Once in a while, two divers will find themselves truly compatible and will make the commitment to be diving buddies forever. Two such recently tied the knot before King Neptune, 10 meters below the ocean surface in East Ito, on the Izu peninsula.

Although the national weather forecasters predicted rain on June 28, 1998, the sun rose into a cloudless sky. By 6 a.m., the advance team was on the seashore cleaning up debris deposited by the night tides. The beach entry spot was to be spotless for Yuji Toyoshima and Megumi Takahashi, two divers who fell in love and decided to wed under water, committing themselves as diving buddies "until death do you part." 

Of course sport diving must be a part of any underwater wedding day, so divers started setting up for their first dive at seven. By eight the first group of 13 was on its way to Gotone aboard a 42-foot fishing boat contracted by East Ito Diving Service.
 

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Gotone is a rock formation jutting out of the sandy bottom about 20 meters down. The boat picked up the buoy fixed to the north edge of the middle formation and we set out to explore the intricacies of sea life among the soft coral and sponges of Central and South Gotone. In the underwater profile, you'll see a U-shaped Central Gotone (looks kind of like a huge sea cucumber) and an oblong South Gotone formation. The blue spots indicate recent sightings of interesting creatures. In this case, seahorses and frogfish. But the variety in Ito is incredible. 

For 45 minutes, we 13 dawdled around Gotone. We were surrounded by a landscape of bright oranges, deep purples, muddy browns, neon blues, yellow-greens, presented by lichens, soft coral, sea fans, sponges, anemones, spiral worms, and a host of other oceanic flora and fauna. 

We were specifically looking for seahorses and frogfish, and we found them. We also found scorpionfish, gobies galore, blennies, cardinal fish, Japanese butterflyfish, and even pineconefish (called matsukasauo in Japanese, which translates pinebarkfish).  

Look closely.  This the seahorse we found diving at Gotone.

He may be ugly and mishappen, but surely mother frogfish loves him. ito

Group No.2, composed of 12 divers, took the boat back to Gotone as we changed our gear to new tanks and put it on carts for the haul to the wedding site. 

While the other group was diving, we 13 and the nine non-divers there for the wedding, set up the barbecue pit and got the charcoal glowing.  

Non-divers prepare the barbecue as the rest of us enjoy a dive at Ito's Gotone.

Yuji and Meg, with the priest, played by Charlie Whipple

Friends gather to congratulate Yuji Toyoshima and Megumi Takahashi (Toyoshima) just before they enter the water for their ocean floor wedding. Charlie Whipple plays the priest, complete with shaved pate (a wig).

The friar and his assistant led the procession, moving on the surface for about 100 meters to where two boats were anchored 10 meters above a cross, a wedding cake, and a red carpet spread on the sand. 

When everyone had reached the boats, we descended, the friar and his assistant kneeling beneath the cross and the other divers, buddy by buddy, lining the red carpet down which the couple would make their entrance. 

Everyone but one looked up, expecting the bride and groom to appear momentarily. One diver had discovered a small octopus hiding in one of the pipes holding the red carpet down, and was trying to entice it to come out and play. It wisely refused.
  Suddenly the Wedding March came wafting through the underwater speakers from the boats above. The bride and groom floated down, and swam serenely down the red-carpeted approach to kneel before the friar and his assistant. From above came the words of the wedding vows; the assistant held up panels with the words written on them. 

The bride and groom kneel before the priest, who kneels next to the wedding cake.

The process was repeated for the bride's vows, which she accepted. The friar then pronounced them married and pointed to the panel that said, "You may now kiss the bride." 

The groom removed his mask and then gently removed the bride's mask, taking care not to muss the veil. The couple then removed their regulators and sealed their vows with a long underwater kiss. Every diver in the audience applauded with diving knife applied vigorously to tank in clanks of congratulations. 
 

Eye to eye with a scorpionfish. Gotone in Ito on the Izu peninsula, Japan. ito

Another fish I don't know the English name for. Can anyone help?

The couple retrieved their regulators and replaced their masks. They were given a huge Sindbad-type plastic sword with which to cut the cake. Unfortunately, it was not edible, so he could not feed her or vice versa. Clanking once more filled the waterways. 

Turning to the crowd, the couple bowed their thanks. As the divers clanked tanks, Yuji scooped his new bride Meg up in arms and carried her back down the red-carpeted path, swimming gradually higher and higher until the couple passed from view. 

We then turned to the task of getting that octopus to come out of his hiding place. No luck. 

By the time we got back and out of our wetsuits, the non-divers had barbecue waiting to be consumed. We toasted the couple with ginger ale (alcohol and diving do not mix), and tied into the wedding feast -- barbecued pork, chicken, wieners, and vegetables of all kinds. 
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Click for bigger map Three o'clock found us back in the boat headed for South Shirane in search of jawfish and clownfish, among the denizens of the deep. You can see by the picture of Shirane that it is a jumbled mass of volcanic rocks. You could also dive this spot every day for a year and probably not see everything there is to see. As usual, the dive came to an end far too soon. We surfaced, pleasantly tired and bubbling with enthusiasm over what we'd seen. The perfect ending to a perfect wedding day; obviously blessed by King Neptune. 

Ito is the largest city south of the more famous Atami on the Izu peninsula, and can be reached from Tokyo in about three hours by car. 

Ito Diving Service runs an excellent operation. Boat dives go to Gotone, Shirane, and Manne. There's only one place for beach entry, but the bottom is no deeper than 10 meters and there are lots of creatures in the rocks.  

Charlie rests on the bumper of his van after a sumptious barbecue.

For more information on diving in Japan, contact: Charlie Whipple 2-35-10-702 Eitai, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0034 Japan Tel: +81-3-3641-8611 Fax: +81-3-3643-3091 E-mail: ctw-inex@marinet.or.jp Charles Whipple is a writer who has lived in Japan for more than 20 years. He is an avid diver and often contributes diving articles to Australian, New Zealander, Japanese, and American diving magazines. He's fluent in Japanese and willing to help any diver get acquainted in Japan.

The Scuba Club Manatees van decorated with a sign that says, "Underwater Wedding! Congratulations Yuji and Meg."