If Kerama Islands are too far for you, or USS Emmons is out of your league, you can try diving at Manza. The most well-known site at Manza is the Dream Hole.
One good thing about diving at the Dream Hole is that you are almost sure to observe white-tip reef sharks resting. Since I requested to see some sharks during my dive trip, the divemaster brought me to this cave system to check them out.
They were surprisingly calm; it was still very early in the morning. I am confident I spent at least 20 minutes with the sharks before moving on.
The cave system is not complicated, but I felt scared while going to the surface. It was extremely dark, and the only light source was our flashlight. Cave diving is not a joke and should be treated seriously. However, the scenery for the 3-meter safety stop is one of the best I have seen. The cherry on top was we managed to spot a tiny seahorse! It was a Pygmy seahorse.
The next dive was also pretty interesting; there were so many seasnakes, and some were mating. I had never seen a sea snake until I dived in Okinawa and saw 10+ sea snakes in a day.
Ah, yes…. the box jellyfish… this is THE worst stinging I’ve felt in a long time. I was relaxing around the 3-meter safety stop when suddenly, I felt something brush my right hand, and I shouted underwater. It was unbearable; I can still recall the burning feeling. Immediately, I knew I was stung by a jellyfish, but I wanted to see what species it was. Thankfully, I managed to take a photo of it.
Upon some research, I could identify the jellyfish as some sort of box jellyfish. Thankfully, it is not the famous Australian box jellyfish, but nevertheless, it still hurts like hell.
Can I cross “getting stuck by a box jellyfish” off my list? Either way, hopefully, I will never come across this particular jellyfish.
