Okinawa

[brew77]

Hello divers. I'm planning on making a trip to Okinawa sometime within the year. Just wanted to know what the best time of year to dive? Thanks.

Justin

 

[chile7236]

All year but now is when the season really gets going...check with japan-diver for accomodations, trips, etc.

 

[brew77]

Ok, thanks. I've been checking there website. I was thinking either Christmas time frame or spring break of next year.

 

[japan-diver]

We dive year round in Okinawa. The summer months are the warmest times with water temps around 27-30C and lots of macro life. Fall brings in larger life and cooler water. Around Christmas timeframe water temps will be about 25C or less and the whales start to show up in Jan. Winter is cool water 20-22C whales till April and generally rougher water making some dives a bit sporty. Spring the water starts to warm up, currently 24C and climbing.
Accommodations vary from guest house to resort.

 

[brew77]

Awesome, thanks. I'm good with cool water. I just came from California where it got much cooler than that. I'll give you guys a call when I'm heading that way and see if I can get on one of your trips.

 

[japan-diver]

We head out everyday so we should be able to get you on no problem. If you need help with hotel/accommodations we can assist there too.

 

[Golo]

Make sure that if you decide to go during Golden Week or Obon to book well ahead, as prices go up and spots get fewer quickly!

Also, if you've got your own gear and want to bring it, you could look into shipping. I had my gear shipped from Okinawa to Kumamoto for 1600 yen and it took just a day (they said two, but it arrived a day early).

 

[Kokeldil]

japan-diver, you say you dive all year. which time of the year however would you consider the best and why?
also, is it possible to go all the way to Iseki point from okinawa, do you guys do/offer this?

 

[japan-diver]

We dive year round as stated- depending on what you want to see will depend on the time of year you would come. May-June is calm water good viz, July is usually also quite good. August and Sept are great diving but also typhoon season- diving is awesome when their isn't a typhoon. Oct- Nov we get more manta action and some bigger fish in the area. Water is still warm above 25C until about Dec. Jan-March is humpback whale season and schooling hammerheads in Yonaguni, water is a bit cooler getting down to about 20-21C. To dive Iseki you have to fly to Yonaguni, its about a 1 hour flight from Naha. We send divers to Yonaguni at least once a month for the dives and have packages for both Okinawa and Yonaguni diving.

 

[patpatpatme]

we dove off kagoshima in early june last year, just before a typhoon hit, in fact it did hit, and we werent able to dive for our last day unfortunately. but the water was relatively warm (80 degrees or so), and the visibility was quite good at least 80 + we went to manta point and got lucky by swimming with 5 huge mantas.!