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(Japan) Tokai Maru This Japanese feighter was sunk in Apra Harbour on August 27th 1943. She had already been attacked by one US submarine seven months earlier and was resting up when the fatal attack was launched by another submarine. She is large, at over 135m and lies in 35m of water, listing heavily to port. A tordedo blew a hole in the number 3 port cargo hold and it was this damage that almost certainly sunk her. The holds still contain some interesting relics including beds and truck frames. The engine room is enormous and the two engines and catwalks are intact. The deck house at the stern still contains some depth charges - do not attempt to touch these! One amazing feature of this site is that the Tokai Maru rests next to the SMS Cormoran, a German merchant raider that was scuttled in 1917. The two ships actually touch and this is the only place in the world where two vessels, from different conflicts, do so. The Cormoran is 90m in length and lies in 35m of water. The best way to approach her is to follow the midsection of the Tokai Maru until you see the vessel at 22m. The hull is intact and the engine room easily accessable through skylights. TOKAI MARU & CORMORAN-This is definitely a one-of-a-kind dive site...there is a WW I German ship (the Cormoran) and a WW II Japanese ship (the Tokai Maru, of course) which are actually in contact with each other. I've read that this is the only place in the world where this is the case. This site is especially popular with visiting military divers. In most cases, it is done from a boat, but I've done it from the beach, when I have divers who REALLY want to see it, and don't mind the 20-minute plus surface swim to & from the wreck! A brief bit of history (don't worry, there's no test!)...the Cormoran was "scuttled," that is, sunk by its own captain, after US forces took over Guam during WW I and told the captain "gimme your boat," or words to that effect. The Japanese ship was actually sunk during battle, and damage from the bombing can be seen on the ship. While the harbor bottom here is around 100'/30m, the top deck of the Tokai Maru is about 50'/14m, while the Cormoran is a bit deeper...60'/18m. Both ships are resting on their sides. While shipwrecks don't have the abundant fish life of the reefs, you'll usually see schools of Fusillears, and sometimes big Puffer or Porcupine Fish, and this Batfish, ready to have my finger for lunch! As with all shipwrecks, don't try to penetrate the dark interior (outside passageways & rooms are ok) without proper training. The inside of ships often have decades of fine silt built up, and a stray kick will reduce visibility to almost nothing...making it difficult to find your way back out. Email me & I'll tell you a story of why this is a bad idea! The only wreck in the world where you can touch a WWI wreck and WWII Wreck!

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(Taka Diving Service) Nathan Kaempfer Thanks for the hot dive tip it was a great source. So the full report, flew into Miyako at sunset, stayed at a hostel near their "Kokusai Street" (3000Y/night), rented a car (3000Y/day), picked up tanks (1000Y/tank if referred by Taka Dive Shop otherwise 2000Y/tank) actually very difficult to find tanks we had to go straight to the wholesale gas company (most people do the all inclusive boat dives 12000Y/day which includes lunch and three tanks), we drove south towards Kurima Island as locals said best place to beach dive. It is a 1K swim from the west facing beach to get to deep waters. We opted to stay in the shallow near the finger style reefs near the beach as they are full of life (Eels, lobster, sea turtle, tons of life). Then we drove to Boragawa Beach almost all the way to the light house on the southern cape. Definitely recommend this dive, it was extremely low tide so we walked the reef out and jumped in (careful many crown of thorns here) but the reef is from 5-10ft below surface to 65 ft at low tide. There are networks of "tunnels" and cracks in the reef that made this an incredible dive allowing you to stay at 50 - 65 ft and cruise near the sandy bottom. Felt a lot like cave diving in many places. Then when you are finished get rid of the tanks and swim east along the shore line (you can kayak or walk if the tide is low enough) and there is a famous cave right at the same beach that has limestone formations and a fresh water stream/waterfalls inside. The rock is like velcro so you can cilmb in and up no problem. You have to swim into the cave and at high tide you might not be able to spot the opening very easily. There are many locals taking tours there so you can follow them. Then we drove the rest of the island and I left that night. I recommend getting involved in the local drinking tradition. Don't ask me why there is a German Cultural Center out their either. Good times, good livin!

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