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We have just returned from a trip to Yap & Palau. Here is a trip report for YAP...
We stayed at Traders Ridge Resort (now called Yap Pacific Dive Resort) from March 27 to April 2, 2011.
I'll get the slightly negative out of the way first. Apparently, the former owner passed away in 2008 and his heirs didn't want to operate the resort and have been attempting to sell it ever since. We were told that the new owner (Deiter) assumed ownership on April1, 2001. The resort showed that the heirs didn't want to spend money on the resort. e.g. A lot of the exterior needed maintenance (nothing really serious - mostly cosmetic). The towels in the room and at the pool were mostly threadbare. However, these small issues didn't negatively impact our stay.
Now the good.....
Traders Ridge is a small "boutique hotel" with about 20 rooms, a dining room and a dive shop with 3 boats. The hotel was built by the American Sea-bees after WWII. The restaurant is built on the foundation of a WW II Japanese command centre. The place has a lot of character. Our room was large and clean. Maybe it was because there were only about 6 guests at the hotel but the service was outstanding. The word "no" is not in their vocabulary. All of the restaurant meals were excellent (the best that we found on the island). Others had recommended the Oasis restaurant but we found this to be average. We also ate at the Manta Ray Bay restaurant and it was good but the flies arrived at the same time as our meal.
The dive operation was also excellent. Their boats and equipment were in excellent condition. I dove with 3 other divers from Germany. They didn't want to get up early so the dives were arranged for 10AM. I really prefer an early departure and return so most of the afternoon is available for other activities. When I mentioned this to the dive shop, they arranged to take me out as the only diver at 7AM. Of course, they provided a divemaster as my buddy. They did the same thing for a twilight Mandarin fish dive. I'm an instructor and am quite comfortable with solo diving. 45 minutes into the Mandarin fish dive, the divemaster told me that he was cold and was going to surface. They allowed me to dive solo for another 45 minutes. You can't beat that for service!
I was happy with the quality of diving. We had a lot of rain while we were there and were told that they also had a lot of rain for a few weeks prior to our arrival. As a result, the visibility inside the reef as poor (maybe 20 -30'). However, the visibility outside the reef was about 100'. My primary objective for the Yap trip was to dive with Manta Rays. I saw many of them particularly on the 7AM dive when I was the only customer!
We also arranged for 3 land tours. We were provided with a private guide - He was excellent and we had a great time.
Yap seems to be far less developed than most other tourist spots. There are a small number of hotels and restaurants. Traders Ridge and Manta Ray Bay were the only two that we saw where we would have been willing to stay. Most of the locals live in villages in a traditional manner although we were told that the younger generation is adopting more of a "western lifestyle".
We were also pleasantly surprised by prices in the restaurants and stores. The prices compare very favourably to Canada. Booze is MUCH cheaper on Yap. A 750ml bottle of very acceptable vodka was about $8!!!!! A 2 litre jug of orange juice was about the same price as at home.
For comparison, we also toured Manta Ray Bay. This is a much more typical hotel. The room that we looked at was smaller than at Traders Ridge but more modern. It would have been very acceptable to us. Their pool was much smaller and had far fewer lounge chairs. Anytime we were there, the pool was full of children. Their dive operation also looked more professional. The dive shop was larger, with camera stations and sign-up boards for the various boats. Out on the water, their dive boats looked to be similar to Traders Ridge but more crowded. All in all, we would have been happy with Manta Ray Bay but we're happy that we stayed at Traders Ridge.
Our stay on Yap was 7 days and we felt that is was the optimal amount of time in Yap. Any shorter and we wouldn't have accomplished everything we wanted to do. Any longer and we may have been bored (...and we normally take trips that last 4 to 8 weeks).
We stayed at Traders Ridge Resort (now called Yap Pacific Dive Resort) from March 27 to April 2, 2011.
I'll get the slightly negative out of the way first. Apparently, the former owner passed away in 2008 and his heirs didn't want to operate the resort and have been attempting to sell it ever since. We were told that the new owner (Deiter) assumed ownership on April1, 2001. The resort showed that the heirs didn't want to spend money on the resort. e.g. A lot of the exterior needed maintenance (nothing really serious - mostly cosmetic). The towels in the room and at the pool were mostly threadbare. However, these small issues didn't negatively impact our stay.
Now the good.....
Traders Ridge is a small "boutique hotel" with about 20 rooms, a dining room and a dive shop with 3 boats. The hotel was built by the American Sea-bees after WWII. The restaurant is built on the foundation of a WW II Japanese command centre. The place has a lot of character. Our room was large and clean. Maybe it was because there were only about 6 guests at the hotel but the service was outstanding. The word "no" is not in their vocabulary. All of the restaurant meals were excellent (the best that we found on the island). Others had recommended the Oasis restaurant but we found this to be average. We also ate at the Manta Ray Bay restaurant and it was good but the flies arrived at the same time as our meal.
The dive operation was also excellent. Their boats and equipment were in excellent condition. I dove with 3 other divers from Germany. They didn't want to get up early so the dives were arranged for 10AM. I really prefer an early departure and return so most of the afternoon is available for other activities. When I mentioned this to the dive shop, they arranged to take me out as the only diver at 7AM. Of course, they provided a divemaster as my buddy. They did the same thing for a twilight Mandarin fish dive. I'm an instructor and am quite comfortable with solo diving. 45 minutes into the Mandarin fish dive, the divemaster told me that he was cold and was going to surface. They allowed me to dive solo for another 45 minutes. You can't beat that for service!
I was happy with the quality of diving. We had a lot of rain while we were there and were told that they also had a lot of rain for a few weeks prior to our arrival. As a result, the visibility inside the reef as poor (maybe 20 -30'). However, the visibility outside the reef was about 100'. My primary objective for the Yap trip was to dive with Manta Rays. I saw many of them particularly on the 7AM dive when I was the only customer!
We also arranged for 3 land tours. We were provided with a private guide - He was excellent and we had a great time.
Yap seems to be far less developed than most other tourist spots. There are a small number of hotels and restaurants. Traders Ridge and Manta Ray Bay were the only two that we saw where we would have been willing to stay. Most of the locals live in villages in a traditional manner although we were told that the younger generation is adopting more of a "western lifestyle".
We were also pleasantly surprised by prices in the restaurants and stores. The prices compare very favourably to Canada. Booze is MUCH cheaper on Yap. A 750ml bottle of very acceptable vodka was about $8!!!!! A 2 litre jug of orange juice was about the same price as at home.
For comparison, we also toured Manta Ray Bay. This is a much more typical hotel. The room that we looked at was smaller than at Traders Ridge but more modern. It would have been very acceptable to us. Their pool was much smaller and had far fewer lounge chairs. Anytime we were there, the pool was full of children. Their dive operation also looked more professional. The dive shop was larger, with camera stations and sign-up boards for the various boats. Out on the water, their dive boats looked to be similar to Traders Ridge but more crowded. All in all, we would have been happy with Manta Ray Bay but we're happy that we stayed at Traders Ridge.
Our stay on Yap was 7 days and we felt that is was the optimal amount of time in Yap. Any shorter and we wouldn't have accomplished everything we wanted to do. Any longer and we may have been bored (...and we normally take trips that last 4 to 8 weeks).
