Where is Yonaguni?

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Yonaguni is one of the Yaeyama Islands, and is located at the westernmost of Japan, lying about 108 km from the east coast of Taiwan. Yonaguni has a land area of only 28 sqkm, with a population of less than 2,000. By flight, it is about 1.5 hrs away from Naha (Okinawa).

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Why Yonaguni?

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Yonaguni is known for the chance to dive with hammerhead sharks during the winter months as well as its mythical Underwater Monument discovered in 1986. The waters around Yonaguni are exceptionally clear and are home to amazing rock formations. Large schools of hammerhead sharks pass the island from January to May, with sightings of up to 100 of these beautiful creatures in one dive! Pls note though, hammerhead hunting will be blue water diving and hence quite demanding – jumping into the open ocean with no bottom (~80m deep), landmarks or reference points in view, can be a very different experience. All dives are drift dives with strong currents. 

The Yonaguni Monument is one of the most mysterious scuba diving sites in the world, as its origin has been shrouded in mystery and controversy even until today. Is the site natural or man-made? Perhaps a natural formation modified by humans? Or was it quite simply made by extraterrestrial beings that settled here and made some kind of weird landing site for their otherworldly craft? The theories are many — and a Google search doesn’t necessarily make you any wiser. So dive for yourself to find out!

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What’s the pre-requisite?

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All participants must be at least advanced certified, with no issues with quick negative entry and have drift diving experience (ask us for more info!). These are strict pre-requisites for participants (When chasing hammerheads, it will be blue water diving and the bottom can be 80mtrs+ so the divers need to be good at buoyancy control).

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What do I see at Yonaguni dive sites?

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Some sites are undulating fields of coral, interspersed with the occasional sharp drop off or rivers of white sand. Others are a series of large boulders, caverns and swim-throughs with, pebbled floors and walls covered in large colourful fans.

Expect to see lots of butterfly fish, yellow striped snapper, turtles, moray eels, anthias and anemone fish.

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What else is there to see/do on Yonaguni island?

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Yonaguni is known in Japan for the hanazake, a 120-proof rice-based distilled beverage (awamori) produced only on the island. The island is also the only natural habitat of a distinctive horse breed, the Yonaguni horse.

On the east and west tips of the island there are large parks overlooking the stretch of coastline in either direction, with walking trails down to the beach and along the coast.