The Manta Fest ended with the judging of the photo contest and Manta Man Bill Acker giving out some pretty great awards. Judges were Andy Sallmon, Tim Rock, Ray Bullion and Peter Schneider and they saw some images sublime and other ridiculous. But one thing was clear by the submissions. Everyone had great diving and a great time.

The grand prize went to four-time Manta Fest attendee Judy of New Orleans with her divers and clownfish image. This garnered her a great new dive computer from Ray, a free week with diving at Manta Ray and lots of other stuff. On the other end of the spectrum was the shot from Doris of Behavior. We didn’t say “men behaving badly” qualified so she entered and got an Honorable Mention for a noble effort to protect beer in a rainstorm in the MRBH pool.

In all, a grand time was had.

I also had a great experience seeing Yap through the eyes of a free diver. I was joined for the fest by Ai Futaki, a record-holding free diver and marine videographer. It was a great new way to look at the reef through her experienced eyes.

See Tim’s Photos of Ai Futaki Free Dving during Manta Fest in Yap at Manta Ray at: http://www.photosource-enhanced.com/bin/Portfolios?launch=pdn-31809

So we said a find farewell to Yap. I will be back next year for 2 full Manta Fest 5 weeks. Should be great. Polish your dive gear and get ready to wet your whistles on Mnuw. The dates are August 27 to September 11th. Look forward to seeing you.

Oh yes, and transplanted Irishman Andrew Sweeney, MRBH resident manager, told me a bit about my Irish heritage one night. If you can pronounce it, you can call me Tadhg Carraig. Otherwise, Kamagar to the great staff at the MRBH and Manta Fest from Tim Rock!!!!

The Manta Fest ended with the judging of the photo contest and Manta Man Bill Acker giving out some pretty great awards. Judges were Andy Sallmon, Tim Rock, Ray Bullion and Peter Schneider and they saw some images sublime and other ridiculous. But one thing was clear by the submissions. Everyone had great diving and a great time. The judges enjoyed a variety of images and were amazed that many of the nicest shots came from simple point-and-shoot cameras.

The grand prize went to four-time Manta Fest attendee Judy Bennett of New Orleans with her divers and clownfish image. She used a Nikon D200 camera in and Aquatica housing with Nikon strobes to garner winners in two categories. This honor her a great new dive computer from Ray, a free week with diving at Manta Ray and lots of other stuff.

So start gearing up now for 2011 and more great prizes.

The winners of the photo competition were:

Land/Culture

Honorable Mention: Diana Bullion

3rd Place: Judy Bennett

2nd Place: Joe Penna

1st Place: Doris Robohm

Reef Scenic

Honorable Mention: Judy Bennett

3rd Place: Doris Robohm

2nd Place: Diana Bullion

1st Place: Judy Bennett

Behavior

Honorable Mention: Doris Robohm

3rd Place: Diana Bullion

2nd Place: Michael Martini

1st Place: Michael Martini

Macro

Honorable Mention: Judy Bennett

3rd Place: Doris Robohm

2nd Place: Michael Martini

1st Place: Judy Bennett

Mantas/Sharks

Honorable Mention: Joe Penna

3rd Place: Judy Bennett

2nd Place: Joe Penna

1st Place: Doris Robohm

Grand Prize

Grand Prize: Judy Bennett

Today we did a wild  5-in-1 drift starting at Magic Kingdom and ending at Yap Caverns and Lionfish Wall. Ai did some nice snorkeling in the Cavern Crevices and then we headed to Millennium.

Photographers are starting to compile a nice portfolio of images as the dives continue. The macro images have been great with lots of various nudibranchs. Plus lots of great shark stuff.

We say good-bye tomorrow to Frank Schneider of Tauchen Magazine and his model Leda. It has been fun to hear his tales of the dive world and shoot some sharks with him. Manta’s Ray’s German rep Daniel Brinkman has been escorting Frank to the best places and they have turned out some amazing images.

Tonight is the “Human Auction”, which probably involves beer, and most great slideshows from the pros and videos from Manta Visions’ Peter Schneider.

More tomorrow!!

Tim of the Deep

Here’s a look at some shots from the last 2-3 days:

http://timrock.photoshelter.com/gallery/Yap-Micronesia-Photos-Pt-3-2010/G0000x643S3Q1rGw/

Enjoy the imagery in beautiful Yap.

Tim

We’ve had days with dives and seminars and nights under the stars with great big screen presentations. Weather has turned from good to perfect and high morning tides are starting.

One group had a manta encounter yesterday and everyone has been enjoying the Vertigo sharks. The afternoon dives at Slow and Easy have been productive with some colorful and odd nudibranchs, shrimp and gobies by the dozen.

The tides and seas were also right for Yap Caverns and the swim-throughs held clouds of glassy sweepers.

Some of us went to a village dance courtesy of YVB (www.visit-yap.com) and the PATA Micronesia chapter. It was held by our friends at Village View and was a fine performance.

Nils and Heidi Koenig are here polishing up on dives skills and will have gotten some great new skills/specialties from Jan by the end of their trip.

We look forward to more sharks very soon and continue to pursue that perfect manta photo as the week continues.

More to come…… stay tuned!!!

Tim of the Deep

Days 3 & 4 in Yap and its producing more shark action. Check out Ai out in the blue with toothy friends.

Here’s the afternoon dive in Yap at Manta Fest. More good free diving sharks:
http://timrock.photoshelter.com/gallery/Yap-Vertigo-Reef-Free-Diving-Sharks/G0000wnWJtwg6U4E/

The Manta Fest days are officially underway with Andy and Ray and myself slated to be giving seminars starting this week.

The first day of diving was highlighted by a great gathering of reef sharks at Vertigo. Bill Acker brought down a small bait basket that kept the sharks interested while people snapped away and shot video.

Ai again tried some free diving with these gray reefs and looked right at home in the blue, clear water with her toothy friends. Our second dive also produced an eagle and some beautiful corals covered in a cloud of glassy baitfish.

Today we also saw five sharks getting cleanings and coasting in the current at Gofnuw Channel’s Car Wash. One shark had two pesky remoras that were driving her crazy.

This afternoon back to Vertigo and hopefully more great shark action.

What would Manta Fest be without mantas? Well, they showed up today to the glee of early visitors. And not without a bit of fanfare.

We returned to Miil under sunny skies and a bit of a breeze. Low tide was just at slack and the channel visibility on the first dive was fit mostly for macro. Guest Judy found wire coral gobies and some colorful commensal shrimp hanging out on bubble corals. Ai and I went to the deep cleaning station and found willing longnose hawkfish in the golden gorgonians there.

But no one saw any mantas.

While having our morning hot tea and banana bread, we discussed where we should go next. That was settled when a manta actually lept out of the water right next to our boat! After seeing this big splash and announcement of “we are here” from the rays, it was back into the water where we had a tango with three mantas, an eagle ray and a few sharks. The mantas were lazily cruising in the incoming tide, getting cleaned a bit and taking a few stabs at being amorous it appeared. JR’s group had all three circle overhead at touching distance (no they didn’t, but they were close enough to touch).

In all, it was a nice dive with clear water and we spent a lot of dive time with man’s & woman’s best friends… mantas.

Tomorrow we expect to see more divers and some full boats as Manta Fest officially kicks off. But for the early arrivals, it’s been fun already.

Story and Photo by TIM ROCK

Manta Fest in Yap is slated to begin this weekend. A few of us are here early including my free diver friend Ai Futaki. Here is Ai at 50 feet off Vertigo Wall with a gray reef shark (or six). We had sunny skies and clear, incoming tide waters to dive Miil Channel and then go outside the reef to Vertigo.

Mill produced a school of bumphead parrotfish, jacks and gray reef and whitetip sharks. We then headed to Vertigo. Henry gunned the engines a few times before anchoring and we were greeted by the hungry pack of gray reef sharks hoping for a feeding. They stayed around for the whole dive and Ai put on a show by easily going to 60 feet and shooting video.

Tomorrow we head back to Miil hoping for mantas this time.

Check out the action with daily blogs and posts on the MRBH website.