Ishigaki Okinawa in Sept, what to expect ?

[ronscuba]

Never been diving in Japan before. Will be in Ishigaki Okinawa middle of September. Plan on diving for 3-4 days.

What should I expect for dive quality, marine life, conditions, Japanese dive operator practices, clientele, etc. ?

 

[Pkishino]

contact my friend anna at Viking Scuba Kabira
she runs the shop with her husband, based on ishigaki. Say hi from me

 

[toris1968]

Never been to Ishigaki but I live on Okinawa, you can expect all steel 63s w/ yoke tanks. Ishigaki is not far from Okinawa so I'd expect the water to be about the same, awesome Vis (depending on the sea conditions), you'll be right on the verge of wetsuit season(even during the winter I only wear a 3mm but most wear 5-7mm. Japanese wear them all year round), lots of beautiful coral, we have sharks, turtles, lion fish octopus and sea snakes, plus all the regular little ocean critters.

 

[ronscuba]

Since everyone handles water temps differently, what temperature is wetsuit season ? I normally wear just a lycra skin above 80 degf. Below 80 degf maybe a 3mm vest.

With steel 63 tanks, what are the typical dive bottom times and tank characteristics ? I am familiar with alumunum 80 and steel 100.

 

[cephalopod2]

I recently returned from a 3 week dive trip to Japan, including diving in Okinawa and Zamami, but was not in Ishigaki. If you're planning on boat dives, you might want to ask the ops you're considering about bottom time limits. I was very surprised to hear bottom time limits of 45-50 min quoted for boat dives in Okinawa (and elsewhere).

There were ops with 12L steel tanks at nearly every location we dove, sometimes with a small surcharge (10L tanks were the default). Not sure if there are ops who also have them in Ishigaki.

 

[ronscuba]

I recently returned from a 3 week dive trip to Japan, including diving in Okinawa and Zamami, but was not in Ishigaki. If you're planning on boat dives, you might want to ask the ops you're considering about bottom time limits. I was very surprised to hear bottom time limits of 45-50 min quoted for boat dives in Okinawa (and elsewhere).

There were ops with 12L steel tanks at nearly every location we dove, sometimes with a small surcharge (10L tanks were the default). Not sure if there are ops who also have them in Ishigaki.

Thanks.

What were the water temperatures ? 45 minutes is pretty short. Are most of the clientele beginners ?

 

[cephalopod2]

I had 79-82 F over Okinawa and Zamami - the cooler temps were at depth. But that's in July.

We are macro fanatics and gluttons for punishment, so we did mostly 100 min/+ shore dives in Okinawa (independently). The boat dive time limits were a major factor in that decision. We were able to dive Zamami with a gentleman based there who is known throughout Japan for his nudibranch work. He was running his own boat, so we had 60 min dives (but only 2 dives a day possible). Alum 80s from him. We ended up with only 1 day of guided Okinawa diving (both shore dives at our request) - we were diving with 2 excellent, experienced Swiss divers that day. The op we booked with knew that we each had 1000+ dives and were diving with DSLRs though, so that may have made a difference.

Interestingly in many of the places we dove in Japan (not sure about Okinawa) the dive boats are run by fishermen, not dive ops. That's where the 45-50 min time limits apparently come from. Divers from different ops (with their guides) often share the same boat. If Ishigaki dive ops are running their own boats you may have 60 min limits. But you might want to check tank options in that case. I found going from Alum 80s to steel 10Ls was an adjustment in terms of dive time. Far preferred 12Ls.

 

[ronscuba]

I ended up making a reservation with Prime Scuba. They look like a well established operator in the area.

They have 1 large boat and offer 3 tank dives with 10L steel tanks as their standard. I asked about bottom times and they said 40-45 minutes depending on the site and the diver. Will be diving with them multiple days so maybe they will let us stay down longer.

Looking forward to this trip.

 

[Alfawolfje]

We were diving with Prime Ishigaki last month and they have one of best decent diving boats of the island.
One of the foreign guides Zohar is the man you want.... he jumps in first in the group and comes out last... we did 60 minutes dives each time! Great guy!
I am based in Tokyo with my diving group but travel to Ishigaki on a regular basis.
Apart from weighting, having a 10L steel or 10.9L aluminum (AL80), I find the difference négliable.
In Tokyo we give 12L or 14L to heavy breathers if local diveshop has them but it's rather rare to have options.

Hope this helps

 

[Frod]

Dont forget it is a typhoon season on Okinawa around Aug-Sep. So depending on your luck, you may get into typhoon without any diving available....