Thursday, August 4, 2011

Kinugawa Maru

Today we went to Bonegi Beach where we heard the snorkeling is fantastic. The remains of the Japanese transport ship, the Kinugawa Maru, which was beached during WWII still remains near the shore. This ship, along with other Japanese supply ships, came under attack from the U.S. forces.

In a desperate attempt to get the supplies to their troops before they were sunk, they purposely beached their ships and tried to offload what they could even though they were still under attack. One of the things I have found amazing is that nothing has been moved from the place in which it landed. This ship has sat on this beach since 1942 slowly deteriorating from the ravages of time and salt water. What remains today is the hull under the surface with parts of it still above the surface. Coral, schools of fish and other living organisms have made this hull their home for years. For us, it was a lovely site to explore, dive through, and watch the endless array of beautiful fish and sea life swim through. And, only a short distance from the shore.We do not have an underwater camera but this was the moment we wish we did. The outline of the ship gave the appearance of Greek columns and we could watch the fish swim in and around them. The shades of the sea would change in color as we went deeper out and on this very clear day we felt as of we could see forever. We could float for hours and always see new things.

When we were done we sat on the beautiful beach. Around us the locals were diving for fish and we were content to be a part of life here. This was our first attempt at diving/snorkel over a sunken wreck and we were hooked. We look forward to doing it again.

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