西表島：海人ツアーで青いサンゴの海へ再訪　／　Iriomote: More Blue Corals at Amitori Bay

A snorkeling tour arranged by my lodging to Amitori Bay, just off southwest Iriomote but only accessible by boat. The scenery of the south-western side of Iriomote Island is beautiful in itself, but take a dive and it's a different world entirely. Corals of colours and shapes as if on another planet, plus fish and the occasional sea turtle. (As well as the shape of a shark in the deep, but unfortunately my batteries were already dead by then.) Apparently the corals at Amitori Bay almost completely died a couple of years back, due to a lack of typhoons coming to stir up cold water. They are still very threatened by the rising sea temperatures accompanying climate change, making it highly uncertain how much longer this stunning seascape will survive.