okinawa dive center
Dive Shop Bluefield

The ocean is very calm in August – September, with mild south wind.

We have been finding dolphins a lot lately.
The ocean is so calm that it’s easy for us to spot the dolphins – they are so cute!
They would always come close to our boat, and play with us for while.

Yes, we do have occasional typhoons visiting Okinawa’s Ocean, but dives are canceled just 1 or 2 days in a month.
After the typhoons, the visibility of the water increases, and here we go, we have very beautiful ocean like this.

Okinawa in August – September
Wind: South
Occasional Typhoons

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

Miho

We had good dives today – this is a picture of a bay on the west side of Gishippu Island, where we always dive for turtles!

From the left, where the boat is parked, there are many dive sites lined up here.

:: Dive Spots on Gishippu Island ::
Turtle Reef (left of the boat)
Tamana Farm (where the boat is at)
Sand Triangle (center of this picture)
Kamigu (on the right)

- Miho

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

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)

We got our second boat!

This boat, B-FLAP arrived in April, and started taking customers out from the Golden Week in May.

Certified for 20 passangers, but we only put 10 divers maximum.

Having B-FLAP, now we can devide divers into two groups.
B-FLAP will carry only advanced divers and enjoy a full day of drift dives, or, depending on a day she will be chartered by a group of snorkelers.

Facilities:
Cabin, 2 Showers (warm & cold water), Bathroom, Tank Holders, Side Curtains

Entry to the water:
Giant Stride Entry from the back
Back Roll Entry from the side

Areas of Operation:
Zampa area, Kadena & Chatan
Special Dive Trips to Aguni & Tonaki
Kerama Islands

Here is a photo from the Golden Week.
I took my family and friends, and Takeshi took a group of divers from Tokyo on B-FLAP.
Having the upper deck, large space on the back, it was a comfortable ride for 10 divers.

You can charter B-FLAP too!
The price can be negotiated from ‘Half-day’ price to ‘Full-Day Charter’, with the dive fee on top of that.

Thinking about just chartering the boat for your family for snorkeling?
We can accommodate various requests with this boat.

We just had an Underwater Wedding Charter in July!

Miho

Here are some good photos from our special boat trips to Aguni & Tonaki Island.

Aguni & Tonaki are located a little north of the Kerama Islands – about 1 hour and half away with our boat.
With the good currents and healthy reef, Aguni has a variety of specutaclar dive sites.
Fuden Saki is one of them, most popular, with schools of Bigeye Travelly visiting in this season from the end of May to July.

Tonaki boasts Blue Corner caves, dynamic dropoff with millions of fish, and big turtle spots.

***Today’s Okinawa Dive Site Info**
Tonaki Island & Aguni Island

1. Blue Corner (Tonaki)
2. Gurukuno Saki (Tonaki)
3. Fuden Saki (Aguni)

Objective: Special Boat Tour
Weather: Mild South Wind
Air: 29C (84F)
Water: 26C (79F)
Visibility: 30m + (100ft.)
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

From the end of May to June is the season for coral hatching eggs, around Okinawa Main Island & Kerama Islands sea.
Kensuke Yokoi – a video grapher and also known as an authority of researching and coral preservation in Okinawa, always provides us with estimate dates of coral hatching every year, based on his observation records.

It is know that coral hatch eggs on a night around a spring tide day.
However, last couple of years in Okinawa, it is not necessarily on a spring tide day.
The water temperature, weather conditions, environmental factors affect coral’s growth.

The before and after the day of coral hatching eggs, you can even smell it.

June is the beginning of Summer in Okinawa.
There are baby fish everywhere in the water here in this season.

You can find many eggs of various fish and with the baby fish hatching, the water is full of fish.
The Okinawa’s ocean is more colorful in this season.

Okinawa in June
Wind: South
Air Temperature: between 27-30 C (80-86F)
Water Temperature: 24-26C (75-79 F)
Cloth: T-shirts, no sleeves
Wetsuits: 3mm / 5mm full suits or shorties

The rainy season ends in the beginning of June.
After that, is the summer season in Okinawa!

June is actually very nice season for diving in Okinawa for the following reasons:
1. It’s after the rainy season
2. It’s before the typhoon season
3. Mild weather with south wind
4. Not too hot
5. It’s before the busiest summer vacation season

Today, we had a couple of dives at Oyama (Ginowan) and Chatan Underwater Ruins (Sunabe) to observe how coral are having eggs this year.
We had Mr. Kensuke Yokoi – a videographer and a researcher of coral reef – as a lecturer, and invited many dive guides & instructors from other dive shops on the island.

We learned how to distinguish coral with eggs and how they are growing.
Mr. Yokoi taught us the estimate date when all the coral hatching eggs this year.
It seems coral reef in Sunabe are growing their eggs faster than Ginowan this year.

The photographer, Mr. Masaaki Harada was visiting Okinawa for his Underwater Photo Workshop @ Bluefield.
Here are some pictures by him – enjoy!

April – May is a good season with having both Winter stuff and Summer stuff in the water.

You can still find many kinds of Nudibranchs for good macro photos.
There are so many baby fish, which adds lots of color in the water to your wide angle photos.
There are so much to see!

Also, the wind shifts to South in this season, which makes the Okinawa’s sea calmer than winter.
That enables us to choose lots of dive sites located at North side of the islands – such as:
Kuroshima North
Twin Rocks
Chishi Blue Cave
Yurigahama
Maeda Blue Cave

Photos were taken at Okinawa West Coast and Kerama Islands.

Okinawa in May
Wind: Mostly South with some days mild North Wind
Air Temperature: between 23-28 C (73-82F)
Water Temperature: 24C (75 F)
Cloth: T-shirts / No sleeve Shirts
Wetsuits: 3mm / 5mm full suits