Scuba diving in the waters of Palau, Hawaii, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, Grand Cayman Island and the Red Sea certainly provides exciting and unforgettable experiences. I can say this with confidence because I have dived in then all.
Yet although Japanese divers flock annually to these well-known and thrilling underwater paradises, they have some of the world's most gorgeous, diverse and breathtaking dive sites right in their own backyard.
The Nansei Islands of Okinawa, from Amami Oshima to Iriomote-jima, are home to more than 400 species of coral, slightly exceeding the coral diversity of Australia's Great Barrier Reef and considerably more varied than the isolated Hawaiian Islands. The nation's reefs have been seriously depleted by so-called development, but many superb, unspoiled sites remain, complete with modern tourist facilities and numerous dive shops.