Guide · Getting in

Blue Cave Okinawa entrance: stairs or boat

There are two ways to reach the Blue Cave Okinawa entrance: on foot down the stairs at Cape Maeda and then swimming along the cliff, or on a short speedboat ride that drops you near the mouth. Here is what each one asks of you.

Check availabilityfrom $44 · cancel for free

Editorial team, bluecaveokinawasnorkeling.comUpdated October 25, 2026about 6 min to read23 sources

Bookable here: the tour Blue Cave Snorkeling or Diving Tour(Shore Entry/Boat trans) 4.6 (9 reviews) 2 hours from$44per person Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hrs before

Quick answer

01From the shore: The Cape Maeda facility has stairs down to the water; when it closes them, nobody may swim.¹
02By boat: Speedboats reach the cave in 5 minutes from Yamada or 10 from Maeganeku port.
03Both allowed: The bureau lists Cape Maeda with beach and boat entry.²
04Not by kayak: Carrying rubber boats or kayaks down the stairs is banned.³
05This site's tour: It meets at the Cape Maeda car park and lists no boat.

Two ways to the same cave

The Blue Cave sits in the limestone cliffs of Cape Maeda in Onna Village, where light from an opening above turns the water inside blue.⁴ The Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau lists the site with both beach and boat entry.² Which way you arrive shapes the whole morning: how much you walk, how far you swim and how much of the cliff you see from the water.

The shore route starts at the facility on the cape. It has a car park, toilets, hot showers and changing rooms, and stairs that lead down to the sea.⁵ ⁶ From the bottom you swim along the rocks with your guide. The boat route starts at a port or a shop in the village and skips the stairs entirely.

Neither route is wrong. The shore entry gives you the reef along the cliff as part of the trip, and the climb back up the stairs as the price of it. The boat is easier on tired legs and nervous swimmers, but it depends on a boat schedule and a captain's call.

The shore route

From the car park to the cave

From 7:00

Car park opens

The facility opens its car park at 7:00 all year.⁷
Check in

Meet your guide

This site's tour meets at the Cape Maeda parking lot.
Gear up

Life jacket on

The facility asks every snorkeler to wear one.⁸
Down

The stairs

Open only when the office allows swimming.¹
In the water

Along the cliff

Swim with your guide to the cave mouth.

Down the stairs at Cape Maeda

The stairs are the facility's front door to the sea, and the facility controls them. No swimming is allowed when the management office closes the stairs because of severe weather or bad sea conditions.¹ The car park opens at 7:00 all year and the toilets and showers open at the same hour.⁷ ⁹

Carry only what you can hold safely. The rules ban taking rubber boats, kayaks and similar craft up and down the stairs.³ They also ban jumping into the water near the cape and in or near the Blue Cave, and the facility reports a rise in people jumping from the cliff walls inside the cave, which it calls extremely dangerous to everyone in the water.¹⁰ ¹¹

This site's tour uses the shore. You meet your instructor at the Cape Maeda parking lot, beside a white Toyota Land Cruiser, and the listing names no boat in its plan. The wetsuit, mask, fins and life jacket are included, and the guide sets the pace for the swim along the cliff.

Minutes, step by step

How long each part of the boat trips takes

minutes

From the itineraries of the Yamada speedboat trip and the boat-entry trip from Naha or Chatan.

Shore or boat

The two ways in, side by side

What	Shore entry	Boat entry
Start	Cape Maeda car park	Yamada or Maeganeku port
Getting in	Stairs, then swim	Speedboat, 5 to 10 min
Closed when	Stairs are closed	Wind or waves restrict it
Example trip	Private, 1.5 hrs	Small group, 2 hrs

From the facility's rules and the listings' own itineraries.¹

Three ways in

Shore, short boat, long boat

Okinawa: Blue Cave Private Snorkeling Tour with Photos

Meets at the cape

From the shore

Private snorkel

Length: 1.5 hours
Boat: None listed
Price: from $44

See this trip

Showers after

Boat from Yamada

Small group of 8

Boat: 5 minutes
Snorkeling: 50 minutes
Price: from $44

See this trip

From Naha or Chatan: Blue Cave Snorkeling boat entry

Groups of 5

Boat from Naha

Pickup included

Boat: 10 minutes
Length: 4.5 hours
Price: from $74

See this trip

Decision helper

Stairs or boat?

Start with the person who finds the water hardest

We are confident swimmers with a car Someone struggles with stairs We have no car in Naha We want the reef along the cliff too We are diving, not snorkeling

Shore entry

Meet at the cape and walk down.

A boat trip

Speedboats skip the stairs.

Boat from Naha

Pickup in Naha or Chatan.

Shore entry

You swim the cliff on the way in.²

Either way

The site has beach and boat entry.²

No swimming is allowed when the Cape Maeda Facility Management Office closes the stairs to the water due to severe weather or bad sea conditions.

Cape Maeda (official site, Maeda Co.)Source 1

What the swim from the shore is like

Once you are in, the water opens up quickly. You float along the foot of the cliff with the reef below you and the sergeant majors that crowd every photo on this site. The bureau names Napoleon fish and sea turtles as occasional visitors to the site, and bigscale soldierfish and Ryukyu sweepers inside the cave.² ⁴

The sea here is not a pool. The facility states that Cape Maeda is not a swimming beach and that the tidal current is fast and can be dangerous, especially at low and high tide.¹² It asks every snorkeler to wear a life jacket or a buoyancy belt.⁸ With one on, you can rest on the surface whenever you like and let the guide tow the pace.

Inside, the cave narrows and the light changes. The roof closes over you, the water turns from turquoise to a deep glow, and the sounds of the open sea drop away. Take your time here: there is no need to swim hard, and a slow drift gives your eyes the moment they need to adjust to the blue.

Checklist

Whichever way you go in

Shore entry

Shoes you can manage the stairs in
A life jacket or buoyancy belt
Coins for parking and showers

Boat entry

The pickup or meeting time
What happens if the cave is closed
Each person's age against the limit

Price check

Boat and shore trips for your group

Choose a trip and the number of people

Boat from Yamada50 minutes snorkelingfrom $44 Boat from NahaPickup includedfrom $74 Boat snorkel in Onna2 hoursfrom $45 Small group, Maeda2 hoursfrom $42

People 2

Total from$88

per guest from $44

Check availabilityfree cancellation

The sum multiplies a listing's starting GetYourGuide price by the number you pick and converts it at today's European Central Bank rate; the exact total shows when you book.

Video

Snorkeling Okinawa's Glowing Blue Cave

The video only loads from YouTube once you press play.

The Blue Cave Okinawa boat tour

A Blue Cave Okinawa boat tour cuts out the stairs. One small-group trip leaves from a base at 2668-1 Yamada in Onna, takes 5 minutes by speedboat to Cape Maeda, snorkels for 50 minutes and returns by boat. Each guide supervises up to 8 people, and hot showers are available afterwards. It starts from $44.

Another boat trip comes from further away. It picks guests up in Naha or Chatan, drives 1.5 hours to Onna and gives a 30-minute safety briefing at Maeganeku fishing port before a 10-minute speedboat ride to the cave. The wetsuit, life jacket and marine boots are provided and must be worn, and the whole trip lasts 4.5 hours.

Other listings use a boat too. One boat snorkel in Onna runs from a base to the Blue Cave by speedboat in 2 hours, and a guided dive with no licence needed uses a speedboat with groups of up to 3. Read the stops in each listing: a title that says boat is not always matched by a boat in the plan.

When the sea says no

Neither route beats the weather. When a high-wave warning was in force, the facility closed its car park and the whole facility.¹³ Its rules ban swimming in bad weather and while high-wave or tsunami warnings are in force.¹⁴ A boat does not get round those rules; it simply has a different way to reach the same water.

Boat trips spell this out. The speedboat trip from Naha says entry into the cave depends on sea conditions and can be restricted by wind, in which case the tour goes to another snorkeling or diving site without a refund. The Yamada boat trip says that typhoons or severe seas may cancel or reschedule it, with a full refund if you do not accept the change.

This site's tour has its own plan. If high waves close the Blue Cave it may switch to a calm beach, it runs in rain if the sea is safe, and you get a full refund if the operator cancels for weather. Whichever way you book, read that paragraph of the listing before the price.

Choosing your way in

Choose the shore if you are comfortable in the water, can manage the stairs and like the idea of the reef along the cliff as part of the trip. It is also the simpler morning: you park at the cape, meet your guide and walk down. The facility's car park has 180 spaces for cars.⁵

Choose the boat if stairs are hard for someone in your group, if you are staying in Naha without a car, or if you want the shortest swim to the cave mouth. The trip from Naha or Chatan includes the transfer and keeps groups to 5. Remember that boat trips have their own age limits: that one does not take guests under 5 or over 60.

Whichever you pick, ask what happens if the cave is closed, and keep cash for the facility. Parking and hot showers at the cape are paid separately on this site's tour. And go early: the facility says the cape gets busy on weekends.¹⁵

Rules that apply whichever way you come

Some rules travel with you whether you climb down or ride in. Spearfishing tools such as harpoons and spear guns are banned in the cape's waters, and so is clinging to the mooring buoys used by the boats.¹⁶ ¹⁷ The facility takes no responsibility for accidents at sea and asks everyone to swim at their own risk.¹⁸

Life buoys and AEDs are kept at the management office, and the office is open 8:30 to 17:30.¹⁹ ²⁰ In an emergency at sea anywhere in Okinawa, dial 118 for the Japan Coast Guard.²¹ Save the number in your phone before you change into your wetsuit.

And look after the reef on the way in. When you enter from the shore, do not stand on the coral, and use reef-safe sunscreen as the tourism bureau asks.²² ²³ A good guide will show you where to put your feet at the bottom of the stairs; follow that line on the way out too.

Plan your snorkel