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Yap

A year round destination with warm tropical weather, Yap offers divers unspoiled reefs and guaranteed manta encounters.  Between December and April, hundreds of mantas come to mate in the channels around Yap. 

RECREATIONAL DIVING
REBREATHER & PHOTOGRAPHY FRIENDLY DIVE CENTRE
MANTAS, SHARKS, MACRO CRITTERS
 

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Yap is located in the Southwestern corner of Micronesia. It lies between Palau and Guam, approximately 955 km East of the Philippines. One side of Yap is bordered by the Pacific Ocean while the other side borders the Philippine Sea.

Yap consists of 4 major islands linked by road. The cluster is shaped like a kite and is 27 km long by 10 km wide, at the widest point, ringed by mangrove shoreline, protected lagoons, secluded beaches and a coral barrier reef.

Yap's famous manta rays and the diverse marine life that make their home in Yap's coral reefs and tidal channels have made Yap one of the fastest growing diving destinations in the world today.

The clear waters and sheer drop-offs make for a spectacular variety of diving experiences, but the divers all come for one thing: Yap is the world capital of manta ray diving. More than 45 individual mantas have been identified and given individual names, each easily recognized by the distinct markings.

Mantas are by no means all that Yap has to offer divers. Yap is located below the Pacific typhoon belt and for the same reason the mantas are on show year-round, divers can dive all year in consistent conditions. Reef sharks and big oceanic greys regularly patrol Yap's fringing reefs and have made several new sites and walls popular on the east and southeast coast. These sites also offer caverns, large gorgonian and fan corals, numerous varieties of reef fish and schools of tuna and jacks. Eagle rays also school in several areas in shallow water providing yet another exciting photographic and diving experience for divers visiting these legendary waters.
 
Culture and Customs
 
The people of Yap are proud and secure in their culture and traditions, which have been incorporated into daily life in the 21st century.  Village life centers around majestic Men's Houses where the local Chief conducts village meetings. Cooking is done over open fires with meals of reef fish, yams and bananas as the staples.
 
Dance is a living art form in Yap with each village presenting dances to the High Chiefs on Yap Day (March 1). Dancers in richly appointed costumes of hibiscus and flowers perform exciting and graphic tales of the culture and history of Yap. Stone money and Shell Money are still used in traditional exchanges and a council of High Chiefs still yields great influence and respect among the people.