Norah’s Scuba Day
[ looking at me, looking at you ]
Norah and I met up with Joe, the owner of Penguin Divers, yesterday to learn how to snorkel. Joe is a friendly, athletic Fijian man who has lived in Okinawa with his wife Yumi (also a diver) for fifteen years. We met him at a quiet cove early in the morning where after a short lesson he took us out to explore some of Irabu’s coral reef from a snorkeling vantage point.
[ Norah and Joe suiting up ]
[ Nakanoshima Cove, Irabu Island ]
It was an absolutely beautiful day and we saw beautiful colorful fish and amazing coral within minutes of entering the water. I really could not believe what I was seeing. It was magical. The coral reef around Okinawa, called the Yabiji Reef, stretches 17 kilometers north and south of the islands. Our morning of snorkeling was enough to prepare Norah for scuba diving with Joe the following day (today).
[ Shiratori Cove, Irabu Island ]
We met Joe early this morning at Shiratori beach on Irabu Island and Norah followed him down the hill to a beautiful cove for a scuba lesson before heading out to a deep underwater reef. I followed along to watch them depart as I was feeling nervous for Norah.
[ scuba lesson in the cove ]
[ thank you Polly for the beach bag ]
I pretended I was reading but really I was watching everything that was going on with the training. With Joe’s confident instruction, Norah practiced with all of her equipment and then they headed out to the dive spot on a kayak. The morning light and the peaceful cove was just magical.
[ kayaking out to the dive spot ]
Joe left me with a snorkel and mask and as soon as they left I swam out to a reef at the end of the cove. I was entertained by clown fish, a school of electric blue fish and many other varieties of colorful fish that were swimming around within easy reach. It was spectacular.
Norah and Joe safely returned about two hours later. I could not wait to see the photos from Norah’s dive. Joe took a huge camera with him…
[ ❤️ ]
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