Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Yapping about Yap again . . .
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW - Group 1 left here (I'm still in Yap) early Wednesday morning after a fabulous week where we had plenty of mantas, some great wall dives, macro dives, reef dives, and finished up with an in-your-face shark feed that's always one of my favorites and (IMHO) a highlight of any trip here. I find it very interesting - while you're keeping an eye out of where the sharks are relative to the bait and you - to look at the literal pecking order and see who comes in to eat when, and how other non-shark fish are opportunistic and zip in and out as the sharks circle around. It's really a great microcosm of life on the reef. I always say there are three things on every fish's daily "To Do" list: (1) Eat, (2) Don't get eaten, (3) Propagate. We certainly get a good look at #1 and #2. If you'd like to take a peek at some of the shark feed pix, use this direct link: DAY 9 - JULY 17 (BONUS - SHARK FEED) - kenkurtis.
I HAD FOUR DAYS TO MYSELF - I had time between the two groups but it was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Manta Ray Bay owner Bill Acker and I got to dive together and pretty much wherever we wanted to for four days. (And we had a FABULOUS manta dive - just the two of us at the Goonfu station, and I was able to get the shot of Bill - aka "The Manta Man" - that you see below.) But as many of you know, I'm a social animal and I didn't really have anyone to chat with or play with all the time, so it was a bit different. But Group 2 is here now and we're back to the ways things are normally on our trips. Here's that shot of Bill:
OFF AND RUNNING WITH THE SECOND GROUP - One of the things I'm interested in seeing is how the trips will differ. Although we've got the same general schedule for both, the obvious variable is weather and water conditions and already we're making a change. Whereas in the first group we dove for four days, took a break and did a land tour day, and then dove for four more days, for group 2 we're moving the land tour to be after only two days of diving. This is because of some wind and swell being generated by an unusual storm that's right now heading for the Philippines and leaving some bad stuff behind it that seems to be hitting us and which affects the diving (even though it was generally sunny and hot most of the day). By moving our scheduled land day up two days, we make our non-dive day a day when the diving probably won't be very good and that works in our favor in the long run.
WHY YOU WANT TO GO WITH PEOPLE WHO KNOW THE AREA - It also underscores something I've touted for a long time and which I think is one of the key reasons for diving with Reef Seekers and that is that we go to a number of places where we've been before, which means we know the ins and outs of getting the most out of any trip. If someone had never been to Yap before, they may not know that there are interesting things on land nor may they have the relationship with the resort that we can swap things around like this. So this works to your advantage to maximize your vacation pleasure. As I say many times, you might be able to do a given trip cheaper if you do it on your own oe even with some group offering discounts, but you definitely won't have a better trip and sometimes you get exactly what you pay for.
MORE PIX - I've been posting Yap pix daily and if you're interested in seeing what's what (based on the stats I can track, we've got about 150-200 people each day who check in), here's the general link and then you choose whichever day or days suit your fancy: YAP 2017 - DAILY TOP 10 PIX.
THE ECLIPSE IS COMING, THE ECLIPSE IS COMING - Much as I like being in Yap, I'm also getting excited about August 21, which is the day of the total solar eclipse that will cross a wide swath of the United States. In L.A., there will be a partial eclipse, with about 60% of the sun covered. But there's nothing like seeing full, 100% totality. I plan on being on the centerline just north of Nashville, both because it's close to where the peak totality time is, and also because a buddy of mine runs the NASH Network and it'll be nice to visit. If you're interested in finding out more and where you could go to see it, here's a great link: | Total Solar Eclipse 2017. And here's what it looked like during the Australia eclipse of 2012 from Mike Ball's Spoilsport boat during our eclipse dive trip:
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week, and let's go diving . . . once I get back from Yap after August 2.
- Ken
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW - Group 1 left here (I'm still in Yap) early Wednesday morning after a fabulous week where we had plenty of mantas, some great wall dives, macro dives, reef dives, and finished up with an in-your-face shark feed that's always one of my favorites and (IMHO) a highlight of any trip here. I find it very interesting - while you're keeping an eye out of where the sharks are relative to the bait and you - to look at the literal pecking order and see who comes in to eat when, and how other non-shark fish are opportunistic and zip in and out as the sharks circle around. It's really a great microcosm of life on the reef. I always say there are three things on every fish's daily "To Do" list: (1) Eat, (2) Don't get eaten, (3) Propagate. We certainly get a good look at #1 and #2. If you'd like to take a peek at some of the shark feed pix, use this direct link: DAY 9 - JULY 17 (BONUS - SHARK FEED) - kenkurtis.
I HAD FOUR DAYS TO MYSELF - I had time between the two groups but it was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Manta Ray Bay owner Bill Acker and I got to dive together and pretty much wherever we wanted to for four days. (And we had a FABULOUS manta dive - just the two of us at the Goonfu station, and I was able to get the shot of Bill - aka "The Manta Man" - that you see below.) But as many of you know, I'm a social animal and I didn't really have anyone to chat with or play with all the time, so it was a bit different. But Group 2 is here now and we're back to the ways things are normally on our trips. Here's that shot of Bill:
OFF AND RUNNING WITH THE SECOND GROUP - One of the things I'm interested in seeing is how the trips will differ. Although we've got the same general schedule for both, the obvious variable is weather and water conditions and already we're making a change. Whereas in the first group we dove for four days, took a break and did a land tour day, and then dove for four more days, for group 2 we're moving the land tour to be after only two days of diving. This is because of some wind and swell being generated by an unusual storm that's right now heading for the Philippines and leaving some bad stuff behind it that seems to be hitting us and which affects the diving (even though it was generally sunny and hot most of the day). By moving our scheduled land day up two days, we make our non-dive day a day when the diving probably won't be very good and that works in our favor in the long run.
WHY YOU WANT TO GO WITH PEOPLE WHO KNOW THE AREA - It also underscores something I've touted for a long time and which I think is one of the key reasons for diving with Reef Seekers and that is that we go to a number of places where we've been before, which means we know the ins and outs of getting the most out of any trip. If someone had never been to Yap before, they may not know that there are interesting things on land nor may they have the relationship with the resort that we can swap things around like this. So this works to your advantage to maximize your vacation pleasure. As I say many times, you might be able to do a given trip cheaper if you do it on your own oe even with some group offering discounts, but you definitely won't have a better trip and sometimes you get exactly what you pay for.
MORE PIX - I've been posting Yap pix daily and if you're interested in seeing what's what (based on the stats I can track, we've got about 150-200 people each day who check in), here's the general link and then you choose whichever day or days suit your fancy: YAP 2017 - DAILY TOP 10 PIX.
THE ECLIPSE IS COMING, THE ECLIPSE IS COMING - Much as I like being in Yap, I'm also getting excited about August 21, which is the day of the total solar eclipse that will cross a wide swath of the United States. In L.A., there will be a partial eclipse, with about 60% of the sun covered. But there's nothing like seeing full, 100% totality. I plan on being on the centerline just north of Nashville, both because it's close to where the peak totality time is, and also because a buddy of mine runs the NASH Network and it'll be nice to visit. If you're interested in finding out more and where you could go to see it, here's a great link: | Total Solar Eclipse 2017. And here's what it looked like during the Australia eclipse of 2012 from Mike Ball's Spoilsport boat during our eclipse dive trip:
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week, and let's go diving . . . once I get back from Yap after August 2.
- Ken
