DIVE HAPPY

There's a wealth of great diving in Japan for those with a love of adventure and a hefty budget

I just got back from 10 days in Japan, visiting Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima with my parents. Despite my dad being a life long diver too, we sadly didn't have the time to go diving in Japan, but I enjoyed myself so much during our time over there I've been looking into the best places to scuba dive in Japan.

I've mentioned the mysterious underwater pyramids of Yonaguni before, and that is still the number one place I'd like to see, not least because of the schools of hammerhead sharks that pass by in the vicinity too. Yonaguni is at the westernmost tip of Japan's chain of islands, closer to Taiwan than the Japanese mainland, and it sounds remote, wild and beautiful out there.

Given there are so many other islands around Japan, with Okinawa being a key base for divers in south western Japan and Hoikkado in the north, there is an absolute abundance of dive sites, although I guess it would be pretty cold the further north you get.

The ever excellent ScubaBoard.com has a whole discussion forum about diving in Japan, with Japanese member Kim in particular contributing some great roundups of different Japanese dive sites. I especially love the sound of "Antonio Gaudi", named after the Spanish architect whose buildings are some of the most imaginative in the world:

"With the main entrance at 36 meters this is an amazing dive. Once inside the cavern as you look up you can see tiny holes like windows all over the ceiling. The cavern is quite long and as you swim through it you ascend to the top exit at about 17 meters. On a sunny day the light coming through the holes is very beautiful. There are often small shoals of fish inside the cavern." [read full post]

Spending a few weeks island hopping through western Japan exploring these dive sites, finally arriving at Yonaguni, would be a spectacular dive safari. Unfortunately it would also cost a small fortune, I'd imagine - like everything else in Japan, diving's not cheap. Check out DivingTravel for an idea of a Okinawa/Yonaguni liveaboard - $1500 US for a 5 day liveaboard. Actually, that's not too bad, but the cost of flights to Okinawa in the first place might make it prohibitive for many.

Still, maybe I'll get that dream magazine commission one day...