Scuba Diving - Maeda Flats, Maeda Point, Devil's Cove

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Scuba Diving - Maeda Flats, Maeda Point, Devil's Cove

This past weekend I did three dives on Saturday. The first place I went was Maeda Flats. It took a long time to get out to where the reef dropped off. I walked for about a quarter of a mile in waist deep water until it finally got deep. I would recommend this site for family's looking to snorkle. There is small beach and some fish not far off the beach. The water was also very calm here compared to the other dive sites where it was really rough. For scuba diving: there weren't many fish, it took a while to actually get to the dive site, but the coral was fun to swim around in.

The second dive site was Maeda Point. The water was extremely rough which surprised me quiet a bit considering the fact that it's been calm every other time I've gone. My snorkle was being a pain in the butt and while trying to fix it on the surface, I had the pleasure of enjoying at least 4 mouthfuls of salty water. Yuck! At Maeda Point I was finally able to see a puffer fish blow itself up. It was hilarious! My dive buddy swam up behind it and quickly reached his hand out to grab it. As soon as he bumped it, it blew itself up. We took some photos of it and then let it go free. It took longer for it to expell the water than it took to take it in. Here's some interesting information on the puffer fish:

Biologists think pufferfish, also known as blowfish, were created with their famous “inflatability” because their slow, somewhat clumsy swimming style makes them vulnerable to predators. In lieu of escape, pufferfish use their highly elastic stomachs and the ability to quickly ingest huge amounts of water (and even air when necessary) to turn themselves into a virtually inedible ball several times their normal size. Some species also have spines on their skin to make them even less palatable. A predator that manages to snag a puffer before it inflates won’t feel lucky for long. Almost all pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin, a substance that makes them foul tasting and often lethal to fish. To humans, tetrodotoxin is deadly, up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. There is enough toxin in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote. Amazingly, the meat of some pufferfish is considered a delicacy. Called fugu in Japan, it is extremely expensive and only prepared by trained, licensed chefs who know that one bad cut means almost certain death for a customer. In fact, many such deaths occur annually. There are more than 120 species of pufferfish worldwide. Most are found in tropical and subtropical ocean waters, but some species live in brackish and even fresh water. They have long, tapered bodies with bulbous heads. Some wear wild markings and colors to advertise their toxicity, while others have more muted or cryptic coloring to blend in with their environment. They range in size from the 1-inch-long (2.5-centimeter-long) dwarf or pygmy puffer to the freshwater giant puffer, which can grow to more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) in length. They are scaleless fish and usually have rough to spiky skin. All have four teeth that are fused together into a beak-like form. The diet of the pufferfish includes mostly invertebrates and algae. Large specimens will even crack open and eat clams, mussels, and shellfish with their hard beaks. Poisonous puffers are believed to synthesize their deadly toxin from the bacteria in the animals they eat. Some species of pufferfish are considered vulnerable due to pollution, habitat loss, and overfishing, but most populations are considered stable.

The last dive I did on Saturday was at The Junkyard off the seawall. The sun was starting to go down when we went got into the water and by the time we got out we were able to see the sun set. There weren't many fish at The Junkyard but I did see at least 4 or 5 sea snakes. They were pretty curious too, and they would swim relatively close to us (which I wasn't too thrilled about).

To see more pictures visit: http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u53/kimdupak/Okinawa/Maeda%20Point%20-%2028%20July%202008/ and http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u53/kimdupak/Okinawa/Maeda%20Flats%20-%2028%20July%202008/

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Photos

Puffer Fish
Image taken at Maeda Point

Me holding Puffer Fish
Image taken at Maeda Point

Pillow Starfish
Image taken at Maeda Point