Japanese merchant ship. After we descended, we swam along the side of the wreck, which would have been the main deck, at about 73'. Me and my dive buddy decided to just do a survey of the wreck since it was the first time either of us had dove this site. I was told that visibility was in transition at this time, it was about 15' or so. Water temp was still a little chilly at 64F. Overall it was a good first dive in Sasebo, I will be making more trips out there. I've found a dive buddy with a boat, so there will be more to come on this wreck.
The second and third dives were beach dives at a beach near Nagasaki called Oseto beach. The beach was a nice protected cove with rock formations and small canyons to swim threw. The dive was pretty shallow, so we could stay down for a really long time. Sea life in this area was minimal I thought and after a while it got a bit boring. But we did find some holes in the rocks that I shined my light into, but didn't see anything worth writing home about. Overall, these were fun little dives and it allowed me to test out some new gear. Oseto Beach does have facilities to wash your gear and to shower up after your dive. I will go back to this spot, next time I want to try going further out.
The fourth and fifth dives I did here in Sasebo were also beach dives at a very popular beach in town called Shirahama beach. Again, these dives were pretty shallow as well, but there was more to see at Shirahama. There were schools of fish, puffer fish, rock fish and a lot of Jelly fish. Shirahama was a bit bigger then Oseto with two different entry points. One down side to Shirahama was there were no facilities to wash your gear, at least we could find them. Overall, they were good dives and I will be making a lot of trips there, since its only 5 minutes from my house. I also want to go further out next time to see if there is a drop off or something.
Overall, I'd say the diving is good here in Sasebo. It may not be the greatest, but it felt good to be back in the water after making the move out here. Now it's time to find more spots and explore the wreck more. I'd also like to take the ferry to the Goto islands, I here there's good diving over there. I think my stay here in Sasebo is going to be awesome and I'm looking forward to the next dive.