Dive Review of Manta Ray Bay in
Micronesia/Yap

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Manta Ray Bay: "Great Time at Yap Day 2016 and Yap Diving", Mar, 2016, by Mr Franklin Mah, CA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 8866.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Yap is known for there mantas and that was one reason that I wanted to go but I also wanted to see the cultural aspects of Yap as well. I was able to do both because of Yap Day 2016 which gave me the cultural part and included an island tour. Manta Ray Bay Hotel is definitely the place to stay to do everything. Largest hotel on island. Hotel facilities are fantastic even for a dive hotel, it is better than even non dive hotels. Food has good variety and pretty good tasting considering that if it is not grown there then it is shipped. And I was surprised that the food prices were very reasonable. You can get a lot for around $11 and some less, not a lot over $15. But the hotel staff and the restaurant staff is the reason that I love the place. After the first day, Maria will know everyone's name and what they like for breakfast. Joce will know your name on the dinner shift as well. Other people there including Derrick that you might see only a few times just make the effort make the stay memorable. As for the diving....yes...I went 4 times to the manta ray cleaning station. It was good the first two times because a couple of mantas came and played around off and on for over an hour. The last two times only one manta came either at the beginning or end, then left. An hour wasted just waiting. I saw mantas each time. But there is more than just mantas...though you can understand that people who just arrived on Wednesday or Saturday would want to go there right away. And if they saw some mantas, they want to go again. And if they saw none, they want to try and see some the next day. I understand it that some people want to go every day. So my last dive day, I went on a boat that did not go to the manta cleaning station but to the south of Yap. It took longer to get there but there were things I had never seen underwater before. It gives the dive guides a chance to show their skills and point things out. Not a ton of fish but no worse than average or above average and better than some places I have been to. It was a long day though just to do 2 dives because a lot of the diving times will depend on the tides. You might have to leave early sometimes such as 8:30am to late such as 10:00am because of the tides might not allow the boats to go to certain places or might not let you return by boat. Some places the current is as low as I have ever seen. It also goes to show that there is more than just manta diving on Yap. I would definitely recommend Yap whether diver or not!
Websites	Manta Ray Bay
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Belize, Hawaii, Cozumel, Philippines, Indonesia
Closest Airport	YAP	Getting There	The normal way is on United Airlines from LAX to MNL to GUM to YAP. A better experience is to take an international flight such as on Singapore or ANA to Japan then connect on United to GUM and YAP. It might cost a little more time and money but worth it not to have to do so many flights and to fly domestic to Hawaii which means no food for 5 hours.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy	Seas	calm, currents, no currents
Water Temp	82-85°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Manta dives were about 15ft so you can be there easily more than 60 minutes if action was good. Most other dives not that deep, less than 70 ft and were generally in groups and group ascent in about 50 minutes.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Dive center had bays for cameras and 2 separate camera dunk tanks. Boats did not have separate dunk tanks for cameras normally and had to be requested. They were generally small tubs and not enough for a lot of cameras.

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Dive Review of Manta Ray Bay in Micronesia/Yap

Manta Ray Bay: "Great Time at Yap Day 2016 and Yap Diving", Mar, 2016,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Manta Ray Bay in
Micronesia/Yap