Local Divers: How long does it take you to get to your favorite dive site?

[Eric Sedletzky]

Can you explain, for the sake of foreigners from across the sea, what's going on with the purple urchin population? They have no natural predators or competitors and grow on large numbers? How the urchins impact the local ecosystem?

Here in Red Sea, we have the opposite problem: some disease is decimating several species of sea urchins. We lost almost all Diademas, for example.

About 12 years ago here was a massive die off of the giant sunflower star from a mysterious illness. They were the main predator of the purple urchin. Then there was also a warm water blob which killed off kelp and another toxic algae bloom that killed a lot of giant red abalone. So all this combined caused a perfect storm of events that lead to the purple urchins to explode in numbers. Unlike red and black urchins, purples are a lot more prolific and voracious. Their numbers will explode if unchecked and they eat everything, not just kelp but all the algae on the rocks, ell grass, sea lettuces, other bottom kelps like false bottom, sea palms, etc. they don’t stop there, when there’s no more to eat they begin to eat rock and actually chew holes into the rocks to form a little bowl just big enough to fit their body. Then they go to sleep in a zombie state and can survive for decades (up to 30 years!). When food re grows they wake up and continue to scour the rocks for anything they can eat. A friend told me that in some parts of the world there have been urchin barrens for 60 years now. We know that there is no way we can remove all the purple urchins along the entire west coast. So our main goal is just concentrate all efforts on one cove (Stillwater) and try to clear enough urchins and then maintain it that the native kelps including bull kelp can re-establish. We are forming a safe zone or a farm to protect the various kelps from extinction.
I’ve dedicated my entire diving life to this quest. It’s hard to just pass over an urchin barren going spear fishing or something without feeling guilty that I’m not doing something about it. So I’m doing something about it.

 

[MacDuyver]

I am most definitely going to visit you there for few weeks to go diving there. When is the best time of the year for diving there (I'll be doing UW photography)?

Is this a good dive shop to work with there?
www.reefencounters.org

I’ve heard good things about Reef Encounters by have never dived with them.

I’ve been with English Empire Diving and Aloha Divers and give both a thumbs up as far as English speaking dive charters go. I’ll usually do a charter with them or the dive shop on the Air Force base once every couple months. Most often i’m shore diving with friends or people from Facebook groups. Ark Dive in Mizugama and several dive shops in Onna are great for guided shore dives, however the Japanese speaking dive shops tend to be pretty strict about a 40 or 50min limit per dive.

English Empire Divers Okinawa (Okinawa's No1 English Speaking company)

Were are the premier, English speaking dive company here on Okinawa! Available at short notice and able to take great care of both Experienced and beginner divers! Lets enjoy the beautiful blue waters of Okinawa together ;)

englishempiredivers.com

Aloha Divers Okinawa: Scuba Diving Service Okinawa

Aloha Divers Okinawa are PADI Instructors. Providing the best service and diving you can do in Okinawa. We offer scuba diving, diving course, diving trip, discover scuba diver and snorkeling. We serve in 4 languages. English, Portuguese, Japanese and Spanish.

www.alohadiversokinawa.com

I cannot recommend Keramashoto National Marine Park (Kerama Islands or “the Keramas”) enough. It’s an absolutely stunning collection of sites, and is unquestionably where I’d recommend photographers go. A few time if you can. You have to go by boat, but the sharks and turtles are abundant and you can see the reefs located at 50ft while standing on the deck of the boat.

Mermaids/Apogama is next on the list behind Keramashoto and has the benefit of being a shore dive. There are a few more dives on the main island I’d recommend as well around Zampa Cape, Miyagi Jima, and Cape Hedo. Oki ranges from really easy dives to dives with pretty challenging conditions that can change very quickly.

Shore dives are also a bit different from other places. I can only think of a couple spots that don’t include a walk across petrified reef or underwater rocks in the surf zone to get to. If you have knee or ankle problems I recommend sticking to boat dives.

Oki is good year round, but I’d recommend mid October - November or March- June for vacations.

Late August - November is peak time for mantas and sharks at Ishigaki Island (about a 45 minute flight from Oki). Yonaguni island as well. It’s also just after typhoon season, so the weather has calmed down a bit.

Feb-Mar is whale season but I’ve never been close enough to dive with them. I’ve heard them all over though. Most divers on the island feel the water is too cold then, but I’ve found a 5mm to be more than warm enough.

Mid march - June is peak diving season. The water’s warmed back up and the marine life is out as well. It’s also peak tourist season, but for good reason.

typhoon season starts in mid to late July and goes through September into early October. The conditions are really good in the late summer/autumn but it’s a big gamble on whether we’re going to have storms or not. It’s the time of year where conditions are either wonderful or completely stormed out.

 

[Chavodel8en]

This is a huge issue for me. Monterey / Carmel is about 1 hr 50 min away with no traffic. But from Oakland I have to drive down the 880/101 from Hayward through San Jose to get there - hella traffic.

I actually got to dive a whole lot during the pandemic, because it opened up weekday diving for me with no traffic and alot of people with free time (including me). Zipping down the freeway - dive, then zip back up.

It got me really preferring weekday diving - the sites arent crowded, but now the traffic is back.

If I lived say in Gilroy - 45 min away, with no traffic worries I would dive alot more.

To everyone who lives like 30 min. away from tropical dive paradise, I hate you.


Pic of Whalers Cove at Pt Lobos. Which also has some urchin barrens forming.

 

[scubadada]

This is a huge issue for me. Monterey / Carmel is about 1 hr 50 min away with no traffic. But from Oakland I have to drive down the 880/101 from Hayward through San Jose to get there - hella traffic.

I actually got to dive a whole lot during the pandemic, because it opened up weekday diving for me with no traffic and alot of people with free time (including me). Zipping down the freeway - dive, then zip back up.

It got me really preferring weekday diving - the sites arent crowded, but now the traffic is back.

If I lived say in Gilroy - 45 min away, with no traffic worries I would dive alot more.

To everyone who lives like 30 min. away from tropical dive paradise, I hate you.

Local Divers: How long does it take you to get to your favorite dive site?

Where is this photo? It’s Sandwich in Sandwich MA. I know you get down my way now and then, so next time you’re in my area, contact me and I’ll take you. And I’m not just saying that to be polite. It’ a shallow dive, which you like, 15-25’ is typical, but nice. Erik

scubaboard.com

But, I live most of my time a 1000 mile flight from my townhouse in Florida. I can only spend 7-10 days with my short drives for diving 5 or 6 times a year. I'll take it

 

[BoltSnap]

I’ve heard good things about Reef Encounters by have never dived with them.

I’ve been with English Empire Diving and Aloha Divers and give both a thumbs up as far as English speaking dive charters go. Most often in shore diving or going with the charters run by the dive shop on the Air Force base. Ark Dive in Mizugama and several dive shops in Onna are great for guided shore dives, however the Japanese speaking dive shops tend to be pretty strict about a 40 or 50min limit per dive.

English Empire Divers Okinawa (Okinawa's No1 English Speaking company)

Were are the premier, English speaking dive company here on Okinawa! Available at short notice and able to take great care of both Experienced and beginner divers! Lets enjoy the beautiful blue waters of Okinawa together ;)

englishempiredivers.com

Aloha Divers Okinawa: Scuba Diving Service Okinawa

Aloha Divers Okinawa are PADI Instructors. Providing the best service and diving you can do in Okinawa. We offer scuba diving, diving course, diving trip, discover scuba diver and snorkeling. We serve in 4 languages. English, Portuguese, Japanese and Spanish.

www.alohadiversokinawa.com

I cannot recommend Keramashoto National Marine Park (Kerama Islands or “the Keramas”) enough. It’s an absolutely stunning collection of sites, and is unquestionably where I’d recommend photographers go. A few time if you can. You have to go by boat, but the sharks and turtles are abundant and you can see the reefs located at 50ft while standing on the deck of the boat.

Mermaids/Apogama is next on the list behind Keramashoto and has the benefit of being a shore dive. There are a few more dives on the main island I’d recommend as well around Zampa Cape, Miyagi Jima, and Cape Hedo. Oki ranges from really easy dives to dives with challenging conditions that can change very quickly.

Oki is good year round, but I’d recommend mid October - November or March- June for vacations.

Late August - November is peak time for mantas and sharks at Ishigaki Island (about a 45 minute flight from Oki). Yonaguni island as well. It’s also just after typhoon season, so the weather has calmed down a bit.

Feb-Mar is whale season but I’ve never been close enough to dive with them. I’ve heard them all over though. Most divers on the island feel the water is too cold then, but I’ve found a 5mm to be more than warm enough.

Mid march - June is peak diving season. The water’s warmed back up and the marine life is out as well. It’s also peak tourist season, but for good reason.

typhoon season starts in mid to late July and goes through September into early October. The conditions are really good in the late summer/autumn but it’s a big gamble on whether we’re going to have storms or not. It’s the time of year where conditions are either wonderful or completely stormed out.

Thank you!