Maejima

I got picked up from the hostel at 7.15am by Doug, the owner of the reef encounters dive shop. He brought me to the dive shop and after financials were taken care of i was introduced to Andrea, who would be the divemaster for today, Mick from Australia and Tyle and Tucker, brothers from Arkansas. We loaded up our gear into the car and while driving to the harbour, Andrea explained to us how the preparation and diving itself would go. Today's diving would be in the Keramas island group, about an hour by boat from Chatan on Okinawa island. I bought some extra sunlotion and that turned out to be a good idead as the sun was schorching hot. The captain of the boat was responsible for choosing the dive sites so all we had to do is get ready and get wet. ;-) Mick was to be my buddy for today and he turned out to be a very relaxed and experienced diver. Contrary to the Japanese divers on the boat,, which were racing from spot to spot, Andrea kept a nice pace and showed us all the cool small and special things hidden in the coral. I was hoping to see a reef shark and i was not dissapointed. Even though i could see it for only a short while the sight was just spectacular!
The dives weren't very deep and even though i had plenty of air left, the regulations of the boat were that dives could last a maximum of 45 minutes. Back on the boat we got our gear ready for the next dive as the captain steered the boat to the next spot. I will not go into the depths (pun intended) of every dive but suffice it to say they were al great. The water was extremely clear and there were so many new and different things to see, it was unbelievable. I did not rent a camera this day as i wanted to check out the underwaterlife first, a choice i deeply regret. But i was sure the next two days were going to make up for that. :-)
As the boat sailed back to Chatan harbour, most of the people were sleeping because of the intense day. We got our gear back to the shop to rinse all the salty water off. Maggie from the shop told me that the hostel they booked for me made a double booking and so they had to transfer me to another hostel a little bit further away from the shop and the harbour. But since i would be picked up in the morning and brought back after the dives that was not really a problem. I was actually relieved and hoping that this hostel would have normal A/C in the room instead of a coin operated one. Luckily it had and after a salad and hot meal with some bears i nearly litteraly crashed in my bed. Awesome aswesome day!!Read more