okinawa dive center
Dive Shop Bluefield

It’s summer now!
The ocean is full of baby fish everywhere!!

Especially, the caves we always go in this season are filled with schools of fish now.

The above picture is from the Chishi Blue Cave, there are two schools now – one is Arrow Cardinals, and other is consisted of baby Sweepers.
The picture on the lef was taken at Maeda Blue Cave – it’s a school of baby Rabbitfish.

Altough each fish is so small (Arrow Cardinals and baby Rabbitfish in the pictures are about 1 inch), when they make a school, they make a specutaclar scene in the water!

The picture below was taken at Misgiragi Point in the Zampa area on Okinawa West Coast.
Once a year, in this season, they come gather at around the same rock (always the same rock), to mate.
Millions of Surgeon Fish.

Okinawa in August
Wind: South
Air Temperature: between 30-34C (86-93F)
Water Temperature: 29C (85 F)
Cloth: T-shirts, no sleeves, tank tops, shorts
Wetsuits: 3mm / 5mm full suits or shorties

Hi everyone,

Today, we had very good dives at north dive spots in Kerama Islands.While ‘Maeda Blue Cave’ is getting popular and famous even outside Japan, I like this cave in Chishi – where we can observe many sea creatures.

Above picture is a goby called ‘Blueband Goby’. They are always in a pair, and eat small planktons from sand. They put some sand in their mouth, take what they want from it, and throw out the rest of the sand from their gills. When one of them eating, one of them looks out for danger, and they take turn. It’s so funny to observe them.

Not only just showing sea creatures, diving with Bluefield, we introduce the sea animals’ behavior, characters, and how to observe. This will be done during the dive briefing and in the water, using

Today, we took our new boat, B-FLAP out.
You can see our main cruiser getting to the dive spot – this picture was taken at Zamami Island.
We had guys from Korea, a Japanese family, and a couple from Switzerland.

***Today’s Okinawa Dive Site Info**
Kerama Islands

1. Chishi (Zamami Island)
2. Sand Triangle (Gishippu Island)
3. Light House(Zamami Island)

Objective: Boat Dives
Weather: Mild South Wind
Air: 32C (90F)
Water: 29C (85F)
Visibility: 30m + (100ft)
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

Today, we had Henry, Kaori, and Steven from Hong Kong diving with us!

***Today’s Okinawa Diving Information**
Kerama Islands

1. Tamana Farm (Gishippu Island)
2. Kamigu (Gishippu Island)
3. Chishi (Zamami Island)

(See the Kerama Island Map)

Saw some green sea turtles during the first dive, as well as a tiny tiny commesal shrimp on a whip coral.
Then, explore the Sand Triangle side of Kamigu.

Our last dive of the day was at Chishi. Enjoyed the cave filled with many many Arrow Cardinals- small baby fish. It’s a symbol of Okinawa’s summer here underwater!

by Miho

Dive Shop Bluefield – English Speaking Dive Guide Available!

Hi there,

We (Akira, Yuto, Saori, and me) had many dive teams on our boat!
Took Swift out to the Kerama Islands as always, and enjoyed 3 dives there.

***Today’s Okinawa Diving Information**
Kerama Islands

1. Sand Triangle (Gishippu Island)
2. Turtle Reef (Gishippu Island)
3. Light House (Zamami Island)

(See the Kerama Island Map)

Objective: Boat Dives
Weather: Strong South Wind
Air: 30C (86F)
Water: 28C (82F)
Visibility: 20m+ (70ft.)
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

We visited Turtle Reef today!
Not only enjoying the turtles, we found macro creatures as well.
There are many sea fans and feather star sover there, where  shrimps and pigmy hide themselves.

Interesting stuff we saw:
Pigmy Seahorse
Crinoid Shrimp
Juvenile Red-spotted Parrotfish
Hypselodoris bullocki (Nudibranch)

It was Terry and Erik’s last day of diving in Okinawa.
Very sad to see Uncle Terry leaving Okinawa…..

Thank you very much for showing up your smiley face on weekends – although I was the only one who speaks English (and all the guys here are a bit shy to talk to you in English), everybody loved to have you all the time, Terry!

I will miss you so much – hope to see you in the states or here.
-probably here, then we can go diving again together!

Love,
Miho & Bluefield Staff

Hi everyone,

Since the wind calmed down alot, we went out for the Kerama Island dive tour.
Here are some photos of turtles and sharks, by Naoji.

***Today’s Okinawa Dive Site Info**
Kerama Islands

1. Tamana Farm
2. Kamigu
3. Chishi

Objective: Boat Dives
Weather: South West Wind
Air: 30C (86F)
Water: 28C (82F)
Visibility: 30m + (100ft)
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

Hi everyone,

We enjoyed very good diving in the Kerama Islands as always.

***Today’s Okinawa Dive Site Info**
Kerama Islands

1. Chishi (Zamami Island)
2. Chishi Pinnacle (Zamami Island)
3. Kamigu (Gishippu Island)

Objective: Boat Dives
Weather: Mild South Wind
Air: 30C (86F)
Water: 28C (82F)
Visibility: 30m + (100ft)
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

The visibility was fantastic!
The pinnacle at the corner of Chishi has many many fish, including Yellow-spotted Chromis, Butterfly Fish… and Anthies.

Enjoyed the swimthrus, dynamic landscapes around the pinnacle.

At Kamigu, I took Hiroe and Toshi to take a look at Skelton Shrimps.
They are soooo small, but very fun to watch.

Miho

July in Okinawa is the beginning of a very hot hot summer!

The ocean conditions are relatively calm with mild South wind, which allows us to dive the dive sites with spectaclar underwater landscapes.
There are many ‘Caves’ that we can take you to, around both Kerama Islands and Okinawa West Coast.

The above underwater picture on the left is from a dive site called ‘Horse Shoe’ on Okinawa West Coast.
There are many swimthrus and small caves that you can peek into. Bigeye Soldierfish and sweepers are hanging out there.

The picture on the right is from ‘Chishi Blue Cave’ in the Kerama Islands.
It’s big enough that a group of divers can enjoy without worrying about kicking each other.

:: Caves and Holes in Okinawa Dive Sites::

1. For Very Advanced Divers
*Deep and narrow holes. Real ‘overhead’ environment. For safety reasons, we only take you on your second day or later in your dive trip. You certainly need dive lights.
- Manza Dream Hole (Okinawa West Coast)
- Overhead Rocks (Okinawa West Coast)
- Cape Zampa (Okinawa West Coast)
- Tokashiki No.2 (Kerama Islands)

2. For Intermediate Divers
*Not so deep, and it’s not really a complete overhead environment.
- Chishi Blue Cave (Kerama Islands)
- Labyrinth (Kerama Islands)
- Horse Shoe (Okinawa West Coast)
- Kouri Zampa (Okinawa West Coast)
- Bolo Point (Okinawa West Coast)

3. For Beginner Divers
*Easy dives. Maeda is even accessible for non-divers, since you can surface in the cave, and it’s open air.
- Maeda Blue Cave (Okinawa West Coast)

Hello there,

We had two divers from Singapore again!
We headed to the Kerama Islands for some good dives – the visibility was awesome today!

***Today’s Okinawa Dive Site Info**
Kerama Islands

1. Kamigu (Gishippu Island)
2. Akaya – Coral Garden (Gishippu Island)
3. Chishi (Zamami Island)

Objective: Boat Dives
Weather: Mild South Wind
Air: 30C (86F)
Water: 28C (82F)
Visibility: 30m + (100ft)
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

There’s one rock which is my favorite in Kamigu.
There were so many Arrow Cardinals hanging around today. It makes us feel ‘Summer in Okinawa’!

Starting from Kamigu to Akaya,to Chishi, we enjoyed a variety of dive sites today. Turtles, many kinds of coral, and lots of fish!

Damien and Fund liked the ‘Blue Cave’ at Chishi.
There weren’t so many people, we enjoyed diving through the sunshine shower from the top of the cravesse.

Here is a good shot of Crown Fish – a daddy taking care of eggs… Just like the movie ‘Finding Nemo’!
It’s usually very hard to take pictures of Anemonefish with eggs, especially when the sea anemone’s hands are long and when there’s some surge in the water.
I think I got lucky with this shot! You can see the eggs below the fish.

Hi everyone,

It’s Miho here – I have been sick for a while, but think I’m recovering.
Here are the pictures from our dives at the Kerama Islands and Kamiyama Labyrinth.

We saw many many sharks today – and it’s the season for fish to mate and hatch eggs! We saw a school of Surgeonfish mating in a big school.

It was a very nice sunny day!
We dove Labyrinth for caves and swimthrus. It’s so much fun!

***Today’s Okinawa Dive Site Info**
The Kerama Islands & Chiibishi
(see our Kerama Dive Site Map)

1. Paradiso (Maejima)
2. Kuroshima South (Kuroshima)
3. Labyrinth (Kamiyama Island)

Objective: Boat fun dives
Weather: Mild North Wind
Air: 28C (82.4F)
Water: 26C (79F)
Visibility: 30m (100ft.)
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

Hello there, it’s Miho here.

Today, me and Akira had many divers from United States.
Jim and Gail having their last day of diving, Terry and Richard enjoying diving together for the first time, and the ‘birtyday boy’ Johnathan and Emily!

***Today’s Okinawa Dive Site Info**
The Kerama Islands

1. Chishi (Zamami Island)
2. Yurigahama (Zamami Island)
3. Kuroshima North (Kuroshima)

Objective: Boat fun dives
Weather: Mild South Wind
Air: 29C (84F)
Water: 24C (75F)
Visibility: 30m (100ft.)
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

Although it was a little cloudy and rainy, we enjoyed the blue cave at Chishi, and the beautiful coral reef at Yurigahama.
It was his first dive for a long time, me and Jonathan worked on reviewing the imrportant skills and brushing up his dive skills (See Refresh Dive Program).
After Zamami Island, we went back to Kuroshima for one more good dive! It’s always beautiful over there…. Since the current was picking up a bit, we did not go to the Twin Rocks – but all in all good dives with Morray eels, lots of anemone fish… Each time we came across with Emily and Naoki snorkeling, we waved at her!

After coming back to our dive shop, we celebrated Jonathan’s 26th birthday with a surprise cake!
We had good time logging our dive logs, eating cakes, and coffee!

Thank you Jonathan & Emily and Jim & Gail!
It was very nice diving with you guys – please come back again in Summer!