Diving

Well, I haven't been able to get out too much since I was certified to SCUBA dive but I hope that changes in the not too distant future... also, I just got a dive camera. It's nothing fancy but it does allow me to take digital photos under water so I thought I'd post some of my inaugural shots. I was still figuring out how to use it so I didn't get a whole lot of great pictures but there were a few that I liked so here they are, if for no other reason than to get my sister-in-law Sarah and brother-in-law Jared to cross the Pacific and come dive with me.

The first place I have pictures of is called Horse Shoe. It's about a 100 yard or so snorkel from the beach and then it just drops off to over 170 ft. I know a few crazy kids who wanted to see just how deep it was, when they got to 170 they turned around but said it would have probably bottomed out at about 200 ft. For those not in the know 120 - 130 feet is about as deep as they recommend you go.

There are a lot of bright, little blue fish around the island that I am a big fan of.

And here is a shot from about 60 ft below. Like I said, I'm still getting used to the camera.

I had a bit more photographic success at the second dive site of the day, Toilet Bowl, about a two minute walk from where our cars were parked for Horse Shoe. It's a bit of a perilous walk to this entry site down some lava rock, you just have to watch where you're stepping and choose your path carefully. If there are any scouts out there looking for an Eagle project, building steps down to Toilet Bowl on Okinawa would be a great one! You have to be careful here because the site is right below a fisherman hut and I guess if you get too close they like to throw rocks at you. We didn't have any issues though.

Every dive I've done here I have seen a sea snake. Here's one next to one of those blue fish.

Here's a fish posing for the camera.

This is Duane and Will, two of the three guys I was diving with.

There was a school of trumpet fish just below the surface where we exited the water.

Toilet Bowl is a good place to dive.