From Tokyo to Palau?

[Christian]

I will be in Tokyo 10-14 May for a business trip. Since I'm then a fair bit closer to some interesting places compared to what I'm used to, I was thinking about adding a weeks vaccation and go diving.

So, where can I go with a week to spare to get world class tropical diving? I was thinking about Palau. How easy is it to get to Palau from Tokyo, how long does it take and what's the approximate cost for the flights?

Phillipines? Is it possible to dive Tubataha in mid may?

All the best

/christian

 

[nori1841]

I would strongly recommend to dive in Okinawa pref. ,it especially has world class remote Islands. It takes 2.5 hours from Haneda-Tokyo airport.

Thomas, it's your turn.

 

[RikRaeder]

I'd like to dive in Okinawa in the near future too! For now, I'm a gung-ho Saipan fan. I'll be heading down around May 16 (I hope) and the airfare in mid-may is around 40,000 JPN from Nagoya/Centrair (that's with hotel for 5 days!). Three-hour trip from Nagoya, Maybe four from Tokyo.

 

[Christian]

I would strongly recommend to dive in Okinawa pref. ,it especially has world class remote Islands. It takes 2.5 hours from Haneda-Tokyo airport.

Thomas, it's your turn.

To be honest, I have never heard anything about the diving in Okinawa. Please tell me something about it. What makes it world class? Any suggestions on operators?

/c

 

[ken chung ar]

To be honest, I have never heard anything about the diving in Okinawa. Please tell me something about it. What makes it world class? Any suggestions on operators?

hi christian,

i can answer your question 'cause i have dove more than 1200 dives for over 20 years. other than okinawa, my past destinations include micronesia (palau, yap, saipan, pohnpei), papua new guinea (lissenung), bali, lombok, australian gold coast (cairns), thailand (similan, koh tao), moldives (kurumba, biyadoo), USA (monterey bay, florida keys), mexico (la paz, socorro, isla mujeres), cuba (maria la gorda, jardines de la reina), argentina (peninsula valdes), and etc.

what makes okinawa the world class diving destination among all other fansy ones is the abundance of corals and small reef creatures such as shrimpgobies and nudibranches, and big pelagic fish such as hammerheads, tuna and manta rays. on top of those, we have ancient underwater ruins in yonaguni.

thus, i strongly recommend you should fly dowm to okinawa, the main island, which takes only two and a half hours. you may drive up north on the island or further fly west to yonaguni, iriomote, ishigaki, miyako and so forth. as you may have already known, there is seasonalness to the pelagics, i.e. hammerheads in winter, manta in autumn, etc. study hard before you go!

ken chung ar

 

[Christian]

hi christian,

i can answer your question 'cause i have dove more than 1200 dives for over 20 years. other than okinawa, my past destinations include micronesia (palau, yap, saipan, pohnpei), papua new guinea (lissenung), bali, lombok, australian gold coast (cairns), thailand (similan, koh tao), moldives (kurumba, biyadoo), USA (monterey bay, florida keys), mexico (la paz, socorro, isla mujeres), cuba (maria la gorda, jardines de la reina), argentina (peninsula valdes), and etc.

what makes okinawa the world class diving destination among all other fansy ones is the abundance of corals and small reef creatures such as shrimpgobies and nudibranches, and big pelagic fish such as hammerheads, tuna and manta rays. on top of those, we have ancient underwater ruins in yonaguni.

thus, i strongly recommend you should fly dowm to okinawa, the main island, which takes only two and a half hours. you may drive up north on the island or further fly west to yonaguni, iriomote, ishigaki, miyako and so forth. as you may have already known, there is seasonalness to the pelagics, i.e. hammerheads in winter, manta in autumn, etc. study hard before you go!

ken chung ar

So you prefer the diving in Okinawa to the diving in Palau, Micronesia?

This sounds interesting. I have never heard about people going to Japan for diving, on the contrary I have met a lot of Japanese going abroad for diving.

I only have the possibility in mid may, that's when I'll be in Japan.

cheers

/christian

 

[ken chung ar]

So you prefer the diving in Okinawa to the diving in Palau, Micronesia?

This sounds interesting. I have never heard about people going to Japan for diving, on the contrary I have met a lot of Japanese going abroad for diving.

I only have the possibility in mid may, that's when I'll be in Japan.

cheers

/christian

hi christian,

as there are many elements in decision of "world class diving sites", okinawa may well be superior to palau in specific terms. accordingly, not only i but also many other photographers prefer to go to okinawa, IF we want to shoot hovering manta rays, some shrimpbogies or UW ruins.

you are absolutely right in a sense that many international divers go to palau and that there are less number of them visiting okinawa. however, based upon my personal experience of diving in many places in the world, i came to realize that okinawa is a fantastic diving destination and became anxious to let international divers know that. in fact, that was my motive to join this board.

now let's go back to your original question. you visit tokyo in may. i would say good targets in okinawa in may are (1) UW ruins in yonaguni, (2) manta rays in ishigaki, and (3) dogtooth tuna in iriomote. in palau, however, it's not the good season for the mantas, but you will see white-tips and grey reefs in "big drop off" or "blue corner" all year round.

ken chung ar

 

[nori1841]

Hi Christian,

Japaneses also prefer all of those three sites very much. I think Okinawa is basically as good as well known destinations but Okinawa is easy to stop over from Tokyo because of the nearest so the cheapest airfare. As for Palau, an airfare costs 80,000JPY, 5 hours from Narita-airport if you can get the nonstop ticket and many additional costs will be charged for example surcharge, airport tax, diving permission, outbound tax so on.
I would suggest one or two on Ishigaki, Iriomote, Keramas and Miyako(caves) Islands for the 1st time. Your planned dates are none busy period so you can probably book anything thru travel agencies after your arrival at Tokyo.

 

[MattAlt]

Having made the trip from Tokyo to Palau, I can tell you that it isn't exactly a close destination. You'll spend an entire day getting there unless you can get nonstop tickets, which are only sold during certain seasons. Even then Okinawa is much, much closer.

Be aware that there are often differences in "diving cultures" between Japanese dive ops and those of other countries, so make sure you are really explicit about the style of diving and level of safety you expect. Good luck!

 

[Cacia]

I went Nagoya/ Palau recently. Palau is top shelf, no doubt about it.