Mikomoto Island was Location Two of a three location Big Fish Expeditions trip with Andy Murch. 

Location One had been in Chiba Prefecture after which our BFE group including my regular dive buddy Mick Todd set off on a 5 hour drive to the southern tip of Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture. Our day boat for our two days diving at Mikomoto Island was the huge and very impressive “290”. I was grateful that it was such an excellent vessel as the voyage to Mikomoto Island was through some very rough waters. 

My camera system had recently been stolen on Vancouver Island and I was struggling to master my new camera, a Nikon D500. I had made plenty of mistakes in Chiba Prefecture and continued to at Mikomoto Island.  

Mikomoto Island is known as Japan's version of the Galapagos and our trip was timed to coincide with the scalloped hammerhead season and sure enough we were treated to them schooling in the blue although unfortunately never close enough for good shots.

Andy was very keen to see an endemic Japanese wobbegong shark “Orectolobus Japonicas”. Mick and I were nonplussed; they looked exactly the same as the wobbegongs we see on most dives in NSW, Australia. But we were pleased that Andy was so pleased to see them.