Goto Islands

In-water Decisions

• Dive only with a currently operating, legally appropriate provider and an agreed site-specific briefing. Check weather, visibility, tides, swell, current, surface traffic, tender access and the actual pickup harbor.
• The current-influenced JNTO Nagasaki diving guide mentions drift opportunities, but that does not mean an independent diver can safely enter from any shore.
• Chinsen is a historical deep-wreck lead, with a profile reaching 40 m and a reported hull passage. Exterior diving is not interior penetration. Do not schedule deep or overhead work without the required specialist training, gas planning, redundancy, operator and confirmed permissions.
• Snorkel only within authorized swimming or operator areas and with an appropriate buddy. No solitary freediving, breath-hold challenges or hyperventilation. The Naru guide's background as a free-diving fisherman is not a freedive lesson.
• Ask about onsite first-aid oxygen, communications, access to 118/119, medical history forms, insurance and realistic rescue/evacuation time. Do not assume any island has a confirmed operational hyperbaric chamber.
• DAN flying after diving guidance recommends at least 12 hours after a single no-stop dive and at least 18 hours after repetitive or multiday no-stop dives before flying. These are minimum suggestions, not guarantees; plan a longer surface interval when feasible.
• If decompression illness is suspected, end diving, activate local emergency services, administer oxygen if trained and available, and get urgent medical evaluation. Do not fly or self-transport to altitude with symptoms.

Fukue: Ministry of Health Goto Central Hospital listing lists Goto Central Hospital in Yoshikuki, Goto City, telephone 0959-72-3181. Nakadori: Kamigoto Hospital official site lists Kamigoto Hospital in Aokata, 0959-52-3000, with emergency patient intake information. Neither listing, as reviewed, independently establishes on-island hyperbaric therapy availability or a guaranteed diving-evacuation pathway. Ask your dive operator and insurer for an up-to-date medical evacuation protocol before diving. In an emergency call 119 and notify Coast Guard 118 if a sea rescue is needed. DAN's 24-hour diving medicine number is +1-919-684-9111 after activating local responders. On small offshore islands an ambulance, boat, helicopter and referral coordination may be affected by weather and case severity; no transit time is guaranteed.

Goto includes areas within Saikai National Park but not every island, reef and offshore route has the same legal classification. Saikai National Park access, JNTO confirms the park region. The official Japan National Parks rules advises against removing animals, plants or stones; touching coral; feeding wildlife; littering; lighting fires outside designated places; or ignoring trail and tide warnings. Do not collect shellfish, sea urchins, coral or other marine resources without verifying local fisheries rights and protected-area permissions. Never assume a tourism snorkel listing grants boat anchoring, fishing, landing or site access elsewhere. Use moorings where directed, maintain buoyancy, keep fin clearance over coral and avoid chasing or feeding marine life. Any wildlife or coral sighting is variable, never guaranteed.