Okinawa in 2014: Ryukyu navigation

Wow factor is high for a Japanese prefecture, a step below equatorial places in this atlas. Accessibility is middling-high: domestic flights and a few shore entries (Maeda), plus boats that wait on wind. Seasonality is moderate-high: a summer mass window and a winter that is still a wetsuit. Risk is moderate: cave overhead at Maeda, current at Kerama and Ishigaki, not wreck-penetration scores.

This chapter is a place atlas, not a certifying agency, not medical advice, and not a live briefing. Japan Coast Guard, national-park rules and the day's wind override any sentence here. Destination pages are season and access notes — not a booking engine. Visa, park fees and live weather beat brochure months.

Pick the matching craft page (snorkel/scuba/surf) before the flight. Okinawa mapped for mechanisms, locale notes and limits. Okinawa sits in the places atlas — mechanisms, locale notes and limits, not slogans. Adoption and meaning follow coastal and inland water sites as much as peak specs.