Japan Scuba
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Ok, folks. So now I’m an Open Water Diver with a mere 9 dives under my belt. These pictures were taken with crappy disposable underwater cameras, so forgive the lousy quality – I’ve cleaned them up as best as I could. Anyway, I’m looking for my next dive, hopefully in Japan. My question to you is, do you have a suggestion for where should I go next? I hit the Dive Japan website for some starter clues. But I thought I’d throw out this question for my readers too – especially for any fellow divers. Word of mouth always trumps websites in my opinion.
The principal at my base school told me that his friends who were fond of diving really enjoyed their time at Kochi Prefecture’s Paradi dive center. Kochi and Ehime share a border, so I’m really darn close. That makes it an attractive option. The website also makes it seem like an ideal spot for a quick long weekend type trip – maybe 2 or 3 days for about 6 dives.
Should I finally go all the way out to the Ogasawara Islands? (I once mentioned these islands ages ago in passing as a potential whale watching destination.) They’re extremely isolated – and yet they’re technically part of Tokyo. The idea of a place you can only get to via a 30 hour long ferry ride is appealing in and of itself for some reason…
Okinawa is probably the most obvious option – it features the mysterious underwater Yonaguni Monument or Yonaguni Ruins, which were originally brought to my attention with a great video that Ryan aka “freedomwv” submitted to JapanSoc. I don’t really think it’s Lemuria or anything, but hey – how cool would it be to see those big geometric shapes underwater? Or, elsewhere in Okinawa, if I didn’t wimp out, I hear I can see loads of hammerheads…
So, what do you think? Do you know of any other dive spots I should consider? I’ve heard people say that the Izu Peninsula has some neat spots. Anyway, I’ve got some time to look into it. It’s still too cold to dive in anything but a drysuit. I’ll wait for 5mm weather. 
