FAQs

Yes. There is no prior experience necessary for our Discover Scuba Diving program.

Although you do not have to be a good swimmer, it is recommended that you at least have experience of swimming. Not being a good swimmer and being afraid of water is a totally different thing. We can help you if you are not a good swimmer but eager to try. If you are afraid of water, however, you should not push yourself.

Equalizing your ears is a critical skill in diving. If you have any problems or other health issues, please consult your doctor.

Yes, if the condition is good and we can go to the manta point. Depth of Kabira manta points are around 10-12m, and within the range of DSD dive limit.

You do not have to be a good swimmer, but swimming is one of the important skill in diving. In PADI Open Water Diver course you will be required to float 10min without any floating aid, and swim 200m without any swimming aid (300m with mask, fins and snorkel).

“PADI courses are accomplishment basis, and the certificate will not be issued until you appropriately learn the required skills. Although very rare, there are cases when our guests cannot complete the course in two days due to unexpected weather, health and other issues.

In such cases we will issue an official letter of partial completion of the course, showing which required skills you have completed. You can bring the letter to other PADI dive center to complete the rest of the course, and be certified.”

PADI e-Learning is online based interactive knowledge development program provided by PADI. You can do the classroom part of the certification program with e-Learning, before you come to Ishigaki. As we do not provide classroom style knowledge development program, you need to complete e-Learning before you start your OWD course with us. Cost of e-Learning is not included in our OWD price.

Completion of PADI e-Learning is a prerequisite for joining our OWD course, and you need the completion record of e-Learning to start our OWD program. If you register from our link, your e-Learning progress record will be sent to us automatically from PADI, and you do not need to bring it yourself.

Technically you could participate in OWD and AOWD courses back to back in total of four days. We can accommodate such request, however, we usually recommend our guests to first complete OWD course and enjoy diving for a while, before moving on further.

We do not usually use manta points for our PADI courses. Priority of our course programs is to teach you the required skills, and we will be selecting appropriate dive sites for each skill depending on the course.

We have the following dives available for AOW course. (Deep diving and Underwater Navigation are mandatory dives for AOW course).
・Deep Diver
・Underwater Navigator
・Peak Performance Buoyancy
・Search and Recovery
・Enriched Air Diver
・Boat Diver
・Underwater Photography
・AWARE Fish Identification

No. Diving points each day are decided every morning based on the sea condition, our guests’ skill level as well as their requests. We will try to accommodate your requests as much as possible on first-come first-served basis.

Although there always are some places where we could see mantas throughout the year, the best season would be April through November. Kabira manta points will not be accessible when the wind is blowing from north. Therefore, the best season will be around April through November, when the wind normally blows from south. During December through March, mantas are seen around Kuroshima area.

“Although we will do our best to bring you to the manta point when requested, we cannot guarantee you will see mantas as it is up to mother nature.

Having said that, encounter rate of mantas at Kabira area is high around 80%, although it changes time to time. In good times there are dozen mantas hovering around the cleaning station everyday for around a month. In bad times you may not see any for a week.

Mantas are probably there even in bad times, but divers have only around 40-50min time under the water, and meeting a manta in the short period of time could be just a matter of luck, when there are not many around.”

“No, but if you book enough in advance, there is better chance we can accommodate your request.

Dive sites for each day are descided by our boat captain every morning, taking into account such factors as wind, swells, current, visibility, the guests’ skill level, as well as the guests’ requests, in order to maximize our guests’ satisfaction while assuring safety.

We will do our best to bring our guests to their desired dive sites, but there is no guarantee that you can always dive at your favorite dive sites, particularly for the last minute reservations.”

Yes, if the condition is good and we can go to the manta point. Depth of Kabira manta points are around 10-12m, and within the range of DSD dive limit.

We do not usually use manta points for our PADI courses. Priority of our course programs is to teach you the required skills, and we will be selecting appropriate dive sites for each skill depending on the course.

We will prepare rental gear based on the size information provided, and the gear should fit you fine. If you want to make sure by trying them on before the dives, you can come to our shop on the day before and try.

We have wetsuits up to 5L (188cm/110kg, or 6″2’/243lb). Our BCDs are adjustable jacket type, and will fit to most large sizes. We have fins up to 31cm/US13/EU52.

We have masks with myopic optical correction lenses available from +2.0 to +5.0.

Our tanks have Yoke valves. If your regulator has DIN valve, we have DIN/Yoke adapter free of charge.

Our rental wetsuits are mostly 5mm full suits. We also have hooded vest it you need extra warmth.

At Prime Scuba Ishigaki, you can use enriched air tank on trial basis.

Yes. If you send your equipment to us, we will bring it to the boat on the day of your dives. Please make sure to send enough in advance to make sure it will arrive before your dive date.

If you live in Japan, we will wash and dry your gear and send them back to your address in Japan.

Although water temperature in summer can go up to 30C, and you can swim without wetsuit, we recommend our guests to wear wetsuit for protection from scratch and other injuries

No. All our programs are guided dives, and our instructors are responsible for managing your dive profile. You can use our dive profile for your logging purpose.

We are sorry but we do not have side mount BCD for rental. Also, we do not have tanks for side mount BCD.

Our transportation will be available if you will be staying in the city area (excluding Fukai, Tozato, Nosoko, Ibaruma and Hirakubo). If you will be staying outside of our coverage area, you will need to arange your transportation to our shop or to the port. Please ask our staffs for more details.

Morning pick-up at the airport could be available if you arrive with domestic flight before 10:30am. Please contact us enough in advance for availability.

It wil ldepend on your arrival and departure schedule. If you arrive before 8:00am from within Japan, you could join our dive cruise for three dives. If you arrive later, you maybe able to join from the second dive, depending on the schedule. Please ask our staff for more information.

If you will be staying outside of the city area, our transportation will not be available. We will send you details of the meeting point, so please arrange your own transportation.

Yes. Please take the a ferry and come to Ishigaki port in the morning. Our staff will pick you up there.

If you will be driving, we will arrange a meeting place near the port, and our staff will meet you there.

We have one free dives for every 10 dives.

We are sorry but we do not have instructor nor dive master discounts. At Prime Scuba we welcome all levels of divers and provide the best quality service.

We have group discount during December thru March. Group discount applies to groups of 5 or more (ex boarding program), and Fun Diving (ex rentals) and Discover Scuba Diving fees will be discounted by 10%. We are sorry but there is no dive shop tour price available in 2018.