I thought there was a thread about Mikomoto already, but couldnt find one.

Anyway. Going to Japan early autumn and have set my sights on Mikomoto.

Recommendation needed on operator, accommodation, ect. The whole lot.

I know theres the occasional storm when diving is cancelled and im thinking for a week, but is that too much?

Also do the operator offer for example macro diving at Izu if Mikomoto is stormed off? Or is this to be arranged on your own?

Lens choices, most footage is from far away in the blue, so strobes can be left in hotel im sure?

Sony full frame shooter, what are best options? Or just GoPro?

Any help appreciated.

I'm in Japan but haven't been yet so can't offer practical advice.
i do know that strobes are not allowed for the hammerhead dives at Yonaguni, not sure if it's the same at Mikomoto, would need to look into footage. There's no mention of it on their Q&A, so probably ok.

Speaking of which, watch Kirin's documercial on Mikomoto-hammers if you haven't already to get a feel for it:
https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/1881-documentary-on-mikomoto-hammers-mikomoto-japan/

A week sounds on the longuish side given that it's going on a packed boat in often rough seas to do short dives, might be a little intense.
I doubt they organize actual macro diving on the peninsula as they're very much focused on drift dives around the islet, but they might have partner operations. Look into transport though, not really sure how access is.

Mikomoto Hammers does mention this on their site:
If the sea conditions are poor and we cannot make the dive at Mikomoto Island, is it possible to dive at another site?
Yes, it is possible to dive at another site if you make a request to do so. However, where we choose to dive will depend on the sea conditions on that day. So, for example, if the west wind is too strong, we will dive on the east side of the peninsula.


cheers

Edited January 15Jan 15 by bghazzal

A Japan "dive tour" is on my wishlist since a couple of years, I am also looking for all sorts of information (besides Ben and Kayo's insights), especially around this area. FWIW 2 weeks ago at Paris Salon de la Plongée (The french dive show) I discussed with Mikiya Watamatsu the chief guide from natureinn.jp an Osezaki operation (the macro site located inside the bay). He told me it was possible to organize both Mikomoto and Osezaki dives, probably they have a partnership whith Mikomoto hammers op (they were neighbors sharing the same Japan booth) It requires a 2hrs drive from Osezaki to get to the south of the peninsula where Mikomoto dives start.

From the photos he showed me, it seems there is more than macro in Osezaki, like 2-3m high dendronepthya soft corals (!!) and monkfish.

Maybe worthwhile mailing this op on whether they organize "best of both worlds" package or try to meet them while they're on tour attending the european trade shows (I suppose they were also at BOOT, probably Houten and Bologna too... a bit late for Tampere) .

15 hours ago, Luko said:

A Japan "dive tour" is on my wishlist since a couple of years, I am also looking for all sorts of information (besides Ben and Kayo's insights), especially around this area. FWIW 2 weeks ago at Paris Salon de la Plongée (The french dive show) I discussed with Mikiya Watamatsu the chief guide from natureinn.jp an Osezaki operation (the macro site located inside the bay). He told me it was possible to organize both Mikomoto and Osezaki dives, probably they have a partnership whith Mikomoto hammers op (they were neighbors sharing the same Japan booth) It requires a 2hrs drive from Osezaki to get to the south of the peninsula where Mikomoto dives start.

From the photos he showed me, it seems there is more than macro in Osezaki, like 2-3m high dendronepthya soft corals (!!) and monkfish.

Maybe worthwhile mailing this op on whether they organize "best of both worlds" package or try to meet them while they're on tour attending the european trade shows (I suppose they were also at BOOT, probably Houten and Bologna too... a bit late for Tampere) .

One good person to ask regarding Osezaki would be Kenji ICHIMURA.
He runs Dive in Japan ( NPO Japan Diving Experience) working to facilitate diving in Japan for non-Japanese speakers.
Contact info is here: https://dive-in-japan.com/contact-dive-japan

I know Osezaki also happens to be his diving home base, and he recently wrote an article on Osezaki for X-Ray Mag here:
https://xray-mag.com/content/osezaki-gateway-deep-heart-suruga-bay

I've heard he was at the Salon de la Plongée this year, so you might actually have met him there 😁

Edited January 27Jan 27 by bghazzal

2 hours ago, bghazzal said:

I've heard he was at the Salon de la Plongée this year, so you might actually have met him there 😁

Actually I have... without knowing who he was, he was sitting next to Mikiya and describing me the endemic japanese pygmy seahorse in Osezaki.

As a follow-up, X-Ray mag has just published a new feature on Mikomoto (and a bit of Osezaki):

https://xray-mag.com/content/japan-honshu-mikomoto

Writing a small follow up on my Mikomoto trip. Initially planned for early autumn, but it changed into early August.

I had booked Wed, Thu, Fri and Sat diving last week, and about 2 weeks before the diving the typhoon Dolphin hit Okinawa (hope you are ok @bghazzal ) started to form on the weather models.

In the end diving was cancelled Monday-Thursday in Mikomoto. Friday came and diving resumed with 4 meter swell and about the same in visibility. 0 hammerheads to be seen. It can only get better i thought. In a way it did, visibility was 5m instead of 4 Saturday, and saw one hammerhead for about 7 seconds pretty far away.

So in the end, i had picked the worst days of high season to go to Mikomoto as Sunday and today Instagram has been full of videos of huge schools and sharks at hands length.

Diving and boat logistics are not big camera friendly. Entry and exit is really fast paced and boat is very cramped. You have to jump with camera.

I guess thats why 38 out of 40 had a action cam and me and my friend had big rigs (and Saturday also met @jjmochi with a big camera, hopefully you got some good shots).

I will probably try my luck again next year. So if you need to know when a typhoon is hitting Japan, just ask when im going.

When I went there was +40m vis and still only saw two hammers distant, talking with experienced divers it's very dependent on the tides.

I previously dove with action cam, was planning full rig this time.

12 hours ago, Sokrates said:

Writing a small follow up on my Mikomoto trip. Initially planned for early autumn, but it changed into early August.

I had booked Wed, Thu, Fri and Sat diving last week, and about 2 weeks before the diving the typhoon Dolphin hit Okinawa (hope you are ok @bghazzal ) started to form on the weather models.

Yeah, all good here, thanks - Okinawa's really built for typhoons, with most places having a fortress-like concrete based brutalist architectural design.

Typhoon 13 / Dolphin was supposed to be a strong one, so we really bunkered up, but it just turned out to be very long (3 days) and strange. The north of main island (Nago) was hit harder, apparently, but we just had strong winds, no power cuts, which is the main issue here.

I still see unusual swell from the window as I type this today.

Just one note: typhoons started early (June), and the direction is a little unusual. There's also a strong El Niño on top of the usual climate breakdown, so everything is combining to give us extreme weather for the next couple of years, and probably a few monster typhoons.

Typhoon season is typically June to October in Japan (especially Okinawa, Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu's Pacific coast, where Mikomoto is), with late-season typhoons being stronger than earlier ones, so plan accordingly.

Current typhoon situation this morning (it's like a pinball machine) :

Edited August 11Aug 11 by bghazzal

Just to add one data point- I booked 3 days - Sat, Sun, Mon - managed to get out all 3 days, but abysmal conditions all 3 days

First 2 days, was in the morning group, maybe 5m of visibility. Saw 1 single hammerhead each day from somewhat far away

Third day, only the afternoon session was available, I would say less than 5m viz, water was a chilly 20 degrees, saw nothing on either dive. Think this was also because there was another tropical storm that was scheduled to hit the day after.

There was only one dive on the second day where our guide said she saw a group of 5-6 very briefly but no one else in the group saw.

I may have picked the worst days / gotten very unlucky with the typhoons but frankly I'm not sure I fully believe their dive logs anymore. Or rather, it is not representative. They cram 40-50 divers into each session so you have 80-100 people diving each day and maybe 1 group had 1 sighting... but my second day they posted that big school supposedly in the morning and visibility was nothing like what I had seen in the water.

I will not be back. At 20 degree waters, I rather make the trip to Galapagos or Socorro or Cocos for more guaranteed sightings. If I were to stay within Asia, I rather give Banda sea another shot before coming back to Mikomoto. I really hate dives where there is only a singular focus and if you don't see the singular thing you want to see there is absolutely nothing else to see. I got unlucky with the hammers in Banda last Oct as well but in no way did I feel that was a wasted trip as there reef was still amazing, vs I saw nothing but rocks (and occassionally some fish) in Mikomoto...

Other than test shots I took zero photos or videos in my 3 days :(

Edited Thursday at 06:58 AM5 days by jjmochi