Pacific Magazine > Magazine > October 26, 2007

Pac Travel

A Little Bit Of Magic

Exploring Bonin Blue

By Story and Photos by Tim Rock and Yoko Higashide

They call it Bonin Blue. And there 60 feet under surrounded in sapphire I hovered. Below me large boulders littered the sea floor. In the distance, the ocean stretched to infinity.

Some divers poured across the sea floor looking at colorful fish that made their refuge on the rocky bottom home. But I was interested in the blue and what it might bring.

Below me was a huge marble ray resting in the sand between some boulders. I was tempted to go deep and take a closer look when something caught the corner of my eye.

It was a lot of movement from something big. As it got closer I could see a pod of bottlenose dolphins. I adjusted my camera and strobe and prayed my big wide-angle lens dome would become an object of curiosity for these playful creatures.

I’m not sure if it was that or my beat up wetsuit, but to my great luck and glee, they came right for me. They slowed down, came in close and took a good look as I happily flashed away.

One younger dolphin kept looking right at me. Some of the dolphins had small remoras, a suckerfish that rides along for free. One older one had a tail with odd barnacles attached. They moved with grace and ease. It was over almost as quickly as it started as they swam off into the Bonin Blue, tails swaying as they disappeared.

A snorkeler enjoys a bottlenose dolphin pair in the waters of northern Ototo Jima.

That episode was enough to make me very happy but when we drifted out to sea for our decompression stop, a huge wahoo came in to look. Divers rarely see these game fish. My diving partner Yoko Higashide had a trick. Small bubbles make them curious. So she made some bubble clouds and sure enough it kept circling and getting closer until it was but a few meters away.

 This is the kind of thing you hope to see when you come to a place this remote and it didn’t disappoint.

These islands, the Bonin Islands, have become famous as a refuge for marine and bird wildlife. People come to see and interact with humpback whales, spinner dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, sperm whales and occasionally spotted dolphins, short-finned pilot whales, whale sharks and other pelagics.

They are better known around Japan as the Ogasawara Islands. Located in southeast Japanese waters, it is an archipelago of about 30 small rocky islands not really too far north of the Mariana Islands.

 There is no airport. Japan wants to try to keep the islands as pristine as possible by keeping visitor numbers low and human impact at a minimum. The only access to Chichi-jima is on the 131 meter, 6,679 ton, Ogasawara Maru that is based from Tokyo.

The roots of the first Hawaiian settlers can still be seen as local ladies practice a type of hula in Ohkamiyama Park.

Before the settlers, the islands were virtually unused and uninhabited. Ancient settlers had been long gone, so the history here is relatively short but still colorful.

The big draw is whale watching. This once 1800s whaling port full of whalers and pirates is now full of whale lovers.

“I don’t understand our government,” one Japanese man told me referring to Japan’s constant quest to resume whale hunting. “Most people don’t want to see whale hunting anymore. We just like to watch them play.”
 



In whale season, the humpback whale watch around Ogasawara boasts a daily 90 percent success rate for watching humpback whales by boats. So if you want to see a whale up close and personal, this is a pretty good place to go.
 
The humpbacks can be an active lot when males fight for the attention of a female. There is breaching, fin slapping, tail splashes and lots of action to keep you intrigued while boxcar-sized mammals fly out of the sea, going through their mating routines. The season runs from February to April.
 
While we were enjoying the diving and the added bonus of seeing both humpbacks and sperm whales in between dives, our main reason for coming here was dolphins. All-day dolphin watching and swimming tours for bottlenose and spinner dolphin pods are offered and this can also be done in-between dives.

We spent a couple of days with some local divers who seemingly were part dolphin. They would swim down 10-15 meters and mimic the dolphin movements. Sometimes the dolphins would go for it and chaos ensued with lots of play and tricks.



Perhaps our best encounter came while the locals were off gathering some octopus after the full moon. When they went ashore to reef walk looking for fresh “tako,” we went off in search of a pod. Sure enough a small group appeared and they were relaxed and curious. They would swim right with us, their tails coming within centimeters of actually touching my wide-angle lens.

I could see odd barnacles on their tails and remoras attached to their sides. We were able to hang with this pod for a nice long swim.

The rays of the sun created shafts of light filtering up from the stunning clear blue of the sea. It was a bit of magic.

War buffs can also visit here and see the many caves and old guns and artifacts still in the hills. The island’s town has a nice selection of small eateries and pubs. The stores have some Ogasawara products like sea salt and amberjack sushi. There are museums and whale info centers. Gift shops offer souvenirs carved from whalebone. At night you can take a hike looking for fluorescent mushrooms and fruit bats.

It’s a fascinating little place that few visit but those who do never forget the magic of Bonin Blue.