I asked my friend Jim to shoot the prep for the last dive I did while we were traveling this past August in Hachijojima (八丈島), Japan — a beautiful little island in the Izu Archipelago south of Tokyo where we stayed for five days — so that I could combine it with the dive footage I'd be shooting on my GoPro.

Instead of jumping from a boat like I've done in the past, we entered from the shore at a spot on Hachijojima called Yaene. The dive lasted some 45 minutes and went to a max depth of 17.8 meters, and I was able to see a wide variety of sea life, including four sea turtles, and an enormous natural arch at the deepest point of the dive. Even though it was late in the afternoon and very overcast, the visibility was spectacular throughout the dive.

Many thanks to Ana for translating that afternoon, and to Meg and Seadive for a wonderful experience, as well as our new friends we met during our stay at Hotchy Joe's Hostel for being so open and welcoming to us. I can't wait to come back and spend more time on that perfect island.

Surface footage shot by Jim DanDee on a Sony FS-700 with stock 18-200mm lens. Underwater footage shot by Joseph Dwyer on a GoPro HD Hero3+ with red underwater filter.

Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6

January 2015