Stupid Human Tricks

Last weekend six lab members, including Kris, went to Izu Peninsula (mainland Japan) to accomplish one of the stupidest human tricks around. We went SCUBA diving in 13 C water! That translates to about 55 degrees F. We flew into Tokyo and drove in an over-sized van down to the peninsula, stopping many times along the way. We ate lunch at the Odosarawa Fish Center where this 4000 yen (~$50) flounder was for sale.



Nine hours later, we arrived at Shimoda Research Station and searched for our dive gear that we shipped ahead of us. We then tried on our rented dry suits for our dives the next morning.




The suits didn't fit perfectly, and it was quite an adventure getting them on. The next morning we left for the dive shop at 7 am. We received a brief introduction to diving in dry suits, which is quite a bit more complicated than diving in wetsuits. We headed out the first dive site on a boat...did I mention that the water was 13C? I think the air was a bit cooler than this or at least it felt like it when we got back from the dive.



Everyone's suits leaked except for Takuma's so we were very happy to sit in the hot water tubs for awhile before the second dive. For dinner we ate pizza and this gratin dish that was
reminiscent of chicken a la king.



We did two dives the next day as well, and again everyone suits leaked. Kris was so cold that she skipped the third dive that everyone else went on. We did get a lot of great samples, so the trip was worth it! The last night we went to a local sushi restaurant and had a delicious dinner.



Izu is famous for growing wasabi, so souveniers included fresh wasabi (freshly grated in the photo below), which was so delicious and Wasabi-shu, a rice wine flavored with wasabi!



After this weekend, I think I'll stick to warm water diving!
Off to Oku at the North end of Okinawa for a weekend of fun with the lab!