Scuba Diving - Onna ToiletBowl and Maeda Point

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Scuba Diving - Onna ToiletBowl and Maeda Point

The dives I did today at Onna ToiletBowl and Maeda Point were very good. Since it was a holiday, there weren't many people around. This contributed to seeing lots of fish (they hide when lots of people are out).

The water was a bit rough today as well which probably discouraged some people from entering. While heading out to the entry point at Onna ToiletBowl, I saw two gentlemen watching my dive buddy and I...we never saw them enter the water. Later at Maeda Point I saw the same two fellows, and they mentioned to me that the water was too rough for them at Onna...Pansies.

Several notable encounters at Onna ToiletBowl included a sea turtle, a cuddlefish, a hermit crab, and several sea snakes. The cuddlefish I saw today was not as polite as the ones I came across yesterday. I must have been getting too close because it inked at me and my dive buddy twice. How rude! I did manage to get several good shots with my camera though, but once it inked I wasn't able to see it anymore. The sea snakes were out in full force today. I nearly bumped into one too! I was going to take a picture and then my dive buddy motioned towards my knee and I looked down and right under it was a BIG FAT SEA SNAKE. I totally freaked out and screamed like a little girl into my regulator, turned around and started swimming away as fast as I could. The snake totally creaped me out to say the least. I also had a brief encounter with another snake just as we were about to surface. We were swimming along and I saw a sea snake curled up on the ocean floor...I kept on swimming by it to reach our exit point. A few seconds after spotting it, I see my dive buddy motioning that there is a snake nearby. Yeah...duh...I just saw it chilling on the ocean floor...no big deal. I turn around to look and its swimming right beside me about 3 feet away. AAHHHHH!!! I kicked away from it and then watched it surface for air and then dive back down. I've posted video of it. The sea snakes were a menace to me today...gggggrrr....

While diving at Maeda Point I also encountered another cuddlefish. This one preferred to use a different and more creative meathod of trying to evade me and my dive buddy. Instead of inking us, he dropped little pellets out of his mouth which in turn attracted lots of fish who would feed on the pellets. The fish would swarm the area making it hard for us to track him down in the ensueing feeding frenzy. Very clever...I must admit. Other fish encountered at Maeda Point include several curious spadefish (they swim around you like your the coolest thing they've ever seen), lots of dussumier's halfbeaks, trumpetfish, cornetfish, and a group of razorfish.

Visit these links to see all the pictures:
1.)http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u53/kimdupak/Okinawa/Maeda%20Point%20-%2014%20Oct%202008/

2.)http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u53/kimdupak/Okinawa/Onna%20ToiletBowl%20-%2014%20Oct%202008/

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Photos

Cuddlefish
First one to blink loses...