After a few weeks of intention, I finally made it to Manazuru.
The site is on a relatively isolated and quiet part of the Izu East coast, suprisingly close to Atami, and just North. The name of the dive center I had information about was KOGOTAHAMA DIVE CENTER 0465-68-5814.
I wanted to try this site because it is relatively close to my house (about an hour w/o traffic) and it is rumored to be inexpensive. The pricing information I had was: facility fee 500 Yen, Air tank 2,000 Yen, refill 1,000 Yen making the total for a two tank dive 3,500 Yen, or 3675 with tax.
The center is a one man show, with ferocious German Shepard side kick. Really just an addition to his house, which is right across from the ocean. Adequate for up to about 10 to 20 people I'd say. Being it was a weekday, I was diving there alone.
The ocean there is quite beautiful. Nice rockly shoreline, with plenty of tide pools and little critters for your kids. A very reasonable entry, people swimming and snorkeling up and down the coastline. I was totally surprised by the abundance and variety of marine life.
My first dive, I descended into a school of huge seabass, I'd say 70 cm average length. Lots of octopus, nudis, crabs, all kinds of fish, some really huge parrots...
The site is rocky close in, turns to kelp about 30 meters out, then to a sandy bottom at around 50 to 70 meters out. The limited depth makes it a perfect snorkeling site, but for scuba that may be a downside for some. The max depths of my two dives were 36 and 37 feet, but they were over an hour each, and I enjoyed every minute.
The price was more than I had initially heard, 3,000 Yen for the first tank, bringing the total to 4,500 Yen for the two dives, excluding tax. Still not bad by standards here.
Another surprise, he only fills his 12L Steel tanks to 150 bar. When I asked why, he said something like, "Well, it's so shallow...". Read, "Well, I might only sell you one tank if I filled it all the way...".
I'll have to set that straight next time. Only here could you spend almost 30 bucks on a tank fill that is only 3/4 full...
JAG
The site is on a relatively isolated and quiet part of the Izu East coast, suprisingly close to Atami, and just North. The name of the dive center I had information about was KOGOTAHAMA DIVE CENTER 0465-68-5814.
I wanted to try this site because it is relatively close to my house (about an hour w/o traffic) and it is rumored to be inexpensive. The pricing information I had was: facility fee 500 Yen, Air tank 2,000 Yen, refill 1,000 Yen making the total for a two tank dive 3,500 Yen, or 3675 with tax.
The center is a one man show, with ferocious German Shepard side kick. Really just an addition to his house, which is right across from the ocean. Adequate for up to about 10 to 20 people I'd say. Being it was a weekday, I was diving there alone.
The ocean there is quite beautiful. Nice rockly shoreline, with plenty of tide pools and little critters for your kids. A very reasonable entry, people swimming and snorkeling up and down the coastline. I was totally surprised by the abundance and variety of marine life.
My first dive, I descended into a school of huge seabass, I'd say 70 cm average length. Lots of octopus, nudis, crabs, all kinds of fish, some really huge parrots...
The site is rocky close in, turns to kelp about 30 meters out, then to a sandy bottom at around 50 to 70 meters out. The limited depth makes it a perfect snorkeling site, but for scuba that may be a downside for some. The max depths of my two dives were 36 and 37 feet, but they were over an hour each, and I enjoyed every minute.
The price was more than I had initially heard, 3,000 Yen for the first tank, bringing the total to 4,500 Yen for the two dives, excluding tax. Still not bad by standards here.
Another surprise, he only fills his 12L Steel tanks to 150 bar. When I asked why, he said something like, "Well, it's so shallow...". Read, "Well, I might only sell you one tank if I filled it all the way...".
I'll have to set that straight next time. Only here could you spend almost 30 bucks on a tank fill that is only 3/4 full...
JAG
