A large group of 10th Grade students from the Yokohama International School (YIS) in Japan recently took a 5 day diving and field trip to Ishigaki Island, Okinawa.

2014 is the 8th year that the YIS has organised an annual diving excursion and the 4th year that it’s taken place on Ishigaki Island.

With its beautiful beaches and scenic coastlines, Ishigaki attracts large numbers of tourists and holiday makers each year and is a fantastic diving location. Its waters contain an abundance of coral and team with life.

The students were accompanied to Ishigaki by Sergio Mejia, who is teacher at Yokohama International School and a PADI Instructor with PADI 5 Star Dive Centre, Coconut Diving School in Yokohama.

The successful program was fueled with a great deal of enthusiasm – Sergio Mejia and fellow PADI Instructors from Coconut Diving certified 13 PADI Open Water Divers, 2 PADI Advanced Open Water Divers, 1 PADI Enriched Air Diver and 4 Project AWARE Specialty Divers.

In addition to completing PADI dive courses, YIS students also took part in an ongoing environmental initiative at Ishigaki Island.

PADI Course Director, Asako Fujimura from Coconut Diving School explains, “A very unique part of the dive trip is that we have been working with YIS students over the past 4 years on the local Mangrove Plantation Project. Students research and study the mangroves and why they are so important – then during their visit, each plant a mangrove seedling at Nagura Bay on the west coast of Ishigaki.”

Following the eventful trip, some of the students shared their comments …

“Really enjoyable since the tasks were done slowly, giving us lots of time and the dive site itself was really nice”.

“Thank you so much for such a great experience and the fantastic training!I had a lot of fun!  Thanks for everything.”

“Very fun dives with many different fish!The underwater dance at the end was funny!  Thank you!!”

For further information, visit their website (Japanese only) or email: [email protected]

The team of PADI Dive Professionals who instructed the 2014 Yokohama International School 10th Grade Students at Ishigaki Island. 

PADI Instructors Yokohama

Hiroko Shinjo – PADI Divemaster, Nagisa Sakamoto – PADI Instructor, Sergio Mejia – PADI Instructor and Teacher of Yokohama International School, Asako Fujimura – PADI Course Director and Ayano Ide – PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer.

Students plant Mangroves Ishigaki

Students from Yokohama International School plant mangrove seedlings at Nagura Bay on the west coast of Ishigaki Island.

Dive students Yokohama IS

Learning to dive in the beautiful clear waters ofIshigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan.

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