Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Diving category. Noteworthy entries are filed topmost.
A weekend of diving and driving
Well it’s been a fun weekend overall, and an extended one for those of us lucky enough to live in Okinawa and my employed by the local government. Yesterday marked the end of the Battle of Okinawa, and therefore was Okinawa Memorial Day, with all public offices and schools closed for the day. So, while many families attended their ancestral tombs and shrines for the day to have picnics and pay homage of some sort, I elected to get into the ocean and pay my respects to Poseidon, Neptune and Darryl Hannah from Splash!
It was actually the 2nd attempt at getting into the water after I had tried on Saturday. Was scheduled to meet a diving student and start an Advanced Open Water course with her. So we met up, got to the dive site and geared up. All was well until we got into the water and about 4m/12ft down when my dive buddy indicated there was a problem and that they wanted to surface. So we went up and my buddy said they were having problems breathing from the regulator. I tried breathing through it and it seemed to be tough to inhale; almost as if the diaphragm inside was sticking. I looked at the alternate second stage and tried breathing through that and encountered the exact same problem. Very strange. If you hit the front of the 2nd stage (near the purge button) it seemed to loosen up for about 20-30 seconds before it started sticking again. As we were planning a deep dive there was no way I was going to take any chances with equipment, so we had to call off the diving. Have sent the regulator off to get checked but I only had it serviced 2-3 weeks ago. Hopefully it is just something that has stuck and needs lubrication or similar. I could have taken the regulator apart and given it a visual inspection, but I would rather give it to someone who has easy access to the parts and who will know straight away what the problem is. So instead on Saturday we decided to snorkel around Maeda Misaki instead. The sun was beating down and the water was about 29C at the surface; it really was beautiful there. We snorkelled around to the “cave” but that was just a huge mass of people colliding into each other, elbowing each other in the face to get past etc, so we didn’t stay in there for long. At one point I had someone just push my head down under the water to give them leverage to get past - not nice. The sun was pretty strong and I could feel the backs of my legs had been burnt a little by the time we had finished.
Finally some diving news!
It has been a long time coming, but I have a bit of diving news to report. The water is warming up, and so on Saturday I arranged an Open Water pool session that has been put off since the water started getting cold back in November. The day was a success on the whole and am now looking forward to getting into the water with those students at the start of July.
The day didn’t start too well, with rain scything down and strong winds on the west side of Okinawa. It was a good job we weren’t planning on getting into the ocean as there is no way we would have done it. Things didn’t improve when I got to the meeting spot and 5 minutes before we were all due to meet up one of my dive students called after being involved in a traffic collision. Not sure what happened exactly, but the main thing was she was physically OK. The car didn’t sound too good, with one of the front wheels not pointing the way it should, but cars can be repaired with money. So from 3 students we went down to 2, and those other two arrived promptly. We got gear and then headed off to the pool at Island Message in Sunabe.
Although we had done some of the skills before, I decided to run the course pretty much from scratch again as it had been a while since we’d done anything underwater. I was really pleased and, I have to admit, a little surprised at how well they did. Neither of them had any real problems, even when it came to the mask skills. The mask skills (filling it with water then clearing it, and removing the mask and putting it back on) are always the ones that could be tough for students. That skill is all psychological too: people often get worked up about water going in their nose and them inhaling it, that when they finally come down to doing the skill, they are so worked up that it happens just like that. The key with that skill is visualization; you have to picture yourself taking the mask off, the feeling of water touching your nose but not entering your nose, you keeping calm about it all etc. If you can picture yourself doing it, then you’ll do it without any problems. And I am happy to report both students did the mask removal first time, without any worries whatsoever. You could see the relief in their faces when they’d done it, along with the realization that it wasn’t nearly as tough as they’d built it up to be.
Once the mask skills are done, the rest of the session usually proves to be a breeze, and this one was no different. Smooth and methodical was the order of the day, and it worked well for both of them. So now I think we all look forward to the start of July (the next time we are all free) and a chance for us all to get into the ocean and see what diving is all about!
I’m baaaaaacccckkkk!
You just can’t keep me down. After a forced absence for over a week, I am happy to report I am back and typing again. I would like to come up with some exciting reasoning for my site being taken down… something like a wrangle with some ultra right-wing nationalists. Unfortunately, the reality is much more boring. The whole deepstop.com site was hacked by someone who obviously had nothing better to do, and the webmaster had a hell of a time recovering it all. But he managed it, so a big thanks going to Andy at www.yorkshire-divers.co.uk for sorting it all out.
First of all, just had an event at work which really takes the proverbial biscuit. Japanese teacher came over and told me the school was making a sign and wanted to know the best way in English to say “No Trespassing!”. Thought this a little strange and asked why they wanted the sign in English (unless, as a school, we want to educate people even through warnings). The reasoning is because of this horrifying event. Apparently a military jeep had the audacity to get lost on Okinawa’s wonderfully signposted roads (if you have been to Okinawa you can imagine the sarcastic tone that was said in). In an attempt to go back in the right direction, the jeep turned into a school parking area and turned around. I can hear you all saying “And…” but that is the end of the story. Jeep turned around and went on its way. It should also be noted that there were no students at the school at the time (although I don’t really think that’s too relevant to the story anyway). So now, apparently all schools are quaking in fear that one of the smog-belching carriages that transport those foreign armed savages around will decide to turn around in their car parks, and are trying to make signs to deter them. Now I don’t know about you, but even if I see a “no trespassing” sign, if I need to turn around and that seems the best place, then I will spend a couple of seconds turning around there. Have seen plenty of Japanese tourists doing that at Japanese and American bases after making a wrong turn. So I told them the translation and they went away very happy. Nice to know the school budget is being spent on things that make a difference!
Dolphin Hunt returns to Okinawa
An interesting link to this story is that Nago fishermen have, for the first time in quite a while, managed to trap 100 dolphins and slaughter them recently. This, from Japan Update:
Nago used to the center of dolphin hunting in Okinawa where tens of fishermen gathered to hunt dolphins that were herded into the shallow Nago Bay and then slaughtered. Eventually the bloody practice was stopped mainly because of opposition by conservationist groups, and accompanying bad publicity to the city.
However, the tradition is still alive, and a few fishermen in the city still possess licenses to hunt dolphins. Dolphin meat is also available at some smaller shops and at some festivals in the city.
Recently, a school of more than 100 dolphins appeared off Nago Bay and the local fishermen?fs association called its members to join the hunt. Five boats joined the hunt and chased the group of the animals. They managed to herd seven dolphins into the fishing port where they were slaughtered.
This was the first time the dolphin hunt has been allowed since the practice was stopped 18 years ago. That ban was lifted last May. Association officials stress that the dolphin hut is not against International Whaling Commission limitations. But as people around the world are strongly opposing whaling, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries recommended to halt the practice.
Currently there are six boats that have a license to hunt for dolphins. For people in and around Nago City dolphins used to be an important part of their diet, but recently dolphin meat has become more of a curiosity that is eaten on special occasions.
Even local fishermen agree that a large scale dophin hunt is a thing of the past. “We can’t continue taking dolphins like before. People are strongly against the practice, and besides the cost of fuel has increased so much that hunting dolphins is no more profitable”
One thing that is rarely mentioned here, but usually in base arguments is the dugong. The only reason the dugong so rare in Okinawa is because they were fished almost to extinction. It’s not a coincidence they are only found near Camp Schwab waters in Okinawa (i.e. where Okinawan fishermen are not allowed). Seems rather strange that they are complaining then that the Henoko base will result in the death of the dugong population.
Finally back in the water
After what seemed like an eternity (in reality, just over 2 months) I finally got back into the water and dived on Saturday morning at Maeda Misaki. I’m pretty sure it’s been the longest period I’ve ever been out of the water since I came to Okinawa, and as soon as I got in I realised how much I’d missed it. Met up with Brian at 7am at Maeda, and upon meeting we found out that parking to the dive site doesn’t actually open until 8am (shows how much we haven’t been diving!). On heading over to look at the conditions we were astonished though. It was probably the flattest I have ever seen the ocean off the coast of Maeda. There really wasn’t a single ripple in the water and was pretty breathtaking.
So 8am comes, the gates open up and typically, we are first into the water. That’s a great feeling, as you know that a lot of the more timid fish may still be around before everyone else jumps in and starts disturbing them. But man that water felt cold after 2 months being out of the loop! The official temperature was 22.7C in the water, but when that stuff hits the base of your spine it feels ice cold! But a bit of cold water wasn’t going to stop me diving so we descended and headed left along the wall. Saw a big (50-60cm) stonefish and some nice corals on what ended up being a deep dive (to around 34m). When we returned and came to the shallower waters we saw a cuttlefish too, which made my day as they really are my favourite marine animal. They just like like something not from this earth, with their colour changing and the way the propel themselves through the water.
So the 2nd dive of the day was even better, as we saw 3 of the things! Admittadly, one of them might have been the one we saw on the previous dive being spotted again, but it was still great. And I think we were watching 2 of them mating at one point. We spotted one cuttlefish which was pretty big and hovering close to the bottom. We went over and stayed a safe distance from it so as not to scare it off. Anyway, after about a minute it suddenly shot off at great speed and then we saw a smaller cuttlefish which must have been below the bigger one. Smaller cuttlefish then sauntered away with a post-coital glow to it (ok - so the very last part wasn’t strictly true!). I have to say at the end of this dive I was feeling pretty chilly. The water was a little cool and I had only had around 3 hours sleep the previous night so wasn’t full of energy. But I was back in the water for the first time in 2008 and am looking forward to getting back in once again this coming weekend. Until then, take care and dive safely.