okinawa dive center
Dive Shop Bluefield

Let us introduce some fantastic underwater photos by Matsuyan, who visited us in October 2010.
Here are some Sea Snakes pictures – they are very common to see in Okinawa, virtually everywhere.
This guy was a bit aggressive, he was coming very close to the photographer. Must have been very curious about the camera.

For more photos, visit Matsuyan’s flicker web albums here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/matsuyan/sets/72157625155606958/with/5101741503/

Have a good day!

-Miho

Hello everyone,

Now that the typhoon is gone, we started diving again!
We haven’t been able to make it out to the Kerama Islands yet, but having some great dives nearby.
We had 4 dives today!!

Today, we found our Blue Ribbon Eel back!
He had been hanging around Inanbishi for a while last year, but seemed to be gone somewhere, but he (she?) is back now!

The picture above right is a Ghost Pipe Fish – you need to have some good eyes to find them. They camouflage themselves very well into some dead leaves in the water.

***Today’s Okinawa Dive Site Info**
Okinawa West Coast

1. Inanbishi (Kadena)
2. Inanbishi (Kadena)
3. Red Marker – Fish House (Kadena)
4. Inanbishi (Kadena)

Objective: Boat Fun Dives
Weather: North Wind
Air: 27C (80F)
Water: 27C (80F)
Visibility: 15m
Suits: 5mm one piece Wetsuits

We saw many cuttle fish as well. In winter, when the water temperature starts dropping, we start seeing them a lot. Think we saw at least 5 or 6 of them today.

Here is a nice shot with the brave two guys who did 4 dives with me!
Ben, come back again in non-typhoon season!

Miho

The fight between North wind from China and typhoon brought a fantastic weather in Okinawa for diving.
Sorry, I’m being very sarcastic here. We needed to cancel our boat dives. Even with SWIFT, at our favorite INANBISHI, we couldn’t anchor the boat for safe nice diving. The swells were way too big.

Here are some photos of Striped Catfish I got today, from diving at Gorilla Chop, up north in Nago.

We saw both a grown-up version & Juvenile version of them making a ball.

Other Marine Life We Enjoyed Today:
Clark’s Anemone Fish
Tomato Anemone Fish
Goat Fish
Pipe Fish
Squat Shrimps
Spotted Prawn Gobies
Arrow Cardinals

Today, we had some goooood 2 dives at Maeda, then drove for a dive with Whale Sharks.

The picture on the left is a Winged Pipefish, very rare to find them here.
This guy was quite big, probably 15cm long, moving a lot.
Don’t know why, but it was a ‘Manta Shrimp Day’ as well. We spotted 3 or 4 of them during the 2 dives we had at Maeda Point.

***Today’s Okinawa Dive Site Info**
Okinawa West Coast

1. Maeda Blue Cave
2. Maeda Drop (Drift Dive)
3. Whale Shark Dive (Yomitan)

Objective: Boat Fun Dives
Weather: Mild North Wind
Air: 29C (85F)
Water: 28C (82F)
Visibility: 30-40m
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

My favorite Leopard Blenny was still there, and we observed lots of macro creatures, like Orangutan Crabs, pairs of Fire Dartfish were everywhere.

We enjoyed ‘less crowded’ Blue Cave as well.

Hello everyone,

Today, we went to the Kerama Islands for some good dives.
Despite the North Wind, which is not favored for selection of dive sites in the Keramas, it calmed down a lot, and we had very good dives!

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

1. Toma West (Zamami Island)
2. Nozaki (Tokashiki Island)
3. Dragon Lady (Zamami Island)

Objective: Boat Fun Dives
Weather: Mild North Wind
Air: 31(88)
Water: 28C (82F)
Visibility: 30-40m
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

Marine Life we saw today:
Goggle Eye Soldierfish
Clown Fish
Garden Eels
Shrimp Gobies
Blue Chromis
Purple Queens
Giant Trevally (GT)

At Toma West, we saw a school of Goggle Eye Soldierfish. A bunch of  them. They usually do not swim around like that (in the picture).
Giorgio seemed to be enjoying watching Clown Fish and all kinds of Anemone Fish we have in Okinawa. Terry seems to be getting into Macro stuff (like Japanese divers) that he didn’t even care for a big GT swimming by just around him. He gave it a glance and went back to taking a picture of some small Hump Back Cleaner Shrimps. Uncle Terry, you have been diving too much with me!

Miho

Hi Everyone,

Since we did not have a good ocean condition for going out far, we took both B-Flap and SWIFT out closer dive sites on Okinawa West Coast.
Today was the first day of Georgio’s 3 Days Dive Package with Whale Shark Dive.

***Today’s Okinawa Dive Site Info**
Okinawa West Coast Dives

1. Red Marker & Fish House (Kadena)
2. Green Reef (Kadena)

Objective: Boat Fun Dives
Weather: Mild North Wind
Air: 29C (85F)
Water: 27(82F)
Visibility: 30-40m
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

Sea Creatures we saw today:
Cowry Shells with Eggs
Barracudas
Batfish
Orangutan Crabs
Bubble Coral Shrimps
Squat Shrimps
Flat Warms
Anemonefish

In October in Okinawa, we see many Cowry Shells mating and laying eggs.

It’s quite interesting to observe Cowry Shells itself, but even finding their eggs like the picture below on the right is fun.
In the each eggs which are about Cod Roe size, there are hundreds of tiny micro eggs in them.

We are finding them in Kerama Islands and Okinawa West Coast lately.

Okinawa in October
Wind: South & North
Air Temperature: between 25-28 C (77-83F)
Water Temperature: 27C (80 F)
Cloth: T-shirts, Long sleeves,  shorts, or long pants
Wetsuits: 3mm / 5mm full suits or shorties

Hi everyone, it’s Miho here.

Today, I went out for some dive site research dives in the Keramas.
With my buddy, I swam and swam and swam around… to find something new  & cool.
I found many kinds of shrimp gobies to show to you all!

Besides the Brown Barred Goby and Masted Shrimp Goby in the pictures above, I found a Dance Goby (or a Whitecap Goby) in Dragon Lady.

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

1. Dragon Lady (Zamami Island)
2. Ariga Cable (Tokashiki Island)

Objective: Boat Fun Dives
Weather: Mild North Wind
Air: 29C (85F)
Water: 28C (82F)
Visibility: 30-40m
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

There are more and more Arrow Cardinals in the water now.

We started to see more and more Nudibranchs in Okinawa.

Hi everyone,

Today, our Bluefield team welcomed a group of divers from all over United States.
Okinawa Convention Visitors Bureau and Japan National Tourism Organization brought some dive travel operators, a writer and a photographer for Sport Diver Magazine to Okinawa.

We hosted their first time diving in Okinawa, Japan – took them out to Tonaki Island and a dive in the Kerama Islands for turtles.

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

1. Blue Hole (Tonaki Island)
2. Guruku no Saki (Tonaki Island)
3. Tamana Farm (Gishippu Island)

Objective: Boat Fun Dives
Weather: Mild North Wind
Air: 29C (85F)
Water: 28C (82F)
Visibility: 30-40m
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

As the first dive location, we chose Tonaki Island, because all the good dive sites on the island is protected by the island over there from North wind.

‘Blue Hole’ on Tonaki Island is a fantastic dive site for advanced, cave lovers. There are a big cave with what we call ‘short course’ and ‘long course’ margin with each other, so you can choose different route each time you dive there. In the middle way, there is a hole from the top of the cave, offering great view and photo chance for us. Light shining through the hole is nice, as well as the exit of the hole is beautiful.

Around the cave, we enjoyed observing Blue Cheeked Goby in pairs, Periophthalma prawn-goby, and Zebra Goby. There is a colony of Zebra Gobies there.

After lunch, we headed to our second dive of the day was at Guruku-no-Saki.
There is a drop off from 5m-40m (or deeper), with literally full of fish.
Orange Basslet, Purple Queens, and Pyramid Butterfly Fish are hanging around by the wall. Sea Fans and lots of soft coral reef are very colorful, with the fantastic visibility (always 40m+, more than 130 feet) it’s a great location for wide angle photographers.

Then we moved back to Gishippu Island, in the Keramas.
We saw many Green Sea Turtles, all kinds of anemonefish including White Back Anemonefish, Clark’s Anemonefish, Clown Anemonefish, and Pink Anemonefish.
This dive site also has a variety of coral, both hard coral reef and soft coral… We even spotted a pair of Cowry Shells mating and laying eggs.
This dive was everybody’s favorite.

Thank you everyone, for coming all the way to Okinawa, Japan.
We hope to see more American divers, visiting this beautiful yet ‘hidden’ dive destinations.

We were worried about the weather, but even with a North Wind, it turned out a very good sunny day, perfect for good dives!

Hello there,
We had some good dives in the Kerama Islands with Terry as always.
It was a mild north wind, so we had macro dives in the Toma Bay on Zamami Island.

Lots of gobies, including my favorite Orange Diamond Gobies (what a wonderful name!).
Love taking pictures of Blue Chromis at Toma.

***Today’s Okinawa Dive Site Info***

Dive Spot Names

1. Toma  (Zamami Island)
2. Dragon Lady (Zamami Island)
3. Tamana Farm (Gishippu Island)

Objective: Boat Dives, Drift Dives

Weather: North Wind
Air: 28C (82F)
Water: 28C (82F)
Visibility: 30m
Suits: 3mm / 5mm one piece

Miho