Stein Castillo
- Stein Castillo's trip Japan Jun 2015
2015-07-04 - Chinsen Point, Atami, Japan
28.7m - 22 min - Dived with Jim from Discovery Divers Tokio
First dive in Japan. took an early bullet train from Tokyo to Atami for the dive (40 min). Once there, Jim from DTT picked us up at the station. After a short drive, we arrived to the dock (right under a bridge) were boats ferry divers to the dive sites around the area. Our first dive, a wreck named the Chinsen was located a short boat ride (7 min.) from the shore. Jim had all the gear ready. Since I decided to take only the essential gear (wet-suit, computer and camera) I had to rent the rest. This was the first experience with back-plate wings. Very simple system, no bells and whistles, just the bare minimum. Not a bad rig but due to the added weight (3 kg from the back-plate) and the steel tank I couldn't calculate my required weight properly. I added 3 additional kilos (6 lbs) and turned out to be too heavy. So achieving neutral buoyancy was a bit challenging at first. The water was quite chilly and was cold throughout the dive (I was wearing my old 3mm that is now more like a 1.5 mm). This combined with the extra weight helped to significantly increase my SAC. So since I went through my air rapidly this turned out to be a rather short dive for me. This was also the first time I used the new Olympus TG-4 camera underwater. The dive is quite interesting and unique in Japan, this is one of only two wrecks that can be explored from Japan mainland. The wreck itself is an old barge that broke in half during a typhoon and sank alongside several tugboats that were tied to her. Today the two distinct sections of the hull can be clearly identified and a large number of fish, coral and eels have made this place their home. The diving itself requires some skills due to strong currents that can be found at times, we did encounter this current during the dive. Right after entry, the current pushed me away from the buoy line and had to swim back with much effort, had to wait a couple of minutes to catch my breath before descending.
2015-07-04 - Bitagame, Atami, Japan
19.2m - 35 min - Dived with Jim from Discovery Divers Tokio
Second dive of the day. After heading back to shore for surface interval where we had a relaxing time in a small tank filled with hot spring water (that apparently is widely available in the Atami area) we boarded the boat for a short ride to the diving site (that is located very close to the Chinsen wreck). I decided to reduce my weight by 2 kg (4 lbs) and that made the dive more enjoyable, the water was a couple of degrees warmer and with the improved buoyancy, the SAC was more efficient. The dive site is a series of pinnacles with long walls. All full of soft and hard coral, eels are abundant and also large schools of small fish. Photo tip learned during the dive. Don't use flash for landscape pictures, the particles in the water bounce the light back with a terrible effect on the picture. For macro picture DO USE the flash.
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