That Time of the Year

February, March and April means mating manta rays in Yap and we have had some of the best encounters in years. We have also had some wonderful people here already this year and the outlook for 2008 is very positive. Mario Beaucage and his Aqua Plein Air Group from Montreal, Canada recently spent 14 days with us and Walter Scott with his Deep South Group arrived this morning. Bob Wills and the Divers Get Away Group are leaving tonight and have already made reservations to return next March 1st for Yap Day.

Not only has the manta action been good this year, despite a week of murky water this past week but the sharks, mandarin fish and of course the healthy coral reefs and walls have all meant a bunch of people happy with their choice of dive destinations. There is still time to get in on the mating dances for 2008. Call your dive store, travel wholesaler or contact us and we will be happy to assist.

European Show Circuit

Jan Sledsens, Detlef Trux, Patricia Acker (her first trip to Europe) and I all took part in various European dive shows during late January/early February. There are a couple of reasons why we went to such efforts in Europe – the dollar to Euro exchange rate for one and the length of European vacations for the other. It likely will never be cheaper for our friends from Europe to visit Micronesia so we visited them bringing news as to what Yap has to offer in terms of diving and leisure holiday attractions. The Europeans seemed quite shocked to learn that Yap has some excellent beaches for relaxation after the dive day is done. They also seemed very interested in the number and type of sharks regularly encountered along the walls of Yap.

This was Patricia’s first trip ever to Europe and it was a roaring success both personally for her and business wise for the company. We spent time with some very good friends (Andre and Lisa Gauer as well as Pauli and Anni Munsinger) and met still more new friends. We strengthened relationships with our major European wholesalers and distributed more than 1,000 of our new DVD’s showing the “NEW” Manta Ray Bay Hotel & Yap Divers.

Yap Day and Manta Fest 2008

For those of you who want more than excellent diving from your holidays, be sure that you mark March 1st and 2nd on your calendar. Yap Day is the largest holiday celebrated in Yap and this year marks the 40th annual event. Several villages will perform traditional dances and the event provides the absolute best opportunity to photograph a living Pacific island culture. We still have a few rooms available so if you have the ability, this is an event not to miss. Contact your favorite dive travel specialist or e-mail yapdivers@mantaray.com to reserve your space for Yap Day. Not only is it a great cultural event but it falls in the middle of the manta ray mating season!

Also, please don’t forget our 2nd annual Manta Fest which will be held during the entire month of September. From September 3rd through 17th, Mr. Eric Cheng of Wetpixel fame as well as Mr. Mike Veitch our former photo pro will be on hand to offer advice, conduct seminars and show off their own wares nightly. The 2nd session will feature Mr. Marty Snyderman and Mr. Eric Hanauer from the 17th of September through the 2nd of October. To book your space, please contact one of our sponsors: World of Diving will@worldofdiving.com, Reef and Rainforest jenny@reefrainforest.com and South Pacific Island Travel spislandtravel@comcast.net as they will be happy to assist you.

We have very special 14 night/11 dive day all inclusive packages for this very unique event and would love to see you here.

Yap long has been noted as perhaps the best place in the world where diving with manta rays was practically guaranteed any day of the year but it amazes me that the world doesn’t realize the extent of what else Yap has to offer. There are at least 10 types of sharks regularly seen on our reefs and walls, we have hundreds of mandarin fish that mate almost every night at dark, there are excellent beaches and that Pacific blue/turquoise water and then, yes, there are over 100 resident manta rays available every day of the year.

Package all of the above with wonderful tourism facilities, one of the safest places on earth, a stable economy and intelligent, friendly people and you have the makings of a world class dive trip. We are here to make that trip a reality.

Bill Acker, the Manta Man