Whale Channel

The deep-water channel running between Tokashiki and Zamami Islands becomes a humpback whale nursery from January through March each year, as North Pacific humpbacks travel south from feeding grounds in Alaska and Russia to calve in the warm, sheltered Kerama waters. Divers descend to 10 to 20 metres and become passive listeners as whale song — produced by males competing for female attention — passes through the reef at intensities that resonate in the chest. Cow-calf pairs regularly surface within visual range of divers, with calves practising their own vocalisations close to their mothers. Outside whale season, the channel carries meaningful current that attracts large schools of fusiliers, tuna transiting between islands, and grey reef sharks patrolling the mid-water.