Dive Review of Yap Divers/https://www.mantaray.com in
Micronesia/YAP

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Yap Divers/https://www.mantaray.com: "Pristine Coral, Mantas, Sharks, Great People", Apr, 2019, by GAIL MORRIS, CA, US ( 1 report with 3 Helpful votes). Report 10903 has 3 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Great dive trip to Yap. My husband and I stayed at the Manta Ray Bay Resort for 10 days. We had a 3rd floor, clean, bright room, and there was a friendly and helpful staff. Gina, who does the spa treatments, gave a strong, relaxing massage and I could have happily gone to her every afternoon. We had beautiful fresh tuna and mahi for a few dinners, and the local Land Crabs. They also make a fine pizza. If I go back there, I will bring my own little coffee pot and coffee for the room so that we can have a cup first thing. We woke up at 5 am but couldn't get coffee until 6:30 am when the restaurant opened. My only disappointment. Opie, who is in charge of the dive operations, was quiet, droll, and friendly. He listened to what we wanted and always just made it happen. We had our own gear but the rentals looked good. They have nitrox which was almost always at 30. We did 24 dives in 8 days and dove many of the sites. We had the dive boat to ourselves 80% of the time. And we were basically the only boat at each site. Ferr, the dive master, and Nico, our captain, made us feel comfortable and safe. Although we could cut through the mangrove channel to get to the Vertigo and the northern sites, we had to come back around the island and that was often a rough 45 minute ride back. I would suggest bringing fleeces, as the return trip around the island is often rough and wet . We dove Vetrigo (sharks) 3 or 4 times and did the Manta Dive site 3 times. On our last dive we saw a female manta with 3 males behind her and they swam over our heads for an hour. I would say that on 24 dives we saw at least 200 reef sharks, plus we saw a hammerhead in Mi'l Channel. Even the dive master was excited about that as hammerheads are not very common. We did some great wall dives, Yellow Wall and Pink Wall (near Yap Caverns) which are covered with soft corals. Most of the sites are hard coral and they are really in great shape. We only saw two lion fish which was interesting having been in Belize which is overrun with them. There were a number of small blue and green clams, but no really giant clams. Our introductory dive when we arrived, was called something like Slow and Easy and it was good to do it after our 27 hour travel from CA just to check our gear and get the weights right. Although it was all rubble, we saw a some amazing critters including a few pipefish and a huge nudi. It was nothing like the spectacular sites we went to for the rest of the trip but it was sort of a fun way to get up to speed. We never did any of the night dives. The resort was full when we arrived but most of the guests (Marines) weren't divers, when that group left, there were only 8 divers and they put us on 2 different boats which was great. Bill, the owner, hosted 3 welcome parties while we were there, and we appreciated his stories and what he has been able to do on this remote island. We were also able to see a full dress traditional dance one evening when a nearby village did a practice performance a few minutes walk from the hotel. We did a land tour our last day and visited a few villages where they have the rows of large stone money and Men's Houses. It was a great dive trip, I'd go back, although the flights were pretty strenuous, especially the return, which departs Yap at 3:00 am. But the remoteness and difficulty of travel helps keep it a fabulous location and it proves that when you make the extra effort you reap the rewards. 5 stars to the resort and to the diving around the main island of Yap.
Websites	Yap Divers https://www.mantaray.com
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii, Belize, Fiji, Palau, Cayman, Phillipines, Rangiroa, Yap
Closest Airport	Yap	Getting There	SFO-HNL-Guam-YAP. Difficult to get to and from.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, surge
Water Temp	80-84°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	15-100 Ft/ 5-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dives usually were limited to 60 minutes but could be longer.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	No water buckets on the boat although we probably could have asked for one. Camera room in the dive shop. There were very few photographers when we were there.

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Yap Divers/https://www.mantaray.com in Micronesia/YAP

Yap Divers/https://www.mantaray.com: "Pristine Coral, Mantas, Sharks, Great People", Apr, 2019,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 Yap Divers/https://www.mantaray.com in
Micronesia/YAP