Night Dive-Hayama, Japan

[Bill22]

<DIV>Just thought I would share from my logbook [img]smileys/smiley1.gif[/img]</DIV>
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<DIV>26 July 2007. Second night dive at Hayama. Time In: 20:09 Time Out: 21:04. 3000 psi to start. 800 psi finish. Visibility: 10-15 feet. Water temp: 72F. Depth 46'. Lot's of fish life, saw several lobsters. Also a couple of eels. Underwater canyons (not to wide in most places could touch both walls if you reached out both arms) , a swim through ( I immediately thought "overhead environment", but was not to long). Coral feeding at night. One fish in the kelp as long as my arm. Still working on fish identification. Will be easier when my new strobe shows up. I'll just take a picture to bring home so I can look it up. Really good dive.</DIV>

[jobahed]

Cool! I've wanted to go to Japan for a long time now, that would be great. Was there no other dive sites with better vis? I would think being surrounded by the Pacific there'd be some better diving...

Watch out for the Fugu!

-John

[Bill22]

Originally Posted by jobahed

Cool! I've wanted to go to Japan for a long time now, that would be great. Was there no other dive sites with better vis? I would think being surrounded by the Pacific there'd be some better diving...

Watch out for the Fugu!

-John

Hi John! Actually there are some very good dive spots over on the Izu Pennisula which is about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. The club is planning on going there next month as a group trip. I'm also looking at possibly making a trip out to Hachijo Island which is about 10 hours by ferry(overnight) or 45 minutes by plane. Diving is supposed to be very good there as well. Of course Hachijo is well off-shore from mainland Japan. Members of the club also travel to Okinawa, Guam, and the Philippines to dive every year. All these places are relatively inexpensive to get to from Tokyo.
Tokyo Bay area just isn't very good vis this time of year. I'm told in the winter that it get's much better (50ft+). The nice thing about Hayama is that it's convenient. We can shoot over and make a night dive during the week and the guys who are working days can be home early enough that it isn't a big impact on getting up the next morning to go to work. On the weekends we try to arrive before 7-7:30 AM before the traffic and the fishermen :-) By 9:30 we're sitting somewhere having breakfast and talking about the dive :-) There are two small coral reefs off-shore. There is good fish life/lobster etc.... Some interesting rock formations, canyons, small caves, even a small swim-through/tunnel. I think that the diving there is really good. Lot's of interesting things to see and the opportunity to practice navigational skills. It's not an "easy" dive. You have a pretty good walk/wade out until it's deep enough to snorkel (probably 75-100 yards depending on the tide. Then about the same distance on the surface before actually starting the dive. You then have to use your navigational skills to find the reefs that are off-shore and then to find your way back to the get-out point. I really enjoy diving there. I've been making it pretty much every week and I see something new everytime. You probably couldn't tell from my dive log, but I was really excited coming back from that last dive. That is what is so cool for me. Having that excitement again after not diving for so long :-)

[NavyDM]

Bill,

I should be back for some club dives or if you want to go to IZU one weekend let me know. I got my stuff just a couple of days before the ship left. I'll have some good pics when we get back some time in Sept.

give me a quick note on how the divings going.

Ryan

[namabiru]

Sounds like a lot of fun. When I get back to Japan, I will have to try to make a trip 'up north' to dive. (I'd be going to Oita to visit my old haunts first)

[Bill22]

Originally Posted by NavyDM

Bill,

I should be back for some club dives or if you want to go to IZU one weekend let me know. I got my stuff just a couple of days before the ship left. I'll have some good pics when we get back some time in Sept.

give me a quick note on how the divings going.

Ryan

Hi Ryan,
Been busy with work for the last week. Did go diving on Saturday morning with Junji, but that about killed me since I had to come back and work that night with only four hours sleep :-)) Was going to go Sunday morning, but was just to tired. I made a night dive tonight with Nathan and Pete. Both dives were at Hayama. Check out my pics in the gallery, I posted three from the dive tonight. The Izu trip is set for September 29-30th. Hopefully you'll be back by then. We're also looking at making a trip to Hachijo-jima Island. That's an overnight ferry trip. Drop me an email when you get a chance.

[Bill22]

Originally Posted by namabiru

Sounds like a lot of fun. When I get back to Japan, I will have to try to make a trip 'up north' to dive. (I'd be going to Oita to visit my old haunts first)

Hey drop me a line when you make it back this way. Lot's of good diving up this way :-)