Thank you, as always, for your support!
The other day, Sado Island had an unseasonable midsummer day, and it made us think summer had come back again, haha.
Health and Sports Day is over and the diving season has calmed down, but the sea will stay in great shape for a while yet, so please come dive in our sea that is “full of fish” and “uncrowded.”
Now, about the sea in Sado: with some properly cool days finally arriving, the water temperature is gradually dropping, but it's still staying warm compared with a typical year.
The water temperature is currently 23℃, which is very warm for October in Sado.
With a wetsuit plus a hooded vest you won't feel cold at all underwater, but it's a little chilly on land, so you'll now need something to keep warm on shore.
We recommend a poncho style rain cape.
Visibility hit a crystal clear spell once at the start of October, but after that we had typhoons and rough winter pattern seas, so over this three day weekend it wasn't great, around 10 m... a bit disappointing.
As for marine life, this is the time of year when fish are at their most abundant, so there are lots of fish.
Right now, schools of sardines seem to have arrived all around Sado, and apparently huge numbers washed up at Takase fishing port, with local residents scooping them up in nets...
Sardines seem to be all around Sado, and on the 13th and 14th we saw huge schools of them during our dives too.
Watching the school flow past like a river is truly impressive!
We're not sure whether they're chasing the sardines, but we're still seeing dolphinfish (shiira), and fast swimming fish like inada (young Japanese amberjack) and kanpachi (greater amberjack) are actively hunting aji.
Seasonal visitor fish are increasing too, and unusual ones like lionfish (minokasago) and the bluestreak cleaner wrasse (honsomewakebera) have appeared.
At a certain fishing port, even a pennant coralfish (hatatatedai) has been spotted, and we're hoping it'll make its way to one of our dive sites someday!
As for the regulars, there are a lot of oniokoze (devil stinger) at Akaiwa this year, so please be careful when diving.
Here are the sea conditions.
Dive date: October 14
Dive sites: Kitakoura (Akaiwa, Artificial Reef)
Weather: Cloudy
Wave height: 0.5 m
Current: Weak
Underwater: 23℃
Marine life seen: juvenile kobudai (Asian sheepshead wrasse), hanatatsu (a seahorse), neon damselfish (sorasuzumedai), kinchakudai (bluestriped angelfish), nenbutsudai (half-lined cardinalfish), kijihata (red spotted grouper), Japanese rockfish (mebaru), kitsune mebaru (a rockfish), damselfish, kurosoi (black rockfish), red sea bream (madai), largescale blackfish (mejina), sui (a sculpin), sabihaze (a goby), amimehagi (a pygmy filefish), chagara (a goby), nishikihaze (a goby), kokeginpo (a small blenny), haokoze (a waspfish), oniokoze (devil stinger), aoumiushi (a nudibranch), shiroumiushi (a nudibranch), kuroshitanashi umiushi (a nudibranch), shiroibara umiushi (a nudibranch), koshimagarimo ebi (a shrimp), and much more
November 8 to 10: Depart Niigata the night of the 8th, return on the 10th. West Izu planned (Osezaki, Arari)
Capacity: 7 people, 3 spots left
November 15 to 17: Depart Niigata the night of the 15th, back in Niigata on the 17th. West Izu tour
November 17: Underwater Christmas is confirmed. Applications close November 12
Venue: Kitakoura, Entry fee: ¥1,500 (dive fees separate)
