DIVING YAP

Yap's gently rolling landscape consists of four islands: Yap, Tomil-Gagil, Maap and Rumung. These tightly knit land masses are dissected by three channels that lead outwards over a broad lagoon, to her surrounding reef.

The marine world here is something of a surprise. Each of the channels that separate the islands are rather shallow, lined by mangrove swamps and with thick areas of seagrass. The water can be murky in these shallows but head seawards and it’s all change. The visibility clears where the surf breaks against the submerged reef edges and the marine landscape lurches into coral clad hills and valleys. Pelagics are attracted to this environment and the manta populations are world famous. There are cleaning stations in two of the channel mouths and manta sightings are more-or-less a daily event.

Sharks flock here as well, however, Yap is becoming equally well known for it’s macro life. There are a good selection of the small and often whacky reef building animals to look for if you can just drag yourself away from the mantas. And while the mantas are almost guaranteed by day, by dusk colonies of tiny mandarinfish can be seen mating.

The southern reefs are also impressive and despite some typhoon damage a couple of years ago, there is plenty of coral. Conditions vary from the east, or windward, side to the west of the island, so there is always somewhere to go, even when the weather is less than perfect.