Fireworks & Burning Dogs <10.8.2008>

Every year during the summer months, Japan is celebrating the Hanabi season with huge – 90 min. long-lasting firework sessions.
One of the biggest ones was going to happen this weekend at Tokyo Bay.
And as this is easy to see from my balcony – I decided to give a small Hot Dog Party!

With the support of “Flo” we prepared the buffet ready for 24 Hot Dogs – which was just right for all 5 of us ;-)
The living room was transformed into the BBQ area and grill was ready to go.

Now we were ready to sit down and enjoy the show:

Considering that in this moment 1 million people were watching this fireworks around the Tokyo bay -> we definitely had Top Spot to watch the show at highest comfort ;-)

With a Big Bang

AQUOS Team - New Dive Buddies <2.8.2008>

Recently I got the chance to join my good old friend Yuko & her Dive team, who took me to a joint weekend at Izu.
They using the dive shop which is close to my office in Kanda – called Aquos:
http://www.d-aquos.com/shop/index.html

I highly can recommend them to anyone as they have brilliant service, a decent selection of diving stuff and great instructor called Ajima san. He put his whole heart in what he does and really try to take care about everyone to make it an enjoyable dive.

So hear come the main actors:

My dear old friend & colleague Yuko san and her best mates Masami san & Kanae san (from left).

We went Saturday morning to Izu by Shinkansen and started our first dives at Futo from the 2nd beach entry point.
It was pleasant summer day and we where just few diving teams, as most of them went to IOP for a special sunset dive event. We used that chance to enjoy most infrastructure just for us alone ;-)
The visibility was not so bad and also the temperatures where fine about 22 deg.
This dive site has unusual high number of those special anemones I find so funny looking:

The highlight today was definitely the moon fish – so called “mambo” in Japanese – unfortunately he was already dead x-)
We wish you a good (final) rest fellow…

The more lively ones you can find below:





We stayed tonight in a nice Ryokan directly in Futo before we head next day to the famous Mikomoto dive site – you remember the Hammers?!

Even the days before were very promising due to many shark sights, but we weren’t lucky that day.
We could not spot any hammer heads just some more hidden ones – can you find him?

SAD? … Not at all!!!
There is much more to experience than just the hammers – there is the CURRENT!!!
Believe me – it was a really strong current that day which made it a perfect drift dive. I really LOVE current.
Such experience you can hardly find anywhere else around Izu – enjoy it.
Below pictures might give you some idea what I am talking about ;-)

I love that one (^ε^)

Thanks to the good experience and professionalism of Ajima san we all had a great & safe day out in Mikomoto.

I hope to have soon the chance to dive with you all again

To my new friends

UMI NO HI – The Oceans Day @ Ita <21.7.2008>

Today was the last day of our 3 days diving trip around Izu peninsula and it was the Japanese public holiday dedicated to the Ocean.

We checked out at Ugusu and went up the north coast of Izu on the 17 heading for Ita. No one of us had been there yet so we were pretty excited what the place would be.

When you come down the winding roads, you will pass first a quiet residential area following a very narrow road down to the harbor. It is amazing that any cars can actual fit on this road – in Europe you use such for bicycles ;-)

All dives start from the port, where you have to climb over stones as kind of beach entry:

The visibility here is rather good compared to the previous day with 5-12m, but this place doesn’t real feature any big stuff.
It is more famous for the real small ones like the cute blennies

… or a rare seahorses, frog fish & crabs.

After long search Franz found the only remaing nudibranch which saved the day of Izumi (there is no dive without one ;-)

So for people interested in Macro photography this is a nice place to go. Also the people from the MOC Maritime Officer Club were very helpful and good guides – I can recommend them again!

Now it is time to say goodbye to Izu and heading back from a long weekend to Tokyo … with million others on the highway X-)

Jammed

ARARI – In the Miso Soup <20.7.2008>

From Mikomoto (south of Izu) we went on to west coast, where we stayed close to Arari/Koganezaki dive spots at Ugusu (Maruka Ryokan).
We started the day with a beach dive at Kogenazaki – which is picturesque bay also famous to snorklers & sunbathers.

The view was really bad just up to 3-4m so it made it hard to spot anything from a distance. The highlight was a small couple of yellow neon eye blennies.

Next 2 dives we moved to boat dives from Arari, where we had been in May already.
http://www.arari.co.jp/gestphoto.html (scroll down to spot us)

But this time the visibility was terrible – sometimes less than 3m … you felt like swimming in miso soup.

Still we could find some nice moray’s


… a tiny “clear shrimp”

and a huge frog fish of a size of 25cm

Finally I’d like to present the actors:
Father / son & IZU


& the whole clan:

Gojisosama deshita

HAMMA !!! - Mikomoto <19.7.2008>

That’s the short version in Japanese of hammer head sharks (HHS) – and that’s what it will be all about in my next story…

As Monday the 21st of July is public holiday in Japan – “umi no hi” … the “Ocean day”, we followed the spirit and dedicated this weekend to the ocean (or “let’s do something different … let’s go diving ;-)

Flo was going to finish his open water exam on Friday to be ready to enjoy diving together on this weekend.
Our tour will take us starting from the east of Izu - in Kawana were we stayed overnight at Izumi’s place - to leave next day early morning to the most famous spot to see hammerhead sharks … Mikomoto.

We arrived there already at 8:00 in the morning and got prepared for our first dive. We were full expectations as last weekend there were several spotting of HHS. But it is always a matter of luck – so you’ll never know.

The water was warmer than expected with 22~26deg and the visibility still fine about 10-15m.
Beside the thrill of the HHS you also can enjoy colorful soft coral reef along the dive.

Now we came to the spot where the current hits speed and is ideal for the sharks to drift by.
It just took seconds until we already spot the first shark – not yet a HHS but a bigger grey shark. Than suddenly the first hammer head!
But it wasn’t one … suddenly a group of HHS - about 20 -30 – showed up from the milky water and passed by:

It was just AMAZING!
The show didn’t last long, but this moment I will treasure forever!
We were really lucky that day … but there was one person I have to thank most:
AKI san – our guide! She knows this place as the back of her hand!

You can find my pics also on the homepage of the diveshop, but the page is only in Japanese … no I am famous in Japan ;-)
http://nakagimc.sakura.ne.jp/ymc/ymc/diarypro/diary.cgi?no=82

Today a dream came true for me and my divers heart.
One of my dream destinations is the Galapagos Islands which are famous for HHS & other big fish spotting. Today I got a little feeling of it…

Goodbye little Galapagos

FUTO Diving – Escape to Nature <13.7.2008>

The next day we went to the bay next to Kawana in the south - so called Futo. This also belongs the diving areas of Oasis diving.
It was my first time and I didn’t know what expects me … so I was looking forward to it.
Already from the first sight you can see – Futo is different!
It lies within a quiet bay surrounded by mountains and just a small naturally harbor. You can do beach dives from two sides and also go out by boat to other famous dive sites (Macro-fans)

Our guide during these days was our beloved Hitomi san. She really took all efforts to show us everything possible – and believe it was a lot!

Starting from nudibranches all types (we won’t miss those ;-)

… to a ray which gives 60V electro-shocks

… a little cat shark (really just as small as 20 cm)

… a guitar ray, which was really hard to find

… and finally a grinning moray – I loved that one!
Who said that fishes has no sense of humor ;-)

My personal highlight of the facility is definitely the hot bath in form of 2 ships. You can soak there in 38 deg warm water with a view over the bay and relax after a nice dive …

HANG LOOSE