[Yoshino Beach of Miyako-jima] plenty of colourful fish just 10m off the beach! Easy Snorkeling for everyone!

I have already posted several articles about my snorkeling experience in Ishigaki, Yaeyama islands.

Most recently, I also posted a beach of Kouri-jima island which is connected to Okinawa mainland by a bridge.

My passion for snorkeling drove me to another island which belongs to Okinawa prefecture in 2019.

Miyako is also a major island among all the remote islands of Okinawa prefecture, as well as Ishigaki.

I have already been there 3 times so far, so now it’s the time to show you how it was!

My first trip there was in September 2019, and I focused on snorkeling and went to 6 beaches during my 3 nights stay!

Here are the beaches I explored in 2019.

And this time, I show you the beautiful long coast, Yoshino kaigan.

What is so special ? The coast is absolutely beautiful. There are plenty of fish and corals in shallow water.

No one can deny the fact that the coast looks magnificent from the hill. Also, the scenery in the water is even more beautiful.

Actually, I saw various kinds of fish at first sight when I submerged my head into the waist-high water with a snorkeling mask. (I am 1.59m tall)

For example, the fish in orange and black, which is famous as “Nemo” of the Disney film, you can easily see their family nest at the point where your feet reach the bottom and just 20m off the beach (depending on the tide).

I think it’s easy for parents to let their kids take a look of it by accompanying them.

There are plenty of wonderful beaches in Miyako, but I can say this is one of the best for beginners and families.

Watch the videos rather than reading my explanation in texts

To explain to you how brilliant the beach is, it’s surely the best to show the videos I shot in the water and on the beach.

I usually shoot a long video then cut the boring scenes, like 70% of the original ones, but it was hard to do that this time because there were plenty of fish and corals in the most parts of the video rolls. Therefore, I uploaded 5 videos on YouTube to make each as short as possible…

I also captured some scenes from the videos in case you cannot play the videos.

I saw a lot of colourful fish right after I dove into the water

This is the volume 1.

I noticed quite a bunch of people floating as they looked at the seashore.

Actually, this is the scene you can see just 5-10m off the beach!

You can find a titan trigger fish on the right-bottom side…(near the rock). It is dangerous if it tries to attack you with its teeth!

I was surrounded by a school of Pompanos…

Other types of fish were also getting so close to me. Again, it’s just 10m off the beach!

Absolutely fabulous scene with so many colourful fish!

Here is the vol.2.

This fish usually stays in school under corals.

I think you can find all kinds of damselfish here…

They don’t get scared by human swimmers, so they go around you so freely.

You will be amazed by the corals in shallow water.

Here is the vol.3.

I have experienced snorkeling many times at the beaches of Okinawa regions and in Samui of Thailand, and yet I still get amazed by the corals that are well-preserved in shallow water!

From my experience, corals near the beach are usually half dead or damaged, but many corals here are so lively.

 

I found some clownfish, which is so-called “Nemo” in the Disney film, here and there.

Sometimes I looked up and found the water surface extremely beautiful. It was so comfortable to swim in such sparkling blue water.

Even bigger fish (like 30cm or so) were swimming around me

This is the 4th of this series.

I remember it was right after the lowest tide when I found such big fish in waist-high water.

However, the most impressive fish for me was this clownfish family.

Clownfish usually stay in or around their “home” – sea anemone – but here, they were courageously swimming around.

This family was located about 30m off the beach.

It was even a bit gruesome to have so many big fish around me

Suddenly, I came across the crowded junction of fish near the beach.

There were a bunch of middle-sized fish going across as well.

Like this, so many fish come and go in front of my face.

It seemed like someone fed the fish by scattering the foods.

Sure, it might be amusing to see so many fish approaching at once, but personally I’m against that. It might destroy the ecological system here…

Anyway, that’s why the fish around here were so friendly to human beings.

 

The blue fish is a juvenile Pomacanthus semicirculatus, the marking changes as it grows.

There were some impressive giant coral reefs.

So, here is the final video of this series!

Some poritidae corals got stony, but other types of corals are settled there

I was so impressed by the giant coral reefs in shallow water!

This fish always stays in a group and stays calm under corals…

This time, the tide was getting higher…

I was snorkeling for so long hours before I realized it…

The way to get to the beach — you have to pay 500 JPY for a shuttle (per car)

The beach was also beautiful, but as you can see, there were not so many people.

Then you will be required to pay 500 JPY for a car, it doesn’t change anything if you are 4 or 5 people in the same car. It includes the shower fee, so I can say, it’s reasonable.

Once you get down to the beach, there is no bathroom or drink stand, so be sure to go to the bathroom in the parking lot and grab a bottle of drink from vending machines.

caution: Do NOT damage the corals and be careful to titan trigger fish

This beach is wonderful for sure, but I found 2 issues.

The corals are alive, so try not to damage them

Some corals might hurt your hands or feet, so many people were wearing gloves and marine shoes.

But at the same time,

What startled me was that a mother was sitting on a big poritidae coral with her kids while taking a photo….

That’s something you should never do there…!!!

And, many people were walking in the water while accompanying their kids, but there were many growing baby corals!!

Your marine shoes might damage them, so I suggest you swim instead of walking in the water.

It would be easier to float in the water with a floating jacket!

Be careful! There is a titan trigger fish that might bite you

There is another reason you should look into the water….

I found a titan trigger fish when I stopped walking in the water and started snorkeling in waist-high water.

Here is the video for that.

They get aggressive most especially between May and August if you walk on their territory because they want to protect their eggs.

So it’s safer to do snorkeling, keeping your body on the surface of the water rather than walking in the water even in waist-high waterl!!