During May, in what was going to be the first in a series of underwater adventures this year, I was somehow persuaded to participate in dolphin snorkeling. The action took place on Mikurajima, a small island that is technically in Tokyo but in reality is several hours away by boat and as you can see bears no resemblance whatsoever to the metropolis it shares its address with.
Before going out to meet the dolphins, our instructor had arranged for a brief training session, which turned out to be more like a kind of private lesson as it became apparent that I was the only one in our party without any kind of diving experience. Snorkeling I realized was kind of a rough way to start ones diving career and I pretty much spent this first hour in the water using my snorkel as a drinking straw connected to an all-you-can-drink sea water buffet.
However, when we later actually got to see the dolphins, they would come so close to us that not much diving was really necessary, and merely sticking your head in the water would bring you face to face with the long-nosed creatures.
As always, I've put up a photo set on Flickr with the rest of the pictures.