Scuba Diving - Channel Crevasses

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Scuba Diving - Channel Crevasses

This Saturday was spend checking out Channel Crevasses, a dive site at the southern most tip on Okinawa. I have mixed feelings about this site for several reasons.

First, the entry and exit points are miserable. I tried two different entry and exit points and both of them were equally terrible. On my first dive I entered into the lagoon area and swam out a ways. All of a sudden I was crawling across the coral on my forearms and knees (thank goodness for wetsuites). I ended up taking off my fins and hiking out to were the water got deeper again. Thinking that it would continue to be deep , I put my fins back on. About 5 minutes later, I was crawling on all fours across the coral. Off came the fins and it was back to walking. By the time I actually made it to where the coral dropped off I was exausted. On the way back in after my dive, the waves here were rather large because the tide was coming in. I was knocked over a few times and my mask popped off my face. My second entry point was further to the east and I walked beside a pipe leading out to the ocean. The waves weren't very bad here but the rocks were slippery to walk on. Even though it was only a few hundred meters to walk, it took me about 10 minutes. Once again, I needed a rest once I made it out to deeper water. On the way back to the beach after my second dive, the waves knocked me over once and I bashed my knee into some sharp rocks. Getting up after this was a challenge because the waves kept knocking me forward and well...my knee really hurt!

Second, there wasn't much wildlife in this area. I expected to see lots of fish and maybe a sea turtle but I really didn't see much at all. The only interesting wildlife I saw during either dive was a spiny lobster. The main difference between spiny lobsters and american lobsters, is that the latter have claws. The lobster I saw had legs that were about 6 to 8 inches long and a body that was at least a foot to a foot and a half long. It was huge! While going thru a swim-thru, it was walking along the ocean floor. When it saw us, it made an attempt to get away from us by squeezing into a crevice in the rocks. I probably could have caught it if I wanted to eat it, but it was rather large and would have most likely put up a good fight. Another reason I didn't bother to catch it for dinner...no pot I own is large enough! Unfortunately, the photos I took are a bit unclear due to the sand that was kicked up while going thru the swim-thru. Channel Crevasses end up being a dive more about perfecting my bouyancy skills more than anything. It wasn't a dive I would recommend if one is interested in wildlife.

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