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Yomitan WhaleShark
 Yomitan Fishing Port, Yomitan, Okinawa, Japan
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Max Depth: 61-70ft/19-21m
Average Viz: 41-50ft/12-15m
Entry Type: Boat
Bottom Composition: No Bottom
Aquatic Life: Big Animals
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Rating: 4.75 by 4 divers
Spring: 71-75°F/22-24°C
Summer: 76-80°F/24-27°C
Fall: 71-75°F/22-24°C
Winter: 66-70°F/19-21°C
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Yomitan WhaleShark is a boat accessible salt water dive site, located at Yomitan Fishing Port, Yomitan, Okinawa, Japan. This dive site has an average rating of 4.75 out of 5 from 4 scuba divers. The maximum depth is 61-70ft/19-21m. The average visibility is 41-50ft/12-15m.
Understand these Whale Sharks are caught off the coast of Okinawa and held in this very large net. There’s a world renown Shark Biologist working out of the Chaurami Aquarium who studies these animals for a short time before releasing them. They never let the sharks get too big for the net and they never have more than 3 in the net at one time.
The procedure for diving with whale sharks is to let one of the divemasters enter the net first with a large bag of krill. He feeds them, and then motions for us to follow him through the wide opening at the top of the net. We swim in, accompanied by a large, docile Batfish, apparently intent on cleaning up the table scraps from the recent feeding. Once in, we station ourselves at various vantage points, depending whether we wish to photograph, shoot video, or just get close to the sharks.
You can sign up for the whale shark dives at the Torii Beach Scuba Locker, which is the only MWR facility on Okinawa to offer this service. A single dive costs $115. During weekends, whale shark dive tours depart the Scuba Locker at 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. On weekdays, departure is at 9 a.m. For further information on diving with whale sharks, call 644-4290.