Japanese Local Knowledge

[jagfish]

My favorite spot on the Izu peninsula is in Ito and called IOP, short for Izu Oceanic Park.

It is a bit of a drive, an hour south of Atami, but can also be reached by train. First, the grounds of the site itself are rather vast and picturesque. The main grounds lie on a grassy bluff overloking the ocean. There are lots of picnic tables for gear and eating, and lots of people picnic or take a snooze on the grass.

The facilities are usual, hot showers, places to wash off gear, drink machines. There are also shallow and deep pools for training. Tnaks oferred are 10L steel, 11L AL, and 14L steel.

The entry zone is reasonable, though it is a little rocky and subject to surf at times. What I like best abou thtis site is that although it is a shore entry, it has more of a feel of a boat dive for me. To the right (south) the site gets progressively deeper in a series of walls, terminating in the deepest wall, which goes ddown to recreational limits and beyond. All of these wall (but especially the deep one) are packed with soft corals and all kinds of sea life: squid, large fish, napolean wrasse, huge parrots, and an occasional shark. I never get tired of this side, and since the deep wall is about a 100 meter swim, it is relatively quiet even when the site is packed...Great spot for scooter use.

To the left (north) the site is shallower and has a field of large rocks on teh bottom. This area harbors more marine life and is frequented by large flounder in the late fall. (I saw one almost 3 feet across last month). There is also low lying kelp area and sandy bottom in that area as well.

 

[drglnc]

Runway lights
in okinawa just a short boat trip from Kadena Marina.
Great reef's Tons of color and Sea Life thats photo ready. Sea snakes abound, Eels, Parrot fish and clows everywhere. The reefs are even better at night. Currents are a little strong, but this site is great even for newbies. The name comes from the lights from the Kadena Air Base runway. They extend into the ocean at this point. It's not a busy site but it should be. Happy and Safe diving everyone.

 

[bird]

Yonaguni by far is the best diving in japan. Check this link
http://www.toriitraining.com/yonaguni.htm
It also has schooling Hammerhaeds in the late winter, early spring.
When I was there the vis was 100ft+ and the fish where huge!! All the dives we did where drift (sit back and enjoy the ride).

 

[drglnc]

Dove the emmons yesterday, Its the only divable wreck in Okinawa. It was a converted mine sweeper that was kamakazide by 5 japanese planes. its a deep dive, I was able to touch it at 120 but it gets much deeper. As this was my first dive past 100 i took it very conservativly even though deco stops were set up i stayed out of deco according to my hunter. I had 8 min on the rec and it was incredible. Huge tuna schooling. Helmets from the war still on the wreck. It was an awe inspiring dive. I am going back next week and will post more specifics for the second dive. I also hope to have some good pics.

 

[ashura666]

There are plenty of good diving spots on Izu Peninsula. The water is quite warm until late Autumn.

I've been diving in East Izu for around a year now, mostly around Ito (Futo Yokobama, Wakinohama, Izu Ocean Park, Yawatano, Akazawa etc.)

Yawatano and IOP are my favourite sites. Both are good beach dives (i have no experience of boat diving...) and the changes through the seasons keeps it interesting.

IOP has amazing drop-offs down 30m+, and large sands at ~18m. It can get really crowded during summer weekends. But the best diving there is probably during the winter - lots of Nudibranchia.

Yawatano doesn't seem to be so popular with people, but i think it's one of the better dive sites. The harbour protects the entry / exit point so it's possible to dive there even if it's a pretty rough, although high waves can make it a little exciting swimming close to the beach. As far as i've been out (ajine), the bottom is covered with rocks, which are big enough to make it feel like you are moving through a maze. Lots of impressive towers. There tends to be a different selection of fish than at near by Futo.

 

[nori1841]

I went diving this site yesterday. The visibility was 5-14m and temp. was 21C. 5min ride on a fishing boat. The Submarine was sank as a fish bank 70 years ago. The original entire length is 70m but no shell , inner ring frames currently can only be seen. There are many fishes and colorfull soft corals attached to them and other square fish banks.
There are some diving sites nearby the Submarine and viz is improved toward February .
This location is very close to Tokyo(60Km)

 

[nori1841]

Hi all,

I had a good diving in Amami-ohshima with 3 colleagues from November 17th.
This Island is located between Okinawa and Kagoshima-prefecture and it's one of Nansei Island chain. The Air temperature was 25C and the water was 25C as well. It was cloudy with intermittent fair and rain. The Visibility was 20 to 30m or much better. We have taken 11 dives by boat at 4 nights stay includes 2 dives of arrival day.
We stayed at south end of Amami Island. It took 2 hours from the air port by courtesy car of the dive service. The dive sites are on the channel between Mainland Amami and Kakeroma Island so it is usually calm sea. The strong window is protected by the two Islands even if north area is closed. It is great value for a tour plan. You can also dive at outer sea when the condition is good.
There were a lot of marine life and schools on rocks and coral reefs especially many small creatures at white sand. It is recommended for photographers and observers focusing on small fishes.

http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~divecico/sub1pointmap.htm

 

[terrasmak]

The Emmons in Okinawa is a great dive for experianced divers. Its borderline rec/tech some will argue for a while about that. The plack i have in my pictures is the one on the deck.

 

[oodt098]

If the waves are not too rough, diving the surf point "suicides" in Itoman village is the best coral (hard coral) I have seen from beach locations in Okinawa.

In Japanese the sites are called - Yamashiro Kaigan #1 and #2 - both really nice. Best to enter just before low tide to dodge the bigger waves (and surfers). After the wave action, it stays shallow and murky for a while. Once you swm out to deeper waters the dive gets really interesting. Swim throughs with white sand bottoms, cavernous rock formation, sea turtles, 30m viz and lush coral. Not so plentiful in the fish department, however.

Be careful opon exiting into the surf - I've lost some gear (mask, flashlight) with some bad timing decisions while making it back to the beach. Give me a holler if anyone needs directions or further explanation.

 

[soldave]

Yup - Suicides and Odo Kaigan beach (aka Channel Crevices) also offer very nice diving. Plus they're only 5 minutes drive from my house - pop in and have a cup of tea!!!