Documentary on Mikomoto Hammers (Mikomoto, Japan)

[bghazzal]

Here's a 30 minute promotional documentary shot by Kirin Sekito on Mikomoto Hammers, one of the four dive operations currently running trips to Mikomoto.

Mikomoto is an islet 10km south-east of Japan's Izu Peninsula - an area with complex topography and under the powerful influence of the Kuroshio current - which is now famous for its resident scalloped hammerhead schools and other exciting encounters in strong currents.

The documentary highlights the specifics of the area and also of the operation's diving style (dive time limited to 35 minutes max, for example 🙂)
 

cheers
ben

 

Edited Tuesday at 11:43 PM by bghazzal

[Davide DB]

Wow that is a dive!

 

Regarding the video itself, I am not the best person to give an opinion since I practically only dive in the Med and have little experience diving abroad. Add that the Med is a pond compared to the ocean, and I don't even want to start recounting all the incidents that have happened to me in 34 years of diving as divers like to do over dinner or over a couple of 🍺
I can only give you the impression I got as a “foreigner.”
The owner and everyone seems to put on airs. Maybe the translation is not the best and I don't understand the linguistic nuances. But I also understand that taking clients offshore in those conditions is not easy. I do not get if he wants to discourage inexperienced people from going there or create “hipe” for foreign divers.

Here in Italy, diving has always been DIY as they call it. At most they give you a guide if you ask for one but otherwise, you have to be autonomous. It seems like the norm to me. maybe Italy and Japan are exceptions but I think it's different only in resorts and liveaboard. It also frankly bothers me that someone touches my equipment and on Red Sea cruises I had to get used to it.

The video clearly seems to me to be a promotional video for foreign countries. Frankly, I don't know how well they hit the target. Only at the 'last minute,' the owner makes a last minute effort in saying that they are happy to welcome new people and that they are trying to improve their standards to have a wider audience. But after 30 minutes spent explaining how dangerous diving there is, that if you can't fin, you'd better stay home, and that if you don't follow the rules you'll be permanently banned.... to me it's like to close the stable door after the horse has bolted. 😄

Still, I would love to do three or four dives there. I wonder if I can 😉

 

[bghazzal]

Couldn't agree more. 
Wonders how others feel about this, did it put them off a little or actually challenge them to be part of the "elite" divers capable of braving Mikomoto currents?

On the "DIY" aspect, I think most of Europe is like this - France certainly is, so is the UK, and most if not all of the historical CMAS-BSAC-club diving base of dive operations.
This actually extends to (W)RSTC affiliated operations in the area as well, either because most if not all dive operations are both, because of local regulations and also, more importantly, simply because the diving context requires it - there is less manpower because it's more expensive, and also conditions in general (diving from RIBs/dinghies, cold water, etc...).

Beyond historical concerns, I think the situation is similar in North-America (Canada and US as well) - so Japan is not really an exception, but more in line with typical dive operations found in the Global North, especially in local dive ops as opposed to resorts / liveaboard cruises welcoming visiting tourists.
Shameless plug, but I'd actually wrote a little about this here https://bluejapan.org/diving/organisation/ and here https://bluejapan.org/diving/practicalities/

The resort (I've heard the term "cocktail diving" as well) and liveaboard scene is mostly found in Global South countries - which also happen to concentrate the largest dive-tourism industries - Egypt and Mexico where it all started, South-East Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand), Maldives, Central America, Micronesia and the South-Pacific...
I may be wrong, but I'd imagine places like Australia would offer a mixed experience, with local diving being autonomous, whereas tourism oriented resorts and liveaboards would also offer the hand-off, turnkey experience, as would other places around catering mostly to fly-in divers.

 

Anyway, I have no real problem with this and actually think it's better for divers in general to be in charge of their equipment (and I also hate people touching my stuff, even in a recreational context), and yet have somewhat mixed feelings about the message being sent here.

I do feel what might be something of a superiority complex or ill-placed elistism, which sits a little oddly with what is likely a real passion for this complex and fascinating environment, as well as very understandable safety concerns (surfacing in a shipping lane in rough seas 😅...).
I definitely agree with safety-first, clear operating procedures and rules instaured to make the experience safer, but the doc does bring up concerns/questions about the way this all seems to be implemented.

Yet not having dived there myself, I can only go with what I read, see and feel, which is worth what it is...

Personally, as much as I'd love to see schooling hammerheads and actually do love current diving, be it drifting or more stationary / hooked (like the Filipino guide featured in the doc, I've worked in currenty places like Palau, Maldives, and Komodo for instance - the latter having - by far - the most complex and potentially dangerous current I encountered), I'm not sure I would be able to enjoy diving in such conditions.
 

Here's some additional food for thought:  a Mikomoto Hammer 2023 dive briefing clip (fasten your seatbelts 😉)

and - while I'm not really a fan of the format - an local incident discussion by Discovery Divers Tokyo:  https://youtu.be/roOSko4DKrA

Edited 7 hours ago by bghazzal