Whale Shark Swim — Yomitan
The whale shark in the pen is provided by the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, so you can swim alongside this gentle giant — growing up to 15 metres long — all year round, with a feeding show thrown in. Around 5 minutes by boat from Doya Fishing Port in Yomitan Village.
📅 Schedule (based on an 8:00 meeting time)
Discover Scuba Diving (Whale Shark Swim) / Certified Fun Dive
- Hotel pick-upAt hotels along the route from Naha city to Chatan (American Village) (if a transfer has been booked)
- Paperwork & changingPaperwork at the shop and changing into your wetsuit
- Skills briefingDiving skills briefing
- Boat & swimAround 5 minutes by boat to the pen, then swim with the whale shark
- Return & rinse offReturn to the shop, rinse off and change
- Drop-offAt hotels along the route from Naha city to Chatan (American Village)
💡 The tour lasts around 2 hours. The 12:30 session follows the same schedule, shifted accordingly.
💰 What’s included?
Instructor fee, insurance, consumption tax, equipment, photos of your whole trip, and fish feed.
🤷 Diving equipment
Tank, fins, gloves, mask, weights, BCD, wetsuit, regulator
🧹 Disinfection
Snorkels and regulators are disinfected and cleaned after every single use
🐳 Whale shark & feed
Access to the net pen site and fish feed used during the activity
🎒 What do I need to bring?
- Swimwear (please wear it beforehand)
- A towel, sandals and a sun hat
- A few ¥100 coins (for the lockers and shower)
- Your certification card (Open Water or above) for Certified Fun Dive
⚠️ Good to know
- Age limits: from 10 up to 59 years of age; guests under 12 need a consent form signed by a parent or guardian.
- Certification: Certified Fun Dive requires a PADI Open Water (OW) certificate or higher.
- Minimum booking: both Discover Scuba Diving (Whale Shark Swim) and Certified Fun Dive require a minimum of 2 guests.
- A note about buses: buses in Okinawa are routinely 20–40 minutes late, so please build in a generous buffer. If you miss the tour because you are late, it is treated as a No show and cannot be rescheduled or refunded.
- Bus stop pick-up: because bus timetables here are too unpredictable to plan around, we do not offer pick-up from nearby bus stops. Please make your own way to the shop, or book a transfer in advance.
- Transfers: transfers are shared with other guests and are adjusted to fit each route, so we will confirm your exact pick-up time the day before your tour.
- About the whale shark: the whale shark in the pen is provided by the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium and is rotated with the aquarium’s own sharks on a regular basis. You may find one or two whale sharks in the pen at a time, you can swim with them all year round, and if you are lucky you will catch the feeding show.
📍 Meeting point & getting here
📍 Meeting point: Inside Doya Fishing Port, Yomitan Village
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🚌 Public transport: take bus No. 28 on Okinawa’s Route 58 to the Doya bus stop, then walk 10 minutes to the shop.
🕓 Reference from Naha: the bus takes around 1 hour 30 minutes and costs about ¥2,400 round trip.
📅 Meeting time
Without a booked transfer, please arrive at the meeting point by the time above.
About the Whale Shark
If you have never seen a whale shark before, doesn’t the idea of swimming alongside a giant that can grow to 15 metres stir something in you? This dive site sits just off Doya Fishing Port in Yomitan Village, central Okinawa — about five minutes by boat from the port.
Unlike the wild whale sharks of Dumaguete, Philippines, which simply turn up for work, the whale shark here is kept in a net pen, so you are guaranteed to see it. The pen is 30 metres across and 20 metres high, and is said to have cost around ¥300,000,000 to build; because keeping a whale shark is so expensive, this site costs considerably more than other Okinawa dive sites.
The whale shark in the pen is provided by the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium and is rotated with the aquarium’s own sharks on a regular basis to keep it healthy. You may find one or two whale sharks in the pen at a time — and you can swim with them all year round, with a feeding show thrown in.
(All photos on this page were taken on site.)
Why Choose Oceaner Diving
| ✅ What We Offer | ⚠️ What You May Get Elsewhere |
|---|---|
| All instruction and in-water guiding is provided in Chinese by certified PADI instructors, from the briefing through to the underwater tour — clearer explanation of in-water skills and calmer handling of anything unexpected | A Chinese-language video or briefing, then Japanese or Korean guides in the water — and the dive ends abruptly the moment something unexpected happens |
| Around 5 minutes by boat from Doya Fishing Port; the whale shark is kept in a pen, so sightings are guaranteed all year, plus a feeding show | Wild whale shark sites are a matter of luck — whether you see one can never be guaranteed |
| Every instructor is PADI-certified and covered by professional liability insurance | Non-standard training systems, no insurance, sometimes no instructor certification at all |
| We keep our groups small: 1:2 for Discover Scuba Diving, 1:4 for certification courses, 1:8 for snorkeling | Industry standard: 1:4 for Discover Scuba Diving, 1:8 for courses, 1:16 for snorkeling |
| Complimentary photos of your whole trip, shot on an OLYMPUS TG-6/7; DJI Action 4 action cameras are also available for rent | Blurry photos with poor underwater colour, sold separately for ¥3,000–4,000 |
| Door-to-door shared transfer between the shop and hotels along the route from Naha city to Chatan (American Village) | A two-hour bus ride each way (¥3,000 round trip), or a very expensive taxi (up to around ¥30,000 round trip) |
All prices in Japanese Yen (JPY).
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.