First Dives of 2008!

We FINALLY found time & motivation to get ourselves back under the water again for the first time since Josh's siblings were here over the Christmas holidays. And it was also the first time that Betsy & I got to try out our new (to us) BCD's that I bought from people on eBay. Unfortunately, not all of our gear was ready to go. I didn't remember to think about the underwater camera's battery until too late to charge it. And, sure as Murphy's Law, it only came on long enough to tell me it was dead. Our good friend Aaron was a bachelor for a week, so he was free to come get in the water for his first time since earned an Advanced Open Water certification on Miyako-jima a couple of years ago.

The day was overcast but the East China Sea looked calm from our apartment, despite East/West Caution sea conditions. We heard that visibility in the Sunabe area wasn't great (particles, not surprisingly). So we chose Maeda Point for our dive site & what a good idea it turned out to be. Since it was Friday, it wasn't slam packed like it tends to be on weekends, although it was active, especially with tour groups of snorkelers. Our first dive at low tide took us northeast (with the coast on our right) & visibility was excellent, considering the sun was mostly behind clouds. The highlight was definitely the HUGE algae-encrusted Loggerhead Sea Turtle that came swimming by us (in the same direciton) with a couple of Lampreys in tow while we were only in about 35 feet of water. It was about arm's length away from Josh on his right side when he first saw it & watched as it passed him & then Aaron & Betsy just ahead. We followed it for a while, but despite the fact that it was in no hurry to get away from us, we couldn't keep up for long. We're pretty sure it's the largest we've yet seen in the wild. Aside from that, it was mostly an exercise in examining the usual suspects of trumpet fish, puffer fish, anemone fish, Moorish Idols, banded sea snakes, black/blue/yellow nudibranchs (the most common coloration in our Okinawan experiences) and a host of other reef fishes. We did inspect a very colorful scorpion fish (with bright pinkish orange highlights).

As we entered the water for our 2nd dive, we noticed that the skies had darkened a bit & the air had cooled, which we soon learned was also true of the water. We chose to head southwest (with the shore on our left) towards the deeper reaches. We spent a little time poking around inside the crevices & cave-like areas in the rock & coral. In one, Josh spotted some pretty colorful shrimp that he REALLY wanted to be photographing in addition to admiring. We also saw quite a few color variations of some really gorgeous nudibranchs & several more scorpion & lion fish. We spotted a well-blended stone fish on one ledge in the dramatic coral walls. By the time we finished the dive, we were ready to stop shivering & get dried off.