RikRaeder
Contributor
As promised the gf and I hit Fukui, on the Sea of Japan, yesterday. We hooked up with PaulfromJapan of this forum and his talented and lovely woman, S. We headed out to Toyota City (guess what company has it's headquarters there) about an hour by train from my home-for-now Nagoya. After a nice Thai dinner and a couple of beers, we headed up the mountain to his (soon-to-be former) place in the valley to watch some fireflys and lament our 5am wake up.
We did indeed wake up at 5am <groan> and were at the shop, Baby Shark, by 6. After signing our release forms, we loaded up in their van for the two-hour trip to Fukui. We crossed the main island from East to West and arrived at Fukui about 9 (rest stop break). After unloading 24 divers' worth of equipment from the vans, we secured our own gear (rentals again for me and my lady) and started setting up. I was granted a simply darling 5mm farmer john in muave and aqua <ahem> sans hood or gloves. I had been expecting a 7mm and a hood but wasn't too disappointed so immediately started mincing about in joy.
Everyone in Japan grouses about how cold the water is here, but more on that later. Besides the color coordination, Baby Shark is a pretty cool shop. They feature Scubapro and Aqualung life support, (but somehow I ended up with a Mares Octo-reg), and the ubiquious (in Japan) Tusa/Gull fins and mask. It was all in pretty decent shape. Their policy is two guides for each group. Ours consisted of the four of us plus two guides (one of whom spoke pretty ok English). Not too shabby.
We hit the water at about 11, and boy, did the water hit us! It was a bit chilly. The cold factor was compounded when my gf's fin strap retainer broke (became disassembled, really...but otherwise the equipment was in good shape) and we had to stand around and wait for the fix in waist-deep water. After some prefunctory attempts at repair, the guide swapped her fins with my gf's. "I can use it without a strap," (and she did!).
We came out after 48 minutes of bottom time with air to spare in our 12l steel tanks. My gf thumbed the dive on account of the cold, but we were minutes from turning around anyway. We were only cruising at around 8 meters depth. Water temperature was an even 20C with visibility to about 8m.
There were some extremely cool rock formations, and countless varieties of kelp and seaweed. As far as fauna, the first thing we saw were jellyfish. Small, short-tentacled suckers about the breath of a spread-out hand (from thumb tip to the tip of your pinky). They seemed to be attracted to my camera's flash but I found them tough to focus on, even from extreme close range. There were quite a few different varieties of slugs, some pretty big, as well as numerous and sundry fish. I'm afraid I haven't got a good fish id book yet (at least not with the English names), so when the gallery comes back up, I'll upload some pictures of the more interesting ones.
One fish was hanging onto the seaweed with grasper fins. I don't know how else to describe them. It looked like a mini dinosaur. I got a good picture of that one. We also caught a sand dab (flounder) in action and I got an almost focussed shot of a cuttlefish on the move through the grass.
One thing that peeved me was the amount of trash in the water. There's a lot of fishing done in the vicinity and I guess they've never heard of a waste basket. We saw plastic food trays, machine parts from boats, and one intact engine with driveshaft. Repeat after me: "The ocean is not a garbage can." Grrrrrr! There was also a lost fishing net that I'm extremely suprised that no one has removed considering the number of divers who use that site. It wasn't floating around (yet) but all the more reason to pull that sucker out before typhoon season. Oh well. I guess maybe they'll think about recovering it after a few divers bite it. Maybe.
After an hour interval, we headed back in for our second and last dive. Some divers were using dry suits. Our instructor had a 7mm. Everyone was complaining about the cold. I was quite comfortable myself in my stunningly fashionable 5mm. Maybe it was the warmth of muave, but I didn't see what all the griping was about (except for Paul. His rental suit had a 5mm lower and a 3mm upper. 3mm!!!). My three compatriots aquired vests from our guides and reported adequate thermal protection on the second dive. I was still happy in my 5s.
The second dive was much like the first. Dodging jelly fish, marvelling at the craggy rock formations and aquaflora and swimming around for about 45 minutes. Despite the large number of divers in the area, we didn't see many of them when we were diving. That was a pleasant suprise. The morning clouds had turned into morning fog, and visibility dropped to about 6 meters, but I found that to be more than enough. We did a cool swimthrough on our second dive. Those are always fun. Although the water was like glass all day, the water was much more silty on our second dive (maybe from having been host to at least 100 divers). The temperature remained at a tropical 20C.
After diving, the shop treated us to a BBQ with plenty of beef, yaki soba (think chow mein), corn and veggies. They even provided beer (a couple cans each). Before you go calling the DANMobile on me, I repeat...9 meter maximum depth...lengthy interval. If you want to lecture me on drinking a couple of beers after diving....you can get bent! (Pun fully intended).
We loaded up after the BBQ and headed five minutes down the road to a hot spring. That was really nice after diving. I generally don't do hot springs in the summer, but the weather was a bit cool (very cool for this time of year, around 25C) and it wasn't humid so we greatly enjoyed out one-hour stopover while soaking, relaxing, and washing the salt away (and I suppose the other wimps in my group thawed out...dry suits! Come on! C O M E on!!)
I was quite happy with Baby Shark and am anxious to try them again. Their prices are ok for Japan, but considering the extra service (lots of meat, beer...repeat BEER, transportation, hot spring admission) it came out to a pretty good deal. After I get my gear, I think it will be a really good deal. The fact that they offer day trips is kind of nice too. Nagoya isn't near much diving, and even less good diving, so such a shop that caters to my needs is good for me. They also have a shop in Nagoya, so my next trip to Fukui should be at least 30 minutes shorter! Now if I can just get them to eliminate that rest stop break...
We did indeed wake up at 5am <groan> and were at the shop, Baby Shark, by 6. After signing our release forms, we loaded up in their van for the two-hour trip to Fukui. We crossed the main island from East to West and arrived at Fukui about 9 (rest stop break). After unloading 24 divers' worth of equipment from the vans, we secured our own gear (rentals again for me and my lady) and started setting up. I was granted a simply darling 5mm farmer john in muave and aqua <ahem> sans hood or gloves. I had been expecting a 7mm and a hood but wasn't too disappointed so immediately started mincing about in joy.
Everyone in Japan grouses about how cold the water is here, but more on that later. Besides the color coordination, Baby Shark is a pretty cool shop. They feature Scubapro and Aqualung life support, (but somehow I ended up with a Mares Octo-reg), and the ubiquious (in Japan) Tusa/Gull fins and mask. It was all in pretty decent shape. Their policy is two guides for each group. Ours consisted of the four of us plus two guides (one of whom spoke pretty ok English). Not too shabby.
We hit the water at about 11, and boy, did the water hit us! It was a bit chilly. The cold factor was compounded when my gf's fin strap retainer broke (became disassembled, really...but otherwise the equipment was in good shape) and we had to stand around and wait for the fix in waist-deep water. After some prefunctory attempts at repair, the guide swapped her fins with my gf's. "I can use it without a strap," (and she did!).
We came out after 48 minutes of bottom time with air to spare in our 12l steel tanks. My gf thumbed the dive on account of the cold, but we were minutes from turning around anyway. We were only cruising at around 8 meters depth. Water temperature was an even 20C with visibility to about 8m.
There were some extremely cool rock formations, and countless varieties of kelp and seaweed. As far as fauna, the first thing we saw were jellyfish. Small, short-tentacled suckers about the breath of a spread-out hand (from thumb tip to the tip of your pinky). They seemed to be attracted to my camera's flash but I found them tough to focus on, even from extreme close range. There were quite a few different varieties of slugs, some pretty big, as well as numerous and sundry fish. I'm afraid I haven't got a good fish id book yet (at least not with the English names), so when the gallery comes back up, I'll upload some pictures of the more interesting ones.
One fish was hanging onto the seaweed with grasper fins. I don't know how else to describe them. It looked like a mini dinosaur. I got a good picture of that one. We also caught a sand dab (flounder) in action and I got an almost focussed shot of a cuttlefish on the move through the grass.
One thing that peeved me was the amount of trash in the water. There's a lot of fishing done in the vicinity and I guess they've never heard of a waste basket. We saw plastic food trays, machine parts from boats, and one intact engine with driveshaft. Repeat after me: "The ocean is not a garbage can." Grrrrrr! There was also a lost fishing net that I'm extremely suprised that no one has removed considering the number of divers who use that site. It wasn't floating around (yet) but all the more reason to pull that sucker out before typhoon season. Oh well. I guess maybe they'll think about recovering it after a few divers bite it. Maybe.
After an hour interval, we headed back in for our second and last dive. Some divers were using dry suits. Our instructor had a 7mm. Everyone was complaining about the cold. I was quite comfortable myself in my stunningly fashionable 5mm. Maybe it was the warmth of muave, but I didn't see what all the griping was about (except for Paul. His rental suit had a 5mm lower and a 3mm upper. 3mm!!!). My three compatriots aquired vests from our guides and reported adequate thermal protection on the second dive. I was still happy in my 5s.
The second dive was much like the first. Dodging jelly fish, marvelling at the craggy rock formations and aquaflora and swimming around for about 45 minutes. Despite the large number of divers in the area, we didn't see many of them when we were diving. That was a pleasant suprise. The morning clouds had turned into morning fog, and visibility dropped to about 6 meters, but I found that to be more than enough. We did a cool swimthrough on our second dive. Those are always fun. Although the water was like glass all day, the water was much more silty on our second dive (maybe from having been host to at least 100 divers). The temperature remained at a tropical 20C.
After diving, the shop treated us to a BBQ with plenty of beef, yaki soba (think chow mein), corn and veggies. They even provided beer (a couple cans each). Before you go calling the DANMobile on me, I repeat...9 meter maximum depth...lengthy interval. If you want to lecture me on drinking a couple of beers after diving....you can get bent! (Pun fully intended).
We loaded up after the BBQ and headed five minutes down the road to a hot spring. That was really nice after diving. I generally don't do hot springs in the summer, but the weather was a bit cool (very cool for this time of year, around 25C) and it wasn't humid so we greatly enjoyed out one-hour stopover while soaking, relaxing, and washing the salt away (and I suppose the other wimps in my group thawed out...dry suits! Come on! C O M E on!!)
I was quite happy with Baby Shark and am anxious to try them again. Their prices are ok for Japan, but considering the extra service (lots of meat, beer...repeat BEER, transportation, hot spring admission) it came out to a pretty good deal. After I get my gear, I think it will be a really good deal. The fact that they offer day trips is kind of nice too. Nagoya isn't near much diving, and even less good diving, so such a shop that caters to my needs is good for me. They also have a shop in Nagoya, so my next trip to Fukui should be at least 30 minutes shorter! Now if I can just get them to eliminate that rest stop break...
