Greetings from Japan

IwakuniDiver · Jan 10, 2006

Hey everyone,
I finally got that darn confirmation email so now I can intruduce myself.

My name is Scott, I am an IT Support Manager in Iwakunui, Japan. I have been around the water and boating my entire life (originally from Seattle, WA) and I finally got off my duff and got my NAUI OWD certification last summer.

Since then I have been diving constantly with my wife and friends and before the summer was over I had my Advanced, and Rescue Certifications. By mid next summer, I'm hoping to have my Master Diver Cert.

I just got back from a trip to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, where I went on a couple night dives for Manta Rays but unfortunately, the water was too rough to go the main area so we didn't see any rays. But, we were still able to get in some incredible dives.

I look forward to talking with all of you further and if any of you are interested or have questions about diving Japanese waters, let me know.

Scott

Fish_Whisperer · Jan 10, 2006

Irashaimase!!

Kim · Jan 10, 2006

Hi Scott. Welcome to the board. Iwakunui...hmmmmmmm...I'd have to get a map out to see where that is! Wait up - another teacher just told me it's in Yamaguchi Prefecture - is that right? If it is you aren't that far from where I live in Fukuoka Prefecture. We go diving sometimes in Omi-shima in the north of Yamaguchi. There is a Japanese club area on SB - check the Zen Divers link in my signature. I'd be curious to hear where you go diving as new sites are always worth a visit!

Sasquatch · Jan 10, 2006

A warm welcome, Scott, from the chilly, orca infested waters of Puget Sound! I spent a tour in Iwakuni with the Marines and have a deep appreciation for the area and the culture. I tried to leave it pretty much as I found it...

Sea ya!

jagfish · Jan 10, 2006

Hey Scott
Yeah, I'm with Kim, never heard of Iwakuni.
Welcome to the board.

If you ever want to check out some of the many dive sites down here in the Izu peninsula, let us know. In fact, I'm off work until the second week in April, so if you are a drysuit diver, I can show you around.

Dive on...

IwakuniDiver · Jan 10, 2006

Iwakuni is about 45km South of Hiroshima on the coast. It's a fairly small town with not much here but a Marine Corps Air Station, where I work as a civilian. I'm former Navy and my first duty station was Sasebo on board the USS Belleau Wood back in '93 so I'm pretty familiar with Fukuoka.

Around here we pretty much dive around Oshima Island and whenever we can, we go to Susa, on the Sea of Japan side where the water is much clearer.

I'll have to round up some of my dive buddies here and we'll definitely get together this year. I'm been anxious to dive Kyushu.

Kim · Jan 10, 2006

IwakuniDiver:
I'm been anxious to dive Kyushu.

It's a pity you weren't diving when you were in Sasebo! There are some good sites there - I went down there with Jagfish a couple of weeks ago. Another place that I found last summer but is a bit of a trek to get to is Amakusa (an island just south of Kumamoto). I've only been there once so far but the diving was the best I've seen in mainland Japan - comparable to Okinawa. There are a couple of SB members who live in Kumamoto and we met up to go there. There's not really much in Fukuoka though - just a couple of spots that are used for training but otherwise not so interesting. They are very shallow too. Check out some of the threads in the Zen divers forum. There is some dive site info in the Local Knowledge thread - plus stuff about Amakusa etc in another one.
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=63320
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=118720

I also did a story on Jagfish and my Sasebo trip, although that is more about my first drysuit experience than the site itself.
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=123389

jagfish · Jan 10, 2006

Hey Scott and Kim
We'll have to do a trip to Oshima sometime. I dive there a bit as well. We take a ferry from Atami, Yokohama or Tokyo. It can be as little as one hour with that hydrofoil boat...

Kim · Jan 10, 2006

jagfish:
Hey Scott and Kim
We'll have to do a trip to Oshima sometime. I dive there a bit as well. We take a ferry from Atami, Yokohama or Tokyo. It can be as little as one hour with that hydrofoil boat...

That's a different place to where I mentioned. Omi-shima is a penisular island on the north coast of Yamaguchi. Maybe Scott is talking about the same place as you though - I've never been there though, it's probably a long way away from me.

IwakuniDiver · Jan 10, 2006

Kim,
You're much closer to me than Jag is. Also, the diving at the Oshima Island near me really isn't worth the trip from where you and Jag will be coming from.

There are a bunch of great placea in Susa that my buddies and I go to. They have boat dives there for about 7500Y per person and there are some cliffs that we go to there as well. Course, the local fisherman got a little mad at us last time we were there and are telling the local government that we're scaring all the fish away and are trying to get us banned from the cliffs.

Jagfish,
I don't think that we're talking about the same Oshima. It takes the Shinkansen over 3hrs to get to Hiroshima from Yokohama and Oshima Island is south of Iwakuni.

I'll see if I can dig up an online map of my local area to show you all.

Greetings from Japan

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IwakuniDiver

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Fish_Whisperer

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Kim

Here for my friends.....

Sasquatch

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jagfish

The man behind the fish

IwakuniDiver

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Kim

Here for my friends.....

jagfish

The man behind the fish

Kim

Here for my friends.....

IwakuniDiver

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