Ishigaki and Iriomote

Follow a competent operator briefing and site plan. Check qualifications, certification and recent experience, boat oxygen, evacuation communications, currents, DSMB, ascent and no-fly intervals. Strong drift and remote Ogan outings are not transferable to beginner reef divers; Unarizaki requires 100 logged dives plus its own in-water screening to consider them. Never swim to Manta Scramble from Kabira beach, dive alone while freediving, touch coral or wildlife, or enter an overhead space without the specific qualification, equipment and access. For snorkeling use flotation, buddy and organised areas; current and jellyfish hazards can exist close to shore. Official Okinawa safety advice.

Yaeyama Prefectural Hospital on Ishigaki publishes 24-hour emergency services and main telephone 0980-87-5557. Severe emergencies on Iriomote require local responders to coordinate transport and advanced treatment; weather can delay onward travel. A current local hyperbaric chamber, DCS treatment protocol and ambulance transfer times were not verified and should not be asserted. In suspected diving illness, stop diving, contact Japanese EMS 119 for urgent assessment and involve the dive operator; DAN provides medical coordination after emergency services. Hospital and DAN.

The two islands are within Iriomote-Ishigaki National Park and the wider Sekisei Lagoon coral landscape. Do not stand on, collect or feed reef organisms, pursue mantas or turtles, or use destructive anchoring practices. Follow marine-park and community rules at Yonehara and Shiraho, and choose guides who actively protect coral. On Iriomote, protected inland fields require advance town approval and wildlife habitat is sensitive. Keep driving at island speed of 40 km/h or slower to protect the endemic Iriomote cat. Do not land at Ogan, identified by the dive operator as a seabird sanctuary. MOE park manners, wildcat protection, Iriomote permits.