New Year's holiday in Okinawa

I was hoping to go home for Christmas like I had done the previous two years but unfortunately the tickets to Australia nearly doubled in price... and I was looking for tickets early. So instead I spent Christmas with Steve and his family in Yukuhashi and then escaped the cold as best I could by going down to Okinawa again. Considering last time I went, I dove practically the whole time, I wanted to have a look around. I stayed at Hamby Resort and was really happy they remembered me and were happy to see me. The first day I visited the dive shop and went riding up the steepest hill in the area. Not on purpose and not a good idea unless you are trying to get fit. I wasn't keen to go diving straight away as I was still recovering from a cold. On the second day i hired a car the first day and went up to the Chiraumi Aquarium, the world's second biggest aquarium. Around the grounds there were creatures made from plants. Very well done. Some were still a work-in-progress.

I must say not only is it the biggest I have been to, it was the best. The variety they had was amazing. Of course the massive tank that held the whale shark, rays, sharks and others was awesome.

After spending a lot of time in the aquarium I went and saw the dugong and turtle enclosures. The dugongs and turtles were cute but it was a pity that their enclosure weren't a little better. I then headed to the dolphin enclosure. There they not only have dolphins but also a false killer whale. They were all so cute and there were singing and showing off as they knew the show was coming up soon and they would be fed. I have some cool footage of them all doing their tricks. I also got wet from the false killer whale's final display... We were warned.

After the very entertaining show I had a look around the traditional Okinawan village. They must have had very small horses as the stables were not even up to my shoulder. I took a spin around the botanical garden but by this time my stomach was eating itself.
After some lunch I went to the Butterfly House which was in the area. As you can see there were many butterflies. After I went to the Busena Underwater Observatory but because the sea was rough the lady told the visibility was about 2-3 metres. I decided I'd save my money. Instead I took photos of the hibiscus that were there. From there I went to Cape Maeda and to some castle ruins. I got the car back in time which is always a good thing.

On the 3rd day the diving began. We went up to where I had been the day before which made me feel a little counterproductive but it was one of the only places we could go diving. The dive site we did is called Gorilla Chop. Because it was my first dive back I was a little rusty and didn't take down enough weight. Lesson learned! Thicker wetsuit, more weight. I left my common sense at home that day! The fact it was a shallow dive didn't particularly help. Anyway enough excuses we saw fish such trumpet fish, moorish idols, emperor angelfish, triggerfish, speckled sandperches and black spotted puffer fish. The second dive was the same site and much the same.
The next day was New Years Eve so we only did one dive finishing on sunset down on Oda Coast the southern most of the island. We had to go down to the south of the island as there were storms out at sea which were making most of the island un-diveable. The dive is called Channel Crevices, which is a very accurate description. The rock formations were interesting. We swam through the rock formations and saw parrot fish, different soft corals, butterfly fish and chocolate dipped damsel fish. Cute!

That night I stayed around Hamby Resort and we had a big feast. Miho (Otis'wife) and her brothers had gone out on a fishing charter and caught heaps of fish. Lots of yummy sashimi! Thanks guys! Fireworks went off at midnight at the nearby American Village
New Year's Day I had a big sleep in and relaxing day.
On the 2nd we went back down to the Channel Crevices dive site as the weather was still crappy. On the 3rd the weather settled down enough for us to get to the Kerama Islands. These islands are famous diving spots. Although it had settled down enough to get to Keramas it was still choppy and silly me sat at the back cramped up. Yep... I got boat sick! So, I started the day with a hurl over the side. Ewww! The best thing is that no one gave me too much slack over it. Apart from the bad start, the dives out there were great. We saw a large cuttlefish, an octopus, sea snakes, large staghorn coral, Nemo and his relatives and a huge turtle with a remora attached to it.
One of my dive buddies Greg and I got talking and he invited me to go out sailing with him on his yacht. I was thinking of taking a break from diving so it was a great opportunity. So the 4 th, after lunch I went sailing. If only I had money I'd spend my life sailing and diving! Oh yeah, Greg let me steer for a little bit which was cool. I must say I was nervous being in charge of steering his home around.

Back in the water on the 5th, we just went to the Sunabe Sea Wall, which is the place closest to the shop and where I did some of my dives when I was first learning. Actually in our group there was a some beginner divers so it was a good dive for them. We got to see heaps of sea snakes, long-spined sea urchins (which look cool), groupers, bubble coral shrimp (I found it myself this time!), balloon fish and wrasse. That night Otis, Greg and I hit Naha to check out the nightlife. They introduced me to soft Tacos which are soooooo good. I am a big fan of mexican food now. We went to a few spots including a Brazillian Bar (I think) where we had some Brazilian bourbon. It was good but strong. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Chatan. Because Otis and I hadn't seen a certain movies, of which I forget now (sorry Greg), we bought some snacks and watched the movie in Greg's yacht. Otis fell asleep about halfway through, I managed to watch it through. The next morning Otis and I had to get up early to get back home, get our gear and then come back to the wharf to go out on the boat. A bit tired but after getting into the water, I was totally awake.
On the 6th, my last full day in Okinawa, we went out to the Keramas again. It wasn't as rough and I didn't squish myself at the back of the boat so no sea sickness. Yay! The first dive was mainly for the other divers to do some training. I used the time to practice my buoyancy/breathing. Because of this dive, Otis said he felt bad because I was just waiting around for everyone. I didn't mind but the dive we went and had was AMAZING! The best I have had so far. After our entry with the group, we swam out to a pinnacle. The pinnacle had huge drop-offs and looking out to sea all you could see was blue. We saw a top sail drummer (probably the biggest fish I had seen underwater) and schools of blue and yellow back fusilers circling far above us near the surface of the water. We also saw 2 firefish and a beautiful pacific lobster in a cave. Once we had joined back up with the rest of the group, we were swimming through a crevice when Otis turned to me and told me to wait. We were the leaders of the group. The people following asked me why of which I had no answer. I started to doubt he asked me to wait when I saw them..... 3 white tipped reef sharks swimming at me with Otis chasing them down. It was so cool and not at all scary. They swam about a foot from me!!
On the way back to the boat we saw two large white mouth eels, something else I hadn't seem before. Oh, and while we were diving we could hear whales calling!
The last dive was a drift dive so Kumi led us and Otis stayed on the boat. We got to see 3 green sea turtles. Kumi had given me her camera to play with.
On the way back we met up with all the whale watching boats and watched the whales!! Value for money! It was a perfect last day of diving.