Hi Antonia,
My friend and I spent a week diving Okinawa last July as part of a larger dive trip. Some notes for you
- Many Okinawa ops speak English. We used
Daisuke at Okinawa 39ers because he was recommended by an expat with 2000+ dives on the island as a great spotter. Daisuke did a very good job balancing the conflicting interests of two pairs of buddies (macro fanatics vs two seeking larger animals) and was very attentive underwater. He was also very good on email.
- There are some great shore diving sites; as a relatively new diver your guide will help you dive safely and find the best parts of the sites. We did 4 90-120 min dives on the wonderful Tengan Pier (which has its own FB page if you want to see the types of critters which can be seen there) and would have done more but we ran out of time. We also sampled 3 other shore sites with entries ranging from easy to excruciating. Your guide will help you choose the best sites for your experience and interests.
- Okinawa boat dives have strict time limits. We like much longer dives so we skipped the boat dives.
- We did a 1 day trip to Zamami Island in the Keramas - both the sea and the sky were mind-searingly blue that day. There are Okinawa ops that will drive you over and back to dive (we wanted to dive with a local nudi specialist so we took the ferry). Definitely worth at least one day there IMO. The shallow reef we dove was beautiful and the coral was in better shape than what we saw in Okinawa.
- There were many daily flight options from Tokyo to Okinawa when we were there.
More tips:
- Check with your dive op before booking your accommodation. Between traffic and driving distances you can end up in accommodations far from the dive sites if you aren't careful.
- If you are renting a car be sure to get one with GPS.
- If you plan to do any shore diving, best to bring dive boots and open heel fins (not full foot fins).
- Lawson is a terrific convenience store chain with great selection and English labels. That's how we got lunch every day.
Have a great time!