We embarked on a shark hunt this morning, seeking an elusive school of Hammerheads seen just a few times here. Seems that shark school has all the stops pulled out on the diving schedule, not many guests want to get up early and head out for deep current dive in the dark.

Hammerheads have been seen in Yap in one location under the right conditions. This isn’t a dive done often and it requires an adventurous group of divers. The two conditions are sunrise and incoming tide, natural cycles that don’t always coincide, however today was spot on.

About ten minutes by boat from the hotel is a deep reef that’s not part of the Pacific side barrier.

It’s a separate seamount shaped like a crescent and it’s called Crescent Reef, of all things.

During the last hour of a big incoming high tide we rolled into 20 meters of water in between the two reefs and kicked against the current out into the dark blue with over a hundred feet of visibility.

The dive plan was to find the western tip of the deep reef and kick out into the blue and hold approximately 30 meters of depth. This sounded much better on the dive dock, after being there with over a hundred feet of water above us and another hundred or so to the floor below us was a rich experience as the sun rose over the Pacific.

Most of us pulled down half a tank by the time we got to the area we were looking for, but we were on a shark hunt which requires a different stroke.

We didn’t see Hammerheads today and the dive turned out to be the equivalent of an uphill hike, but that’s nature.

At mid dive, the good news was that all we had to do was nothing and the incoming tide would carry us back to the island.

Today is a three tank day for shark schoolers, after this we went back to the dock and warmed up with coffee and breakfast and met the rest of the guests coming downstairs on their schedule. The return drift was done at recreational depths and it was a 30 minute ride back to the main reef. White tip sharks and  a giant marble ray were seen on the sand bottom below along with fish schools and we saw a 3-foot dogface puffer fish.

The last class lecture talked about circumstances, environments and how to sum up a shark situation around shorelines, river mouths and in murky water.

Another big topic was about  uncovering natural shark disposition with human beings. Some of Dr. Erics videos demonstrated high shark intelligence with examples of unaggressive behavior. Some of the content showed Bull sharks being hand-fed, which illustrates behavior and disposition characteristics for a predator of that size. That would be like feeding polar bears pinguins wearing only a glove.

There’s a lot of learning going on and guests are impressed with how much knowledge is being passed each day and the divers have been satisfied with the proximity, consistency and numbers of shark encounters here on Yap. Asking around at the breakfast table it seems that some European feedback was the Red Sea, Maldives and other popular exotic dive destinations show a decreasing number of sharks while diving. In Yap you still see impressive numbers of large mature animals of multiple species, as well as baby and adolescents on almost every dive demonstrating a healthy population.

This afternoon the school is going to Vertigo with bait for a shark dive where you can rub elbows with Black Tips and Grey reef sharks over the reef in the Philippine Sea. We also had another group come in on the last plane which doubled the class size, there’s still several days to go, more classes and another 10 or so dives before the week concludes.

Fingers are crossed to get the group a 10+ foot pelagic, we’re still hoping to pull up a Sivertip from the deep down at the southern tip before this party ends.

Day two of shark school took the group down south on Popou to Yap Cavens and the southern walls.

Yesterday we prepped the Caverns site with a bait box which produced a big group of mature Grey Reefs occupying the site.

The Caverns dive is typically a sharky experience with white tips resting in the amphitheater and grey reefs patrolling the reef wall, however today was an amplified shark encounter dive thanks to the bait.

We rolled in and hung off the amphitheater wall and watched about 15 reef sharks demonstrate several types of behaviors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a cleaning station where Grey Reefs perform a mouth-open tail stand and get picked by cleaner wrasse as well as a sand bottom deep cleaning station out of nitrox depth farther down the reef slope.

After watching the sharks out in the blue we kicked out and went deep where we were immediately investigated by members of the shark group. Just as we learned in the previous night’s lecture the sharks swam a  predictable and consistent pattern around and through our small dive group.

 

Things started to add up from the classroom to the water we experienced the shark behavior we learned on today’s first dive.

The second dive was at Cabbage Patch, just north of the Caverns, where we were using Colin’s bottle trick hoping to call in pelagic species from the deep.

In previous attempts at this we have been successful at stirring up Grey Reef sharks from the blue and twice had an agitated 10-12 foot Silvertip streak the dive group.

Depth plays a role here, so we wasted no time and went straight to max operating depth and got the bottle cracking.

Today was rich with the acoustic response from pelagic life. Immediately a half dozen grey reef sharks showed up and circled our group, followed by a couple of proper barracuda, then 8 dogtooth tuna and finally an 8-9 foot Silky shark joined the party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Silky was originally identified as a Galapagos shark by Dr. Eric, which would be a strange species for Yap… and it’s still undecided.

We stayed at depth and kicked out into the blue hoping to interact with another large pelagic species all the while turning our computers into deco timers.

Again the sharks swam a consistent investigation pattern around our dive group coming in close to several of us.

Just as we learned in class, the sharks close more distance from behind than when a diver is facing it, several of us were able to witness this.

We interacted with three species of shark on this dive and were able to experience what we learned in the lecture portions of the school out on the reef.

So far the shark learning and interactions have been positive and the diving advanced.

Today produced plenty of sharks with up close encounters using two techniques to bring them right up to our group.

The beginning is always hardest: in case of Yap that means getting to that point past the immigration where the beautiful girl puts a floral wreath around your neck as if to say “relax – you’re in Yap now!” Still, it speaks volumes that the first thing our SharkSchool guests basically did after a much-needed dose of sleep was getting on the boat with guide Iggy. No later than 8.30 A.M. and for three dives – that for sure is a good display of stamina after travelling all the way from Germany and Italy! Needless to say the divers we greeted by some of our resident grey reef sharks. They surely won’t be the last they’ll see during their week in school, in fact Bill said it’s just the beginning: “Tomorrow I am joining them for baiting the south tip of the island”, the Texan manta whisperer announced.
In the meantime 8 participants are coming in from Hawaii to add to the 6 European guests.

Practical experience without theory is a no-go of course, after all the event is called SharkSCHOOL. Instead of moving over to restaurant schooner Mnuw and its big outdoor screen, lecturer Erich Ritter and the group preferred the comfort and air-con of our conference room. The topics presented by Erich just locked in with where the practical part of school starts, namely different concepts of interaction, e.g. the different ways sharks tend to approach divers. However, Mnuw was where it ended – with its connection to our microbrewery and the cozy atmosphery the floating restaurant is better to get to know each other than any conference room in the world!

It is always wonderful to hear from guests who have stayed with us and enjoyed their stay.  We even enjoy hearing from guests who stayed with us and who offer constructive criticisms of things that we could do to improve.  Here are three recent letters to us that we want to share with you.

“Dear Bill, Jan & Detlef,

Thank you very much for the wonderful time and the perfect honeymoon we had with you at Manta Ray Bay Resort & Yap Divers. We enjoyed our stay so much and thank you once again for your efforts.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year 2013.

We are looking forward to meeting you again at the “Boot” in Düsseldorf.

With warmest regards,

Margret & Erich Rohn (from Austria) “

“Hi Bill, We have just arrived back in Scotland after our stay with you at Manta Ray Bay. You, no doubt, receive many messages of appreciation from guests but Christine and I would like to add one more. We had a wonderful time. The accommodation was very comfortable; the facilities well thought out; the diving (and for Christine snorkeling trips) was very well organized, and the staff were superb. It really was like being one of the family. I’d like to thank you and Patricia for diving with me; Jan for the great job he does organizing the dive team; and the dive boys who were quite simply superb. Josie was really attentive to my special dietary needs and nothing was too much trouble for the restaurant staff. Also Sammir for the airport shuttles in the middle of the night. Christine also thought the massage she enjoyed was the best ever. All in all it was the friendliest place we’ve been to for some time – and we travel a fair bit. So, thanks again to the whole team!

Mike and Chrstine Pacione.”

 

“Bill,

Just wanted to drop a quick note to say I really enjoyed my brief stay at your resort.  I was on a rush when leaving and didn’t get to fill out your survey.  I was looking at some photos and remembered that Helen and Samantha were really great on the kayaking trip.  I’ve attached a few photos if you don’t mind forwarding to Sammie (first is of her in traditional attire and second is a great picture she took of us in the mangrove forest)…
Best,
Moon

Moonkyung (Moon) Kim  金紋慶”

 

New group trip set for next April – don’t miss it!

Travelling with a Swiss group is about the most laid back thing to happen to a diver. The good news: Tour Operator Hang Loose and its owner Urs Maring, who has put together hand-selected travel packages for many years, will soon set up his second group trip to Manta Ray Bay Resort & Yap Divers for next April. For inquiries, please contact Urs: tauchen@hangloose.ch.

OK, now the long version…

The diving world obviously is a small one, and seeing fellow divers spotting Manta Ray Bay shirts and shorts from our boutique on other trips, is always a treat, of course. Still I was really caught off guard when I saw six(!) of my Swiss dive buddies on a Manta Ray Bay dress code mission for dinner. On a liveaboard trip to Isla de Coco, Costa Rica… wow! Definitely a good reason to ask how they liked staying with us on that certain last night of a dive cruise…

Get your wings at Manta Ray Bay Resort!
Isidor:
„Impressive to say the least was the encounter with the mantas in Mi’l Channel. While it was expected, it still was unexpected somehow. One second the water coloumn was empty, a blink of an eye later they were already there, hovering closer and closer on their wings.“

Rolf:
„Yes, that is when I felt so awe-struck I almost had tears in my eyes. My girlfriend Christine, who is ‘only’ snorkelling was looked after in a very loving way. She was able to witness the mantas from the surface while we did the same diving. The guides… well, we felt real trust there and that is special. When we arrived, Jan and Detlef were immediately there for us. We did combine Palau and Yap back then in late 2011, but the next time we will surely spend much more time in Yap. Apart from the great diving, there is just a very natural way of ‘just being’.“

Oliver:
„I really, really also liked the personal atmosphere, the feeling when you’ve arrived, the own microbrewery, Bill himself – it really is a world of its own.“

Tom:
„If I think of Yap I automatically think of Vertigo. Many grey sharks and diving in a visibility… like diving in gin. Not to forget the mantas!“

Vanessa:
„Yap… (laughing)… isn’t that the place where people call mantas by name? And where you will find the best wahoo sashimi in the world. In all honesty: You just don’t stay just in Palau and miss out on Yap – that’s simply a no-go!“

Dieter:
„I just say: Stammtisch and Vertigo – two sensational spots. To be repeated over and over again. Outstanding visibility meets mantas meets sharks meets diversity. These are some of the best dive sites I have ever seen in the world!”

Wow, such kind words in the end of a liveaboard trip to Cocos Island – and now that is great company when it comes to the very pinnacle of dive spots – that really made my day!

Over the years, we have been fortunate to host several dignitaries including Presidents, United States Senators, Ambassadors from several countries, Lawrence Fishburn the movie star; however the latest happened a few weeks ago and it was special. I have delayed reporting on this event for security reasons for the individuals involved. Now that they are well out of the region, I can tell you about our day with the Prince and Princess of Monaco.

Yes, his royal highness Prince Albert and his wife Princess Charlene of Monaco flew in for a day with us. They arrived with their delegation aboard the royal Monaco jet and were immediately brought to the hotel by our concierge staff.

Jan Sledsens, John Pakailug and I took the group to Stammtisch for a dive with the manta rays. No one was disappointed as we placed everyone in prime positions and each had multiple, close passes from the rays for the entire dive.

Upon returning to the resort, I discovered that Prince Albert was fond of beer so I helped introduce him to the products of the Stone Money Brewing Company over a special lunch prepared by Detlef and our staff on the S/V Mnuw. After sampling the choices, the Prince decided he liked the mixture of our Manta Gold and Hammerhead Amber which we call the Texas Two Step. Lunch included fresh salad from our hydroponic garden, Tuna Poke, Sashimi and Blackened Sashimi accompanied by fresh grilled fish, grilled chicken and an assortment of fresh fruits. The conversation ranged from the Princes’ various environmental protection efforts to the history of the Manta Ray and the diving industry of Yap.

Following lunch, Helen Limed and Richard F’low took the Monaco delegation to Kaday Village for a private Village Cultural Tour. On the tour the Prince enjoyed a healthy snack of fresh coconut meat served by the villagers at the local meeting house, while the Princess was particularly fond of our betelnut and was quite taken by it after having one handed to her by a village elder for her to try.

Everyone enjoyed watching the traditional dance while Prince Albert continued with his local snack of coconut meat, which by the way he was carving out of the coconut shell by himself after a village elder showed him how to do it.

For myself and the rest of our staff, this was a very special day indeed and we wish nothing but the best for Prince Albert, Princess Charlene, their families and the Principality of Monaco. We hope they will return someday.

Jump onboard Popou for a full day with the man who started it all.

Bill makes it a point to put down the keyboard and saddle up his BC to show his guests a good time on the reef with a personal tour of the biggest water Yap has.

The southern reef of this island is home to big water wall diving in clear blue currents with exotic sea life that you can almost touch.

Bill posted up a couple of weeks ago with an Orca report from the same area, and another time this season boasting mating spinner dolphins right outside the Caverns.

This dive report comes from the newest named dive site “Buena Vista”, named by a guest touring the southern walls with Bill and Nico a few weeks ago. Wall diving in Yap is shadowed by the Manta Rays and Shark diving, but there’s miles of rich reef to drift.

This dive we came across three cuttlefish, two as a pair and a third later on at the same site.

We came across the first pair as a group at 60 feet and everyone got their pictures.

These guys (or gals) put on an impressive light show of changing color and flashing patterns. At times they appeared dark brown and red, seconds later almost entirely white and other times the same color as the reef they hovered over.

Shooting cuttlefish is interesting because you never know what you’re going to get.

I shot over four hundred photos of three cuttlefish this dive.

While reviewing my index sheet it showed that at times the fish is totally camouflaged with the reef, and minutes later in front of deep blue water the same fish looked like it had a light bulb inside.

 

I stayed with one fish for the remainder of my dive just draining the batteries of my strobes. After about 40 minutes my wrist was beeping and I was starting to get scolded by my computer.

I stayed with the fish for another ten minutes leaving myself enough air to come up from 97 feet with a short deep stop and a long safety stop, ending my dive with less than 200 psi.

I don’t know much about cuttlefish, what they eat, what eats them or how to tell a boy from a girl… but they are one of the most interesting things to spend time with on the reef, visually spectacular.

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Personal Family Owned Experience

Diving with Yap Divers is where you can get in the water with the people and family that invented tourism here. Still nearly 30 years later Bill, as well as his wife Patricia, guide small groups and get you into the water you want, and onto the exotic sea life you came to see. Days like this include lunch onboard and three tanks on the outer reef with your hosts.

Manta mating season has the reef swirling with courting rays and with the recent moon cycle, we’ve had outstanding visibility in the lagoon. Every spring the activity and the number of mantas seen increases during their mating season. The best way to view these animals is in small groups just out of arm’s reach and overhead.

With conditions like these, it’s hard to beat a dive at the local cleaning station with our resident rays.

Sometimes the mantas pass overhead so slow that not breathing isn’t an option, we try not to put bubbles in their path, but a hovering manta could be there longer than divers can keep from breathing.

A couple of guests from New York had a face to face Manta encounter that lasted minutes.

The ray being cleaned hovered over the finger coral long enough for me to snap dozens of photos of their moment.

An extended face-to-face manta encounter in clear blue water is an unforgettable Yap diving experience.

Right now is the time to be with these animals, every day guests are getting the whole Yap manta promise.

 

Diving here is as close as you can get to Manta Ray in the wild without touching it and the best part is, they come right up to you.

Once in a while the cleaning pass has a burst of action when a cleaner fish picks at a sensitive spot on the animal.

A couple of irritated flaps and the cleaners retreat to the finger coral to come back out after the manta returns to a calm hover.

While most of the action is on top of the reef in shallow water, the mantas approach from the blue and you can see them as they come and go.

When the reef is busy with manta activity there’s a ray coming in with each ray going back out to the blue.

These mantas have no problem flying right overhead when departing the cleaning station which make great photo ops.

As far as Manta Ray photography goes, this is the place to fill your SD card with graceful rays.

Having to duck a passing manta isn’t an uncommon move at this dive.

The guest in this photo spent several minutes with her head turned sideways looking up at the manta circling above.

You can get up close to the cleaning action and get face-to-face, or hang back and experience the transiting overhead passes, either way you position yourself you can almost be bumped by these animals on your dive.

This is not an exceptional day diving with these mantas and this is the activity that you can expect during your dive trip, during mating season.

Yap is still the dive destination where you are guaranteed manta encounters like these.

Bill offers a money-back guaranteed dive package that  you get up close with a manta, all year round.

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Finding Flights to Yap

Did you know that Air China connects Europe to Asia and can get you here with shorter layovers? If you weren’t told about all of your options on flight routes, you should ask Bill. He’s still offering anyone free itinerary options that you can purchase through an agent, online, through him or with a wholesaler.

For Americans traveling to Micronesia there’s more than one way to cross the Pacific; via Tokyo or Hawaii and depending on your departing airport, you could reduce your travel time (and budget) by an entire flight.

Last week he was able to help a group traveling to Chuuk/Truk and Yap, who almost didn’t make the trip because they couldn’t find flights that worked with their travel window. After emailing Bill, they received multiple itinerary options which they chose and purchased on their own.

Every day Bill answers people’s email on creating travel itineraries to all of Micronesia. When you start thinking about your trip, ask Bill about travel so that you know all of your options before making a decicion.

Networking is EVERYTHING! And it never stops!

Occasionally those presentations lead to quite funny situations. While I gave lectures and slideshows on Yap and Manta Ray Bay Resort for regional dive clubs’ x-mas dinners, for travel wholesaler events or on tourism shows like Duikvaker in the Netherlands – the ones in other dive resorts or on liveaboards during press trips always make me chuckle.

On one hand because they’re usually improvised and the technology usually fails at one point, on the other because of a certain slight irony.
You certainly do not want to do this if the viz is one third of what was expected and the amount of fish resembles an aquarium after an algae bloom.

I am really not striving for meanness, but just imagine… Fellow scuba divers that are still dripping from their last dive or daydreaming after dinner and a great diving day… and whooooosh… here come the manta and shark close ups from Vertigo or Stammtisch.
While there were no mantas, there were quite some grey reef sharks during this one week of really nice diving in North Male, Rasdhoo and Ari Atoll.
The big stuff just did not happen to come really close, Yap-style.

“You don’t really run after those sharks to get headshots anymore, do you?”, said John, one of the guests from the UK. After seeing the colorful dance performances and learning about
our diving-and-lodging under one roof concept and the family business that Manta Ray Bay in fact is, I am positive we have some new friends out there who are coming for a visit next year.

How do you get there? By plane (okay, bad joke)… How long does it take you? Is it okay with kids? Is it suitable for non-diving spouses? What does the island offer? Chances of cabin fever? Malaria? What’s the price? How long should we stay?

Pleeeenty of  ears to be fed with information, which was a pleasure, of course. Nothing like showing off with your own photos.
Even more if your water pipe with apple tobacco is waiting for you upstairs on the sundeck under a star-spangled sky.

A German in the Maldives talking about Yap and smoking a hookah from Jordan filled with tobacco from Egypt.
Well, life is a tough one, isn’t it?

Happy Easter to all of you,
Daniel

We have ourselves a latent discovery that’s currently “under investigation” – do Manderin fish in Yap have a unique color pattern?

This was first noticed by a guest of ours, Michele, who has photos of Manderin fish from all over the world including other Micronesian islands. Her own curiosity of her photos lead her to Australian PhD and head fishologist, Dr. Gerry Allen.

In an email response, Dr. Allen said: “Indeed, something is not right as far as that Yap fish is concerned. I’ve never seen this species with the “reversed” colour pattern. I can only conclude that it is a rare colour variant. ”

 

Michele asked the dive staff to be on the lookout for the reversed color pattern Yap Manderin fish. For those of you who have been here and went on one of the nightly Manderin fish mating dives, check your photo collection to see if you have shots of the backwards Yap color variety of mating Manderin fish.

Dr. Allen is a past President of the Australian Society for Fish Biology, an honorary foreign member of the American Society of Ichthyology and Herpetology, and a recent recipient of the prestigious K. Radway Allen Award for Outstanding Contributions to Australian Ichthyological Science. Gerald R. Allen is the author of:

- Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide
- Reef Fish Identification: Tropical Pacific