Okinawa

[takoyaki]

I've just finished a hard season guiding in Burma and am dying to get back to Japan, my girlfriend and my life! But I know I will miss the diving immensely. In 4 years living in J-land, I only ever did one dive..at Miyakejima. It was nothing to write home about.
I see threads here that say Okinawa is awesome. My question; why...what do you see there? Is it worth regular trips from Tokyo, or am I better off flying elsewhere for the same money?
Any info/advice would be great! Thanks.

 

[malaysia-islands]

I'd love to hear about okinawa too. If anyone have dived there, pls write in this thread.

 

[cdclair]

I have not dove in Okinawa for 10 years now but I still think that it is some of the best diving I have done. I am in the military so I was there for a year and dove every chance I got. All of my dives were from the shore and I never had a bad dive. You can go almost anywhere on the island and have a good dive. I remember on nights when there is a full moon you can be 100 feet down and not need a light. The water is the clearest I have ever seen. I am not sure how good the diving is now but I am sure it is still good.

 

[takoyaki]

Ok, clear water....but what did you see? I mean, domestic travel in Japan is ridiculously overpriced. Hence, Japanese golfers find it cheaper to fly to Guam and even Hawaii for the weekend! I could do a liveaboard in Palau, arguably the best diving on Earth for $3,000. So if I'm going to drop at least half that for a few days in Okinawa, I want to know that I'm not just going to see a couple pieces of broken coral and some gobies. kapish?

 

[Mannie071]

Ok, clear water....but what did you see? I mean, domestic travel in Japan is ridiculously overpriced. Hence, Japanese golfers find it cheaper to fly to Guam and even Hawaii for the weekend! I could do a liveaboard in Palau, arguably the best diving on Earth for $3,000. So if I'm going to drop at least half that for a few days in Okinawa, I want to know that I'm not just going to see a couple pieces of broken coral and some gobies. kapish?

You can try the Keramas and you can even dive The USS emmons which is a Sunken wreck just discovered about 6 years ago.

 

[iflylow]

The diving down here is really good - depending on the weather of course!

Nice reef systems, colorful fish life. Lots of boats going out to the Kerema islands, but there are also a lot of nice boat dives closer to shore. Shore dives all over the island so you can get in the water on all sides.

I can't compare the diving here to Palau - never been there - but I can say that it is good diving here.

 

[Jason Ooi]

Which month good for dive?

The diving down here is really good - depending on the weather of course!

Nice reef systems, colorful fish life. Lots of boats going out to the Kerema islands, but there are also a lot of nice boat dives closer to shore. Shore dives all over the island so you can get in the water on all sides.

I can't compare the diving here to Palau - never been there - but I can say that it is good diving here.

 

[japan-diver]

Which month good for dive?

We dive in Okinawa year round, in the winter Jan-Mar you get the added bonus of seeing whales on the boat trips to sites. Water is colder 20 or so. Spring and Fall increase your chance of mantas in the Kerama islands. Summer time the weather is hot (30+) with water temps to match and great vis- this is also typhoon season so planning a vacation is a little risky (Most typhoons occur late in the season late August-Sept)

Jan-Mar we have schooling hammerheads in Yonaguni and other attractions also. In other words a huge variety of things to see and flights can be had for cheap if you shop around. Hotels have also come down in price so packages are much more reasonable. A few days of diving and flight from mainland will definately not be $1500.

 

[Jason Ooi]

Thanks

We dive in Okinawa year round, in the winter Jan-Mar you get the added bonus of seeing whales on the boat trips to sites. Water is colder 20 or so. Spring and Fall increase your chance of mantas in the Kerama islands. Summer time the weather is hot (30+) with water temps to match and great vis- this is also typhoon season so planning a vacation is a little risky (Most typhoons occur late in the season late August-Sept)

Jan-Mar we have schooling hammerheads in Yonaguni and other attractions also. In other words a huge variety of things to see and flights can be had for cheap if you shop around. Hotels have also come down in price so packages are much more reasonable. A few days of diving and flight from mainland will definately not be $1500.

 

[dsvbohica]

My wife and I just returned from our trip from Okinawa. We did three dives from a boat at different Islands west of Naha. Black Island, Zamami, Gishipu. There are several good shops in the Naha area and I would recommend TEA-DA if you are in that area. As far as what we saw..hmmmm...what didnt we see. The best corals and fish I have ever seen. If you like 90+ visibility and 80 degree water then you may give it a try. Zamami Island is well known from the locals as turtle island. If you want to see them chances are you will. I lost count on how many we saw. I think my highlight was swimming along at about 15' below with a school of black tang. Having a very large salt water reef tank is nothing to compare now that we went here...used to love my tank...now its to small...lol.