Is Yap Enough?

[ReneeDr]

We are planning our next dive trip and wonder what your opinions are for spending 10-12 nights on Yap at Manta Ray Bay and diving there the whole trip. We did Palau this year and would prefer trying a new place. It seems too chaotic to split a 12 night trip between 2 destinations, unpacking and repacking twice. Is there enough fish life and enough variety of dive sites to stay that long?

 

[Deep Water Dan]

The big factor will be what time of year you are going. Many of the dive sites are undiveable during the winter and into spring because of the surf, often the boats can't go outside the reef. If you're going in summer that sounds like a great trip as you will be able to go to the southern sites. But on the flip side, winter/spring is peak manta season. Me, I could go there for a week or longer and just do manta dives. But some folks like more variety than that! Check the airline schedule, you can only get into/out of Yap about twice a week.

 

[cleomagic]

We just came back from a Yap/Palau trip a little over a week ago. Yap is good for Mandarin fish and Manta Rays. Compared to Palau, it does not have the fish life diversity, amount of fish life, or as healthy of coral. Depends on what you are interested in.

We stayed at Manta Ray Bay - we had a great time and the staff was great. We spent most of our dive trips with Gordon and Nico - great Dive Masters and Captain (they rotated roles each dive).

 

[RJP]

Personally, I wouldn't get that close to Truk without splitting time between the two. But that's just me. I'm a sucker for big rusty boats on the bottom of the ocean.

 

[Peter69_56]

Me too I crave going back to Truk and spending 2 weeks there. So enjoyed it last time

 

[bbarada]

We did Yap for 5 days and Palau for a week last March. Palau is only an hour's flight from Yap if you schedule it correctly. In my opinion, 12 days of diving on Yap is too much.

 

[Adventure-Ocean]

There must be a lot of very good dives you haven't seen on Palau yet. Yap can be visually impacted by tides and runoff. 12 days is a long time. My choice would be more Palau diving. There's a good reason it ranks high in the great diving destinations of the world.

 

[Ulithi Adv. Lodge]

I recommend coming out to Ulithi to break up the trip. Pacific Missionary Aviation flies out of Yap twice a week (Mondays and Fridays) for $200 r/t. It is a really nice spot. From April to August (now) you can find upwards of 50 Green Turtles a night laying eggs on the islands just SE of the atoll. There is no commerce to speak of and no crime or violence. Depending on when you plan it there might be divers already coming out with a compressor etc. I have selfish motives of course but ask anyone who has been, the place is spectacular and well worth a visit.

 

[ReneeDr]

Thanks for all the advise. WE were planning to go in late March, so if run-off might be a problem, or not being able to get to all the sites because of surf that time of year, perhaps we should go back to Palau again. We did land based last time so maybe it's time for a live aboard. But, I am happy with 2 dives a day so would I have enough to keep me busy while the rest of the group was out doing 4 or 5 dives a day?

 

[Adventure-Ocean]

Went to Ulithi working for Ambyth and the Oceanic Grace many years ago. It is a beautiful, unique place in the world. The flight out there alone was an adventure I'll not forget. As I recall it boasts the deepest channel in the world. Snorkeling there was great but diving would have been even better. It was a wonderful rich culture I hope has not changed too much over the years. www.adventure-ocean.com