Yap?

[Nell Keene]

Greetings! new to this forum and did a search without coming up with anthing

Interested in going to Yap. Have 2 weeks. starting from Seattle

any input from those who have been there would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Nell

 

[robint]

I would start with checking out some of the major dive travel websites: Island Dreams Travel diving trips
Caradonna Dive Adventures - Dive Travel and Vacations
Ultimate Dive Travel
Trip-N-Tour: The Dive / Travel Experts of the Pacific
they will give you an idea on cost and what hotels/dive packages are available there. Airfare is going to be your biggest cost and Continental has a monopoly on flying US to Micronesia. Check Continental Airlines - Airline Tickets, Vacations Packages, Travel Deals, and Company Information on continental.com for dive packages too. They have all-inclusive pkg for Yap.

 

[Nell Keene]

thanks Robint for the information

Nell

 

[ka7]

Hi Nell, I was out there myself earlier this year. Would 110% recommend diving with Manta Ray Diving in Yap Micronesia with Beyond The Reef Dive Center very good, very friendly service. Dave will also give you a hand sorting out accomodation.

Flights you will need to book through continental airlines, easy enough to do.

Personally I wouldnt go through a travel agency, a lot of them take a cut for promoting the bigger outfit Manta Ray Bay Hotel & Yap Divers in Micronesia - diving where the mantas dive on Yap as they take a percentage. I have always preferred the personal touch and found Dave from Diveyap extremely helpful with any questions. After spending 3 weeks in Micronesia and chatting to various divers, EVERYONE that I talked to that had dived with Dive Yap were completely happy with their choice.

If you have any other questions please shout, will try my best to answer.

 

[Damselfish]

one thing I would do with any op, is see if you will be able to go on dives other than manta dives, unless that's all you want. There are some really nice walls that they don't seem to go to enough, probably because they promote the mantas so heavily that's where everyone wants to go.

 

[pilot fish]

Don't know if you've done your trip already but, if not, this might help you? link below


http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/pacific-islands/184606-yap-did-not-blow-me-away.html

 

[Jim Kerr]

I've been to Yap twice. The first time in Feb 2003 was for only 3 days and I loved every minute of it. The people there are terrific!

The second time in Feb 2007 was for a full week and I found myself getting a little bored. The Manta dives are great (when they come) but the reefs are not that spectacular. Do not expect to see the Mantas every time or you will be disappointed. Also the airline has made it more difficult to get there requiring more travel time.

If you have 2 weeks you would be better off going to Truk or Palau for a week with "maybe" an add on to Yap for a few days.

Truk is good if you like wrecks and are interested in history and artifacts,

Palau has "spectacular" reefs and wrecks with numerous species of "everything" in any direction.

BTW, I stayed at MRBH and dove with Yap Divers both times when I was in Yap. They are a top notch well run operation. I can not comment on any of the other Dive ops there.

 

[champ]

A lot depends on what you want to do. If you want a real "national geographic" type of trip, you could go to the outer islands in Yap, where the women are bare breasted in grass skirts and the village fishes and grows tarrow for food - the people choose to live with very little technology. The stone money shown in BC comics is real money in Yap.

If SCUBA diving is your main adventure, you will need to stick to the main insland of Yap (also amazing). The people and culture of Yap can not be beat.

Continental Microneasia will probably give you a free "layover" in Palau if you want. The diving is Palau is fantastic (but the culture is not as amazing as Yap).

 

[CARHILL]

Divers in this part of the world use MDA in Guam for the best dive packages in Yap, Palau, and Truk. I have used many different agencys but MDA in Guam always has the best deals (aka local price which you will learn about when you get here). The outer island of Ulithi has great diving and WWII wrecks but I'm not sure about flights from Yap are still going via SDA airline. Check with Diane at MDA
Dale Still on a little rock in the Pacific

 

[Rickg]

Greetings! new to this forum and did a search without coming up with anthing

Interested in going to Yap. Have 2 weeks. starting from Seattle

any input from those who have been there would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Nell

Nell,

Having been to Yap I would not recommend flying all that way to visit just Yap for a vacation, especially for 2 weeks. I would recommend that you include Yap as an adjunct to a trip to Palau. I'd spend a week on Palau (on a LOB if you can swing it) and then 3-4 days on Yap.

It would be a real shame to fly all the way to Yap and not make it to Palau unless you've been there already. Palau will blow you away.

FYI, we used Trip-n-Tour when we went but we flew out of Japan.

Rickg