Should we go to Yap as well as Palau and Truk?

[judypots]

We're planning a trip in late December and January - mainly to Palau (one week on the Agressor and one week at the Pacific Resort) and several days at Truk. This is a long flight, as we live in New Jersey. We were thinking that as long as we're out there, we might go to Yap for a few days. Is it worth the extra expense and agita of arranging flights to go to Yap? Is it that different than Palau? Thanks for your thouights.

Judy

 

[Deep Water Dan]

We're planning a trip in late December and January - mainly to Palau (one week on the Agressor and one week at the Pacific Resort) and several days at Truk. This is a long flight, as we live in New Jersey. We were thinking that as long as we're out there, we might go to Yap for a few days. Is it worth the extra expense and agita of arranging flights to go to Yap? Is it that different than Palau? Thanks for your thouights.

Judy

I like swimming with big animals, so my answer is "absolutely". My wife, on the other hand, prefers Palau. We just got back from a week in Yap this morning. But our experience was fairly limited as we did Mi'l Channel as often as possible to see mantas at the expense of some of the other dive sites in Yap. The mantas were plentiful, although in Dec-Jan that may be different. In Palau the sharks swim 10 feet away from you, in Yap they bump into you. And the manta experience in Yap has to be seen to be believed. Yap is a bit more laid-back than Palau - five or six boats leaving Yap Divers each day versus a dozen or so from Sam's plus the other dive shops. We hit Blue Corner one day in December and there had to be 15 dive boats moored out there. Unusual to have more than two at any spot in Yap. And the cultural experience of visiting Yap is worth the trip in itself.

 

[Damselfish]

I would do it. We enjoyed the diving in Yap and it was very different than Palau. (As was topside.) We did some sites besides the Mantas, a fair distance from Yap Divers (but with a Pod of dolphins playing around the boat a good part of the trip) and they were great.

Since you have time in Palau, I'd suggest kayaking in the Rock islands. Great trip. We also went kayaking in the mangroves in Yap which was entirely different and also interesting.

 

[bbarada]

We went to Yap on the way to Palau in March. From San Francisco, we were able to go to Honolulu, Guam, then Yap. We spent 4 days on Yap, then got on the Continental flight for a one hour trip to Palau.

Yap was good diving, but no where near as good as Palau. We did 2 manta dives, a Mandarin fish mating dive, a shark feeding dive, and 4 dives outside the reef. We stayed at Palau Pacific Dive Resort: great accommodations, good dive operator, great food (but slow service).

The mantas were awesome and plentiful. Lots of good stuff to see on the outside the reef dives. I wouldn't go back, but I'm glad I did it once. Palau was much better.

 

[Krazytomdiver]

As a dive guide,I spent two months in Yap and would never return. I could not find any work plus the diving is not even close to to quality as Palau in which I did dive guide for six months. So my answer would be "no" unless you just want to log a destination. There is zero topside activities and everything is expensive. I did get one photograph of a shark cleaning station off of Lionfish Wall which IS fantastic.

"living life without a hard bottom"
KT

 

[mjh]

If you love Mantas than go! There is also the Mandarin fish dusk dive. If the weather permits and you can get a couple of other people the diving outside the fringing reef was fun. But Yap is sort of a one trick pony.

Galleries and MultiMedia shows for each at our site...

 

[Centrals]

We're planning a trip in late December and January - mainly to Palau (one week on the Agressor and one week at the Pacific Resort) and several days at Truk. This is a long flight, as we live in New Jersey. We were thinking that as long as we're out there, we might go to Yap for a few days. Is it worth the extra expense and agita of arranging flights to go to Yap? Is it that different than Palau? Thanks for your thouights.

Judy

You might be lucky to see one/two manta in German Channel in Palau but in YAP...different story.
I would do one week liveaboard in Palau but two weeks in Truk. The wreck diving in Truk is second to none. They are proper wreck NOT prepared.

Have a nice trip.

 

[farsidefan1]

You should not have to do much arranging of air travel to Yap. It is usually a forced stop going to and returning from Yap. Just spend a few extra days there on your way.

 

[Deep Water Dan]

You should not have to do much arranging of air travel to Yap. It is usually a forced stop going to and returning from Yap. Just spend a few extra days there on your way.

You can only get into Yap twice a week on Continental, which makes scheduling kind of tricky. Most of the time the plane from Guam to Palau bypasses Yap.

 

[Doc Harry]

Should we go to Yap as well as Palau and Truk?

I wish that I had your problems! Oh, all these decisions!