7 Days / 17 Dives @ Manta Ray Resort -- too long

This will be our first trip to Micronesia. We are prefixing our trip on the Big Blue Explorer in Palau with a week at Yap. A relative of one of our group, who has dived extensively in the South Pacific, urged us to try to shorten our Yap leg and extend our Palau leg indicating that most of Yap can be enjoyed in 3-4 days.

So, is 7 days/17 dives too much time on Yap?

Thanks

Otter

You dont plan to do anything else but dive?? I like to see the areas I visit....which I know is sacriledge to some people here, but the odds of getting back there again is often neglibable so it is diving some and sight seeing some.

With my math...that averages out to about 3 dives a day...and a day and a half minimum no dive before flying......i am old so that would be a taxing schedule....but if youre a young whipper snapper go for it.

Just be sure to do a good detailed trip report when you get back.
rich

Well we are hoping to see the natives, but apparently not a lot to be seen. We will see the stone money and kayak and stuff. Just not sure if there is enough to see for the week.

And yes, we have to pace ourselves....there will be a week following that on a live aboard.

Anyone been to Yap, care to comment?

I was in Yap this past January and there wasn't much to do besides dive. If you want to see the natives, you will see a lot because Manta Ray is in the middle town.. if you want to take a cultural tour, Manta Ray offers that too for about $50 I think. Kayaking, cultural tour, and other land activities can be done after a dive day, and they seem to be scheduled like that too so people could dive then do something else after with more than enough time.

We were usually back by 1-3pm and still had lots of time to kill. Check out "Beyond the Reef" too, a smaller operation, less crowded(there was only me and 2 others), VERY personble service. I.E. the dive master will ask what we wanted to see that day, like a good macro site, the mantas, or turtles, etc. something specific, and he'd do everything he could to get us to see what we were looking for. Manta Ray was good too though, I dove with them on one of the 3 days so I could get some video footage for an extra $50, but the boat had about 15 divers. If I went to Yap again, I would dive with Beyond the Reef again though, diving with Manta Ray was like taking any other day trip dive tour... diving with Beyond the Reef felt more like just going out with a few friends to go diving. They both go to the same spots too.

Most of the divers I met there were doing 3-4 days in Yap and then staying a week or more in Palau. I personally woudn't mind staying in Yap longer because of the stockpile of Mantas they have there, but most people seem to spend more time in Palau. Have fun in betel-nut country!

Too much!

I too was in Yap in January. In my opinion 7 days is too much time to spend in Yap unless you are simply looking to relax. The diving was good. We stayed and dove with Manta Bay. There were only the 5 us from our group on the boat.

I took the cultural tour as well as the island tour. The island tour was very laid back especially seeing I was the only person on it! LOL It was nice to see a bit more of the island although there weren't many 'sites'. Just a good overview of the island. We did drive to the top of the hill and were able to get an overall view of the harbor, etc. & going to the old airport and seeing some of the remains of war planes was interesting.

The cultural tour was interesting as well. It was a guided tour along one of the stone paths. It included cultural information as well as botanical. The path led us to one of the men's houses where villagers showed us some of their weaving, dancing, picking and using betel nut and answered questions.

My favorite part of the trip was the 'mandarin dive'. The mandarin is a tiny little fish that's rainbow colored. It lives in staghorn coral and only comes out at dusk to mate. It is a beautiful fish and an awsome display. The photographer at the Manta Ray spent a year kayaking out to this rare location documenting the habits of the mandarin fish. I believe he took it to the Cannes film festival. It was quite good. & a very unique experience.

There are a few places to walk to. The grocery store, a small art gallery and a different stone path. There wasn't much 'leisure' space at the Manta. Each room had a little balcony. & there was a hot tub area that was in the process of being built. The main gathering place was the restaurant which is a boat sitting in the harbour next to the hotel. The food was good. & there a few lounge chairs etc on the decks. If you wanted to go to a beach the hotel would drive you to one. & once there you pay the locals to use the beach. The one I saw had some thatched sunprotecting structures with bences.

All in all, in my opinion you can have a good experience in Yap in less time than 7 days. and see it 'all'.

Have a wonderful trip!
Paula

No one has said much about the diving. I've been there a couple of times. Both times was on our way to Palau. We are going again over Thanksgiving for four days. The problem is that everyone wants to see the mantas. On a seven-day trip, you’ll most likely be with two separate groups of diver. One group that will arrive with you and leave half way through. Then the next group will arrive half way into your stay and leave when you do. Both groups will want to spend their time doing the manta dives, so you might be doing the same dives two or three times. Not that I don't love the mantas. I could do a hundred dives back to back and not get bored with them. It's just that Yap has a lot more to offer than just the mantas. I love the drift diving in Palau, but I had the most rippin' kick azz drift dive in Yap. Try hard, very hard, to get to some of the outer reef dives, you won’t be sorry.

I agree with Rooster, I've even heard a lot people say that Yap should be a destination on its own, and not just a side trip. There is definitely much more to see there than mantas. I did a drift dive on the southern reefs and it was spectacular, great viz too. We did Yap Caverns, Magic Kingdom, Lionfish wall, and Gilman Wall/Tip.

We were in Palau and Yap last March, and loved both. Check out my trip report here
I would have loved to spend a bit more time in Yap... It is very relaxing and the diving is great.

We are diving the BBE for our trip to Palau. After we had booked that, we decided that if we were flying THAT far and landing in Yap anyway, we might was well stay there for a 3-4 days. One thing led to another, flights and specials, and now we are in Yap a week followed by Palau for a week.

If we dive all booked dives, we will get 45 dives in. I suspect we will fall short of that.