Blue Cave Snorkeling / Discover Scuba Diving
There are only two sea caves in the world formed by seawater erosion — the other one is in Capri, Italy. Sunlight penetrates 5–7 m of water and refracts into a dreamlike shade of blue, where you swim alongside schools of tropical fish. Instruction and guiding are in Chinese. English support can be arranged on request — please contact us in advance.
📅 Schedule (based on the 8:00 meeting time)
Single activity: snorkeling or diving
- Hotel pickupHotels along the route from Naha city to Chatan (American Village), if transfers are booked
- Arrival & preparationFill in the paperwork and change into your wetsuit
- Skills briefingSnorkeling or diving skills explained
- Out on the waterBoat out for snorkeling or diving
- Return & showerBack to the shop to rinse off and change
- Drop-offHotels along the route from Naha city to Chatan (American Village)
💡 The 10:00, 12:30 and 14:30 sessions follow the same schedule, shifted accordingly.
Two activities: snorkeling + diving, or two dives
- Hotel pickupHotels along the route from Naha city to Chatan (American Village)
- Arrival & preparationFill in the paperwork and change into your wetsuit
- Skills briefingSnorkeling skills explained
- SnorkelingBoat out for snorkeling
- BreakTime to rest between activities
- Skills briefingDiving skills explained
- Discover Scuba DivingBoat out for your Discover Scuba Diving experience
- Return & showerBack to the shop to rinse off and change
- Drop-offBack to your hotel
💡 The 12:30 session follows the same schedule, shifted accordingly.
💰 What’s included?
Instructor fee, insurance, consumption tax, equipment, photos throughout the tour, and fish feed.
🤷 Diving equipment
Tank, fins, gloves, mask, weights, BCD, wetsuit, regulator
🏄 Snorkeling equipment
Snorkel, fins, mask, wetsuit, life jacket
🧹 Cleaning & disinfection
Snorkels and regulators are disinfected and cleaned after every single use
🎒 What do I need to bring?
- Swimwear (please wear it under your clothes in advance)
- Towel, sandals, sun hat
- A few 100-yen coins (for lockers and showers)
⚠️ Important notes
- Age limits: Snorkeling from 4 up to 59 years old (please enquire separately for children under 6); Discover Scuba Diving from 10 up to 59 years old; guests under 12 need a guardian’s signed consent.
- Change of dive site: There are 5 sites in the Blue Cave area. If wind and waves pick up, the captain will switch to the backup site (Coral Ranch) as long as it is safe. This cannot be predicted in advance, so we appreciate your understanding.
- Bus travel warning: Okinawa buses running 20–40 minutes late is completely normal, so please allow plenty of extra time. If you miss the tour because you are late, it is treated as a no-show and cannot be rescheduled or refunded.
- Best time for snorkeling: In the July–September high season, please avoid the 10:00 session — the water gets very crowded at that time and the experience suffers noticeably.
- Transfers: Transfers are shared with other guests, and your exact pickup time will be confirmed the day before. The transfer price shown on this page is based on a minimum of 2 guests; a solo booking requires an extra ¥2,000 paid on the day.
- Language: Instruction and guiding are in Chinese. English support can be arranged on request — please contact us in advance.
📍 Meeting point & access
📍 Shop address: 1553-30 Ishikawa Iha, Uruma City, Okinawa Prefecture (search “Oceaner Diving” on Google Maps)
🚌 Public transport: Take bus No. 120 or No. 20 along Okinawa’s main Route 58 and get off at Nakadomari bus stop, then walk 14 minutes to the shop. (The bus from Naha takes about 2 hours one way; around ¥2,800 round trip.)
🎒 Hotels with free pickup (no transfer package required)
Hotels within a 5-minute drive of Maeganeku Fishing Port can be picked up free of charge:
About the Blue Cave
The “Blue Cave” is one of the most popular spots on Okinawa Island. Of the only two sea caves in the world formed by seawater erosion, one is in Capri, Italy, and the other is right here at Maeda Point in Onna Village, central Okinawa.
Thanks to its specific depth of 5–7 m and the difference in temperature and salinity between the inside and outside of the cave, the light refracts and reflects into a magical shade of blue. And because that shallower depth is ideal for beginners, it has become one of the must-visit spots on any trip to Okinawa.
(All photos on this page were shot on site at the Blue Cave by Oceaner Diving.)
Why Choose Oceaner Diving
| ✅ Our strengths | ⚠️ Their weaknesses |
|---|---|
| A Chinese-speaking instructor throughout, from the briefing to the underwater tour, who can explain techniques clearly and handle any situation underwater | Video or verbal briefings in Chinese, but Japanese or Korean guides lead you in the water, and any underwater issue brings the tour to an abrupt end |
| Reach the site by boat in just 5–7 minutes, with easy water entry and exit and no worry about seasickness | Hauling 15 kg of gear, climbing more than 80 steps down to the water, and walking over potholed, algae-covered reef rock |
| Every instructor is trained under the PADI system and covered by professional liability insurance | Non-standard systems, no insurance, sometimes not even a certified instructor |
| We keep our teaching ratios small: 1:2 for Discover Scuba Diving, 1:4 for certification courses, 1:8 for snorkeling | Industry standard: 1:4 for DSD, 1:8 for certification courses, 1:16 for snorkeling |
| Photos of your whole tour are included, shot on an OLYMPUS TG-6 / TG-7, with DJI Action 4 available for rent | Blurry photos with poor underwater colour, sold separately for ¥3,000–4,000 |
| Point-to-point pickup from hotels along the route between Naha city and Chatan (American Village), so getting here is easy | A bus ride that easily takes 2 hours (around ¥3,000 round trip), or an expensive taxi that can run as high as ¥30,000 |
The Oceaner Philosophy
Founded in 2018, Oceaner Diving is a dive shop with 92 years to go before its centenary. Our first and only benchmark is safety, safety, and safety again. With seven years of diving experience behind us, we aim to take you into a state of relaxed, comfortable diving.
Where do safety, relaxation and comfort come from?
- 1. Every briefing and every in-water session is led by a PADI-certified, currently-registered instructor who carries public liability insurance and communicates in Chinese. Professional knowledge delivered in your own language — zero communication gaps.
- 2. To deliver on relaxed, comfortable diving, we keep one of the longest and most detailed pre-dive briefings in the industry. We tell you every problem you might meet and exactly how to handle it, weaving in plain-language explanations of the principles so that you understand it in your body, not just your head.
- 3. The two questions we hear most: “I can’t swim” and “I couldn’t get down last time”. Backed by seven years of data, our in-water success rate is 99.9% — it rarely fails, unless you give up. Give us one chance to show you the Okinawan ocean and open the door to the other 70% of the planet. And if you have already tried Discover Scuba Diving and want to go further, we would be honoured to be the instructor who signs your certification.
Three lifetimes of luck. Oceaner Diving dives with you.
📷 Photos from the Field
What’s Included
💰 Instructor & Insurance
Chinese-speaking PADI instructor fee, public liability insurance and consumption tax are all included. No hidden on-site charges.
👓 Full Equipment
All necessary diving equipment is included in the price.
📷 Free Photos
Your instructor photographs the whole trip with an OLYMPUS TG-6/7. Download from the cloud afterwards, free of charge.
🚖 Hotel Transfer
Shared pick-up and drop-off along the Naha – Chatan American Village hotel strip (advance notice required).
Equipment provided
Optional Extras
🧹 Brand-new mouthpiece
¥300 each. All shared equipment is disinfected after every use, but a sealed new mouthpiece is available if you prefer.
🎬 DJI Action 4 rental
¥3,000 per unit. Shoot your own underwater video; we sanitise the housing after every rental.
📷 Cloud photo delivery
Instructor photos are uploaded to the cloud — download them free after your activity.
🏥 Medical Restrictions
For your health and safety, please do not book if any of the following apply to you:
- Middle ear or corneal surgery within the past 6 months
- Any history of lung injury, in particular spontaneous pneumothorax
- Severe obstructive pulmonary disease, e.g. chronic emphysema or severe asthma
- Congenital alveolar diverticula or pulmonary blebs
- History of epilepsy or convulsions
- Recurrent fainting of unknown cause
- Coronary artery disease, e.g. angina or a previous myocardial infarction
- Red blood cell disorders such as sickle-cell anaemia
- Insulin-dependent diabetes
- Long-term alcoholism or drug dependency
- Any surgery within the past 6 months
- Pregnancy
Booking Notes
- Flying after diving: leave at least 12 hours after a single dive and 18 hours after multiple dives before boarding a flight.
- Site changes: the dive site may be changed on the day for sea conditions, weather or safety. Thank you for your understanding.
- Contact & sizing: please leave a reachable contact (WeChat / WhatsApp / LINE / Kakao) plus each guest’s gender, height, weight and shoe size.
- Insurance scope: instructor liability insurance covers accidents during the dive itself. It does not cover injuries caused by the guest (e.g. concealing a medical condition, or slipping while boarding). Please arrange your own travel insurance.
🌱 Eco Guidelines
- Do not use shower gel or shampoo in the on-site showers.
- Do not wear chemical sunscreen in the water — it damages coral. Use reef-safe products.
- Never touch, stand on or collect coral and marine life. Take only photos, leave only bubbles.
Cancellation Policy
| When | Fee |
|---|---|
| More than 7 days before departure | Free rebooking or cancellation — 0% |
| 7 to 3 days before departure | 50% fee |
| Within 3 days of departure | 100% fee |
- No refund is given if you cannot join for personal reasons (period, fear of water and choosing to stay on the boat, no-show, wrong time, arriving more than 10 minutes late, etc.).
- A full refund is given for force majeure (weather, sea conditions, natural disaster, political situation, government order, aviation emergency, etc.).
- Please make sure your passport is valid for at least 6 months and that you hold a valid visa. Bookings cannot be changed, cancelled or refunded if you cannot join because of passport or visa problems.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is equipment rental included in the price? Are there hidden fees?
For snorkeling, Discover Scuba Diving and courses, all necessary equipment and photography are included. For Fun Dives the price is clearly shown with and without equipment rental (¥3,000/day). There are no hidden on-site charges.
I can’t swim. Can I still join?
Absolutely. Our in-water success rate is 99.9%. Your instructor will brief you thoroughly and stay with you the whole time. You only need to be comfortable in the water, not a strong swimmer.
Can you pick us up from our hotel?
Yes — shared transfers are included for hotels along the Naha to Chatan American Village route. Please tell us your hotel when booking; we confirm the pick-up time the day before.
What is your cancellation policy?
Free cancellation more than 7 days before the activity (20 days for courses), 50% from 7 to 3 days (20 to 7 days for courses), and 100% within 3 days (7 days for courses). Full refunds for force majeure.
How old do I need to be?
Snorkeling and DSD: 10 to 59. Guests under 12 need a parent or guardian to sign a consent form. PADI Open Water: 10 and above; Advanced Open Water: 12 and above with an Open Water certification.
Will the photos really be free?
Yes. Your instructor shoots with an OLYMPUS TG-6/7 throughout the activity and you get a cloud download link afterwards, at no extra cost.