Dolphin diving in Onna-son, Okinawa

[ken chung ar]

hi to all divers in japan,

i dove my dolphin in onna-son last week.

i found a dive shop that helped my scr diving there. the name of the shop is BENTHOS DIVERS. the chief guide is mr oh-hara, who dives inspiration. although i had to ship my EANx tanks and bailout air bottles from tokyo, he was very understandable and helpful in respect of rebreather diving.

the water was warm, 24 degrees C, and we had no wind or surge. we lay on the sandy bottom of a diving spot named CROSS LINE and watched and took pics of several kinds of shrimpgobies (yashahaze, onihaze, nejirinbou). rebreather diving were relaxingly soundless without any kind of stress, and we were happy for two days

on the thid day, however, the weather showed a drastic change. harsh wind blew, and sea waters became nasty. that's LIFE, i guess.

ken chung ar

 

[jagfish]

Sounds like some great diving...

You are really forging the SCR path here in Japan!

Jim

 

[txdano]

I was stationed in Okinawa (Camp Courtney) back in 89-90. I did around 175 dives there and remember sea conditons being a big factor on choice of dive sites, but the diving was spectacular. I have been wondering how the diving is these days, and would love to go back some day. If anyone can reply with some info on the current diving situation I would appreciate it.

 

[ken chung ar]

hi txdano,

i have enjoyed diving in okinawa since the 80's, too. I would say that the diving situation in okinawa has not been changed so much. by saying that i express some sadness. in okinawa we have fantastic caves, wrecks in the deep, and yet, they have not gained much popularity.

do you know why?

because they still believe in diving with an open-circuit reg with a single tank. no rebreathers, no doubles, no Nitrox or Trimix, no nothing new!!!! it's my sincere opinion that diving in japan is gonna perish if it stays the same this way.

that's why i started moving round with my dolphin scr. people need to know there are some alternatives in the style of diving.

ken chung ar

 

[japan-diver]

Ken,
We dive rebreathers, doubles, nitrox and trimix here on a regular basis. Wrecks are few the Emmons being the only one visited on a regular basis and others are more rumor that fact from what I have found in 10 years of diving here. The caves are quite impressive with numerous sea caves fromt the small to very large around the island.
As teh typical diver is the vacation diver here few are willing to spend the time it takes to get there diving to a point where they move on to the more advanced stuff.

 

[ken chung ar]

hi japan-diver,

my sincere apology.

i should have said that rebreathers, doubles and mixed gas diving have been rare among JAPANESE RECREATIONAL DIVERS.

now i have a question for you. where do you fill nitrox tanks on okinawa island? i'm more than eager to know 'cause, if i can do the same, i do not have to ship my tanks from tokyo.

ken chung ar

 

[iflylow]

I haven't seen any shops on Okinawa with any gas other than air except for the ones on base. If you have access to base, you can get nitrox (up to 40%) at any Marine base or Kadena Airbase, and you can get nitrox and trimix at Torii Station. There are a small number of Americans diving doubles here on island(I only know of about 20 that do it regularly). I will say that when I take my doubles on the Japanese dive boats, I always get a bunch of looks and then some interesting conversation!

On the rebreather side, I've only seen a few people doing that - maybe less than 10 or so. I haven't seen any Japanese folks doing that at all.

 

[ken chung ar]

I haven't seen any shops on Okinawa with any gas other than air except for the ones on base.

On the rebreather side, I've only seen a few people doing that - maybe less than 10 or so. I haven't seen any Japanese folks doing that at all.

hi iflylow,

thank you for your valuable input. your post enforced what i posted in the beginning of this thread.

there are few divers who have access to any gas other than air or dive rebreathers, unless they are on american base. this is because we do not have any established japanese suppliers of nitrox, and still less, heliox in okinawa. without nitrox, SCR rebreathers would not be used. thus, it's actually easier to dive CCR rebreathers there because 100% oxygen is supplied without fail for medical purposes even in okinawa. this is one of the reasons i am thinking of converting myself to a CCR diver.

ken chung ar