[Marine Shop HAPPY] Ishigaki Island Tours

Highly recommended if you come to Ishigaki 👍👍 Even if you're not a great swimmer, there's no pressure at all haha. Our guide, Sho, took us to amazingly beautiful spots and even to a sea turtle habitat. It felt like watching a Japanese movie set in Ishigaki, from the start of the tour and seeing the first sea turtle to exploring various gorgeous spots underwater—I was just so happy 😀 You spend about an hour in the water, and the underwater world is truly magnificent. There are no restrooms or convenience stores nearby, so it's a good idea to use the restroom and grab drinks beforehand! Thank you so much, Sho, for providing such a wonderful experience. I will definitely book a tour with Happy Marine Shop again next time! ☺️

Thanks to SHO, I was able to snorkel safely. I would definitely like to experience it again next time.

They guided us safely and well! We couldn't explore the Blue Cave due to the west wind, but we did the sea turtle tour instead. The inclusions mentioned English and Korean support, so it was a bit surprising and unexpected to have to pay an additional 1,000 yen per person.😅

It was a lucky experience to have our SHO guide show us various creatures, and we were also able to see the stars, especially a magnificent meteor shower. Thank you, SHO.

I didn't notice the email sent the day before, and when I checked later, there was no mention of a time change. We booked the 10:00 session and chose to get there on our own. The page stated to arrive 10-20 minutes early, so we reached the meeting point around 9:26. Later, I saw an email sent around 9:22 stating that the meeting time had been changed to 10:20, requesting arrival before 10:10, but we ended up waiting until about 10:35 to depart. The reason was that too many people with reservations hadn't arrived. During the waiting period, we only filled out basic information, were asked about our shoe size, height, weight, age, whether it was our first time snorkeling, and if we could swim. We also paid a foreign language service fee of 1,000 yen per person plus a parking fee of 500 yen per car. There was no reminder to bring towels. Because neither side was a native English speaker, it took some time to process the heavy Japanese-accented English. If we asked a question or looked slightly confused, the guiding instructor(?) seemed quite impatient. Before entering the water, there was virtually no briefing; everything was explained right as we got in. Since it was our first time snorkeling, we only half-understood everything. When we couldn't keep up or were a bit slow with our movements right after entering the water, we could sense a lot of impatience. There was no instruction on how to kick or use the correct posture, which was a bit unfriendly for beginners. Perhaps the waves were a bit strong that day with a lot of resistance, and we could appreciate the instructor's hard work and the difficulty of moving forward, but that shouldn't be an excuse to make sarcastic remarks to coworkers in the middle of it. Seeing sea turtles was great, and the small fish in the water were also very beautiful. In the car afterward, we were asked if we wanted to purchase the GoPro footage and photos for 3,000 yen per group. Upon checking the files later (about 9 videos and 42 photos), the videos were mostly of marine life, which our group couldn't really reuse individually. I'm not entirely sure if we would get any photos if we didn't pay the 3,000 yen. Since we didn't bring towels and didn't know we needed to, the instructor lent us their own towel to take turns drying off, probably to keep the car interior, which had a waterproof mat, from getting wet. In the car, there was also a sincere hope that everyone would leave a five-star review on Google, along with a few rather insincere remarks about wanting to visit Taiwan, even having to Google on the spot what famous food Taiwan has. Finally, when we arrived back at the original meeting point, they kept suggesting we go back to our accommodation to shower and change, but because we had subsequent plans, we opted for the 300-yen shower facility (not sure if the lack of hot water is normal). That's about it. Overall, I would go snorkeling in Ishigaki again next time, but I would choose a different operator. Looking at the total cost, it's about the same as a half-day experience with other companies. However, the main issue was the poor attitude, clear impatience, and unfriendliness toward beginners. Perhaps the experience would be better for non-beginners.

Kabira Bay is beautiful. There were only three of us in the entire bay, and I truly enjoyed a sunset SUP experience! The shop's service was excellent. I was staying in a very remote area, don't speak Japanese, and don't use LINE, so we communicated entirely by email. They successfully picked me up, and the instruction was very thorough. Windsurfing was so much fun!

Our service quality isn't compromised just because our prices are more affordable. We drove ourselves there, and since the locations weren't far apart, we could shower after snorkeling (for a small fee). This allowed us to seamlessly continue with our next activity, which was great.

NICE TRIP,GOOD EXPERIENCE

We asked the hotel staff at the entrance about going snorkeling, a Klook activity. The staff said we might have to wait a bit, so we waited in the lobby. After 5 or 10 minutes, we asked again, but the staff still didn't know. We checked the Klook activity notes, which stated a 5-minute waiting period, but no one came to find us or notify us. So, we drove directly to the meeting point, but no one was there. We waited until after 10 AM when someone finally returned, indicating the activity had already ended. When we inquired with the snorkeling vendor, they replied that we had missed the meeting time ourselves and couldn't join any later activities. We asked if we could pay extra to join, but they said all slots were full for the day. As a result, we wasted over 4,000 yuan and an entire morning for nothing.