I booked a hotel on the island, but it still costs about 10,000 yen, so it's not that cheap. There seem to be guesthouses for around 3,000 yen, but I didn't want to be too cheap, so I chose a place called Sun Tan Beach Hotel. It's located on the beach, close to a diving center, and close to the harbor, so the location is perfect for Maafushi.
You can book a speedboat, but it costs US$300 for a round trip, and it feels strange to take a speedboat to a local island, so I decided to use local transportation.
First, I landed at the airport. If you were staying at a resort hotel, there would be a counter there to guide you to a speedboat or even a plane... But I first withdrew some local currency from an ATM and then took a boat to Male. It takes about 15 minutes and costs US$2 or 20 Rufiyaa (about 140 yen). The moment I used local transportation, I was amused by how the numbers were off by a digit.
I had some time, so I spent it at a museum and then took a taxi for about 10 minutes to reach the ferry terminal. (The taxi from the museum to the Maafushi ferry terminal costs 30 Rufiyaa, or about 210 yen).
It was supposed to take 90 minutes to get to Maafushi from there, but it took 2 hours. This cost 22 Rufiyaa (about 150 yen). It's not a very good boat, but it's sufficient for now. In total, I was able to get to Maafushi for about 500 yen from the airport. It's too cheap.
However, if you stay at a resort hotel, there are no transfers, and you are guided, so it's comfortable, but you have to arrange your own transportation, and the boat doesn't feel like a resort. That's a disadvantage, but it doesn't bother me much since it's my third time.
When I arrived at the hotel, it was new and clean. It was perfect.
And then, diving.
My first dive was after 6 months, but I'm an open water diver and can only dive to 18m, and I was suddenly taken to a dive spot about 30m deep, and the current was strong, so I was paddling hard and got tired, and my breathing deepened, and (probably) I had hyperventilation, and I couldn't recover from it, and I started to lose consciousness, so I thought it was bad, and I stopped the dive and returned to the surface. From the beginning of the dive, it was only 6 minutes. I thought that people who push themselves too hard in places like this might have accidents.
I realized that I lack the knowledge necessary to dive in deep waters, so I would like to take the advanced course if I have the opportunity.
Furthermore, I heard that the 18m limit is not very relevant overseas, but I felt that it was being taken quite seriously at the resort hotel. Perhaps that is due to the shop's policy. At the resort hotel, the first dive was always a check dive in the house reef, but here, we suddenly dove to 30m.
Besides me, there was one other person who was feeling unwell. It is unclear whether they returned to the surface because I did, or whether they were feeling unwell for the same reason.
We returned to the boat and then moved by boat to the original ending point before resuming.
This time, we only went down to about 18m, but even then, I didn't feel completely comfortable at first. As time passed, I gradually became more accustomed to it, and by the end, I was feeling relatively okay. Nevertheless, diving is a scary thing.
The last time I dove in Okinawa, about a year ago, I also felt the same sense of disorientation, but at that time, I think it was due to breathing too slowly, which caused a lack of oxygen, rather than hyperventilation. Hyperventilation is bad, and breathing too slowly is also bad. Diving is difficult. I think it is unavoidable for commercial reasons that people tend to focus on the enjoyable aspects and not hear much about the risks, but I am familiar with news of divers dying, so I was aware of the dangers, but I still feel that it is dangerous.
However, there are also aspects that are more interesting than the risks, and I enjoy the process of gradually improving my skills. However, it is important to avoid overdoing it. I grew up near the sea and often dove in shallow areas, so my swimming is fine, but my physical strength is declining, so I get tired easily from fin movements. Also, my breathing techniques are not yet good, so I need to be careful.
I dove twice in the morning, and finally, I started to feel a little better. In the third dive in the afternoon, my sense of neutral buoyancy gradually returned, and I remembered the feeling of floating gently with just my breath. It felt like it was only after the third dive. When I can breathe slowly, my headache subsides, the feeling of fogginess in my head decreases, and my consciousness becomes clearer underwater. I think I will be okay tomorrow.
On the way to the third dive, we encountered a pod of dolphins. I didn't manage to capture many photos, but there were at least 50 of them. They came close to the boat and jumped around, so it was a very enjoyable experience.
Addition:
The next day, we went to Manta Point, where mantas come to eat plankton.
We were able to see several large mantas, with a maximum of about 4 at the same time.
Some other people said they saw about 7.
I stood on the seabed, facing the rocks, for about 30 minutes, and I interpreted that the current hitting the rocks might be causing the plankton in the sand to rise. I never get tired of watching the mantas slowly moving.
Other people said that we were quite lucky.
Sometimes you only see one manta, or you might not see any at all.
And several mantas swam close to us.
The second dive was to a sunken ship (a shipwreck? Was it intentionally sunk to create a habitat for fish?) on the seabed. You can't go inside (it's dangerous), but there were many fish around, so it was enjoyable.
Today, compared to the previous day, I felt better.
I've become able to adjust my buoyancy without even moving my fins, so I feel like my skills are returning.
The third dive was to an underwater cave near Murfushi Island. Caves are fun, but I thought that if it were the first dive after a break, I would have struggled to get the hang of neutral buoyancy... but I enjoyed it anyway.
During the third dive, we saw two barracudas.
They weren't very big, so I thought they were young, but apparently they are quite large for barracudas. I thought they would be bigger, but they weren't that big. It seems to be a dream destination for Okinawa divers. Hmm.
This time, the large mantas were the best.
As for the barracudas, sometimes you can see large schools, but even though we only saw two, I was satisfied with that.
...But then I looked it up, and it turns out that the large schools are of bigeye trevally, and barracudas don't usually swim in schools. Hmm. The guide said they were barracudas, so I'm sure we saw barracudas. Knowing that made me even more satisfied.
Even so, I personally like large schools, so if I actually encountered a school of bigeye trevally, I would be overjoyed.
Also, we saw several sea turtles and eels. We also saw many beautiful small fish.
The clownfish hiding in the anemone is a classic sight. There are a lot of them.
During the first dive, while I was surfacing, the other people saw several sharks (that's the kind of place it is). I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to see them, but safety first.
I'm starting to have a strong image of the Maldives as a place for targeting large marine life.
For now, I've seen the things I wanted to see, so I think my Maldives diving experience is coming to an end for now. Next time, it might be fun to see something like a manta ray cyclone, but that will be another time.
Even though I have been diving for many years, I only come diving once or twice a year, so I am still at my 26th dive. I wonder when I will be able to get my advanced certification.