Expeditions

Dive Bum Okinawa

Dive Log 2010

Kadena North 04 Dec 10

The Okinawa Dive Bums met at 0600 at the Junk Yard. The sun was rising, the tide was rising but so was the wave height. Our scheduled dive at the Junk Yard had to be canceled…on to plan B. We all piled into our vehicles and headed to Kadena North. Conditions weren’t perfect but they were diveable. Unfortunately we had one casualty, if anyone finds a blue Dacor fin please e-mail me. I know a diver that would be grateful but that’s another story… We timed the waves and finned out to the red buoy and dropped down to 45 ft and 20+ feet of visibility (a bit silty though). There were lots of critters out but it was definitely a macro day!

Maeda Point Re-enlistment Dive 30 Nov 10

Congratulations Sgt Jarvi on your re-enlistment!!! On 30 November 2010 Sgt Jarvi and I (and a few friends) braved the rainy weather and met at Maeda Point for his underwater re-enlistment. I have to honestly say this was my first underwater re-enlistment, hopefully not my last. We’d like to thank Combat Camera who proved outstanding support in videoing and photographing the re-enlistment.

Kadena Steps 21 November 2010

For those Dive Bums that slept in this morning you missed out!!!What a gorgeous morning, as we pulled into Kadena Steps the sun was just starting to rise out of the east. The waves, if you could call them waves were just lapping at the steps and there was only a hint of wind. The vis was a clear 40+ feet and the water temp 75 f. All I can say is WOW!! It was a great dive. A lot of cool little critters were still out since the sun was still rising. Jonathan had a great eye for the small critters; he found some very nice nudibranchs and a small free swimming eel right at the end of our dive.

United States Marine Corps Birthday Dive Sunabe Sea Wall 10 November 2010

On November 10th, 1775, a Corps of Marines was created by a resolution of the Continental Congress. Since that day many thousands have bore the name Marine. In memory of them it is fitting that we as “Soldiers of the Sea” take time off this 10th day of November 2010 and honor them with a Marine Corps Birthday Dive.

Happy Birthday Marines!!!

Semper Fidelis,

Brian

Veterans Day Boat Dive 11 November 2010

The Dive Bums celebrated Veterans Day by going on two great dives; Manza Dream Hole and Seragaki. We’d like to thank John for setting up the dive and Northern Dave (OkiDiving) for the great service and boat dive.

Sunabe Sea Wall 02 Oct 10

The Okinawa Dive Bums joined Darlene and her class at the sea wall this morning for a quick dive. I’d like to congratulate Darlene’s Open Water Class. They made their first open water dive at the Water Treatment Plant.

The conditions at the sea wall were near perfect. We saw some very cool sea life and one of the best under water artists who drew a perfect nudibranch. George found a very cool spiny devilfish crawling on the sea floor. (thanks for the ID Darlene) I hope that the conditions remain the same tomorrow, we’re starting to get some thunder storms as I write this story. I am hoping to get in the water one more time this weekend.

Tengan Pier 25 Sept 10

I met John and Mike at 0600 after a quick stop at the FamilyMart for a Mushube and some green tea. Well, the conditions were marginal at best but we braved the small swells and swam for about 25 minutes to the pier. We made our plans and descended into very murky water. The visibility was poor (5 ft) at best, if we got a more than a divers length away from each other we would lose contact. Don’t get me wrong, we had a great dive: we got to dive, we got to practice lost buddy drills (x2) and we met some new friends at the pier. On one of our lost buddy drills, while searching for one diver, we saw a three foot Spotted Eagle Ray. Then on another one we met a Japanese guy and American guy spear fishing. They had speared a huge Giant Trevally (GT) that had gotten tangled in the pier pilings about 50 feet down. I went down to assist and found the fish wrapped several time around a piling, it took me about 10 minutes but I finally untangled the fish and brought it to the surface.

After the dive, we saw the spear fishermen on the beach cleaning the fish, the Japanese dude gave me a nice little GT for helping him out. Can you guess what I’m having for dinner??

Toilet Bowl 01 August 2010

Cuttlefish, Octopi and Frogfish, Oh my!!

The DiveBums trekked to Toilet Bowl this morning and made two outstanding dives. On our first dive we headed to the right and saw tons of sea anemones and clown fish. It was a great dive but the cool stuff was on our second dive. During our surface interval we were talking to several divers who went to the left and saw a frogfish and a big octopus. Well, on our second dive we headed to the left. As if it was on cue, we found the frogfish sitting on a coral head. After a few quick photos we headed off again and we found two huge octopi. Then to top things off, on our safety stop we were greeted by a baby cuttlefish.

Maeda Point 31 July 2010

With south west winds where to do you go? Maeda Point. So the DiveBums and a few hundred of our closest friends braved the steps and were pleasantly surprised by flat, 84 degree water with 60+ feet of visibility.

Hey Bill, thanks for the great photos you took on our 4th of July dive to the Kerama Islands.

Photos by Bill Foote