It was on my Dive Wish List for a long time – to see a hammerhead shark – this truly spectacular fish, in its natural habitat. These sharks with their very distinctive heads prefer strong current and can only reliable seen in a few places around the planet. Two years when diving off Palau ( a small group of Islands in the Pacific – highly recommended) we thought we saw a single large hammerhead shark – but it was far away, only short and the photographic evidence we brought back were inconclusive…
Here is my Palau evidence – judge yourself if it was a hammerhead:
But in February we took the plunge and undertook a family adventure to the “End of the World” – Yonaguni, a small island southwest of Okinawa, part of Ryokyo and the closest Japan gets to Taiwan. Indeed on a clear day (which we never had) – you can apparently see the coast of Taiwan.
Yonaguni has the traditional island feeling – windswept, barren, cold (jn February 9 degrees!!) and most (actually all shops) closes. But we were there not for the amazing nightlife but for the underwater world and despite freezing temperatures we were not disappointed:
So here in a nutshell our Yonaguni TOP5:
*) Hammerhead Sharks!!! Wow, totally not disappointed (although I only saw a few, Esther was a bit more luck – she encountered a whole school of 200+)
*) Underwater Monument: Amazing ruins of a lost civilisation?
*) The crystal clear water – 30 meter + visibility
*) The islanders – super relaxed & friendly
*) Onsen!!! Sitting in the hot water after a cold dive was live saving
