The Search for Mantas Is Over ;-(

February 12, 2008 Our Last Day In Yap

We did interviews today and they all seemed to go very well and, since it was our last day in Yap and we stayed up late drinking with friends to say our goodbyes. We will meet up again with some in Palau, but we parted ways with others that we would hope to meet again. Chomed, our divemaster swore to stay off of the betelnut and only drink beer. We had a good laugh over that as Maria went through his "man purse" and found a large stash of the sacred chewing nut.

The dive reports from the divemasters today included upwards of 25 Mantas in one dive. Seems all is back to normal in Yap after last week's earthquake.

We also went on a land tour today which was very informative but not as interesting as our cultural tour the other day. We said goodbye to our lovely Korean friends. We tried to speak to them and they tried to speak with us and hopefully we met somewhere where we could both understand. What an incredible time this has been and what wonderful people we have met.

Tomorrow we board the bus at 6:00 am to head for our new adventure in Palau. We miss you all and so wish you could be here with us.

Here are a couple of parting shots from Yap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 11, 2008 Was a Great Dive Day, Our Last on YAP

Jo's already asleep so you're stuck with me today. Today's dive plan was for a three tank dive followed by a single tank Mandarin fish hunt. On our boat ride out to the first site we encountered a pod of dolphins ushering us along. They were very close to the boat and since the boat is only about 25 feet long they were easy to see. We saw them swimming around the boat again during our surface interval.

The first dive today was at Cabbage Patch Reef and it was a great wall dive. Lots of diverse corals, sharks in the deep blue and a few knot current made this a fine dive. The second site was Spanish Wall. Nobody could explain the origin of the site's name so we had our own fun making up stories of how it came about it's name. Regardless of how it became Spanish Wall, it was a fine wall at that. We saw White Tip Sharks, small Gray Reef Sharks and the topper was a beautiful pair of Lionfish. They were each about 12" long with 10" wide dressage. They were the truly the best find of the day. We also saw many types of coral and Jo snapped a picture of this purple clam.

The third dive was on Lionfish Wall and true to its name we found another pair of very large Lionfish. This turned out to be the best site of the week as fish were more abundant here than than anywhere else we dove all week. Large Snappers, Travalle and Unicorn fish were all feeding on some small yellow/purple fish that remain nameless. It was a great show and we watched for quite a while. The wall started in about 45 feet of water and dropped straight down. There were many large outcroppings that added much character to the site. Other than Manta sightings, this was by far the best dive site on the island.

The day closed out with a Mandarin fish dive. This takes place at a reef just off of the resort, about a 5 minute boat ride. We dive in and split up over different coral heads. We're looking for these elusive little guys and gals to pair up and mate in the water column. I was lucky enough to find a pair but they were a bit bashful and only teased each other. No Mandarin fish porn for us, but I did get some great video of them.

Tomorrow we are wrapping up with an island tour and interviews with the resort owner, dive shop manager and one of the dive masters. We have great hopes for the day.

Wish you were here,

David

February 10, 2008 Started Out Sunny

Today was calm and sunny - at least for the first two dives. Our Saipan couple went home and were replaced by a couple from Russia. We miss our Saipan friends. The couple from Russia was only with us for a day. We will not be doing any more Manta dives as we need to get more footage from other sites and we have one day left to do it in.

Our first two dives were in search of Manta and we did indeed see seven on the first dive and three on the second dive. They are truly elegant and I am amazed at the power and beauty when they soar by. In between Manta sightings I laid on the bottom and took pictures of little things hiding in the corals. The first dive had at least twice the vis as the second dive. During the second dive the tide was going out so there was a lot of plankton in the water and vis was only about 25 feet. I guess Mantas like that.

Don't have Flash? Click here to see the Manta Clip using Quicktime video

or here to use Windows Media Player

During our surface intervals I recorded dive data and took above water footage. Most everybody slept - all sprawled out on every possible boat surface. I had a great spot resting on the tanks and dry bag.

We went further south - about 30 minutes from the channel. The sky began to cloud up and rain was imminent. We back rolled in and landed on a very nice wall. This was truly a drift dive. We saw small black tip sharks, a medium white tip and a larger gray reef shark and schools of fluorescent blue fish that I'd never seen before. We also saw a few different types of Unicorn fish and many anemone fish.I did not get many stills on this dive because we were moving too fast. Once we were on the boat it started to pour. It continued to rain all the way back and there was not one dry towel or piece of clothing. It was great to get back and get into some dry clothing. We are just getting ready to go to dinner.

The food here has been great - the wine, not so great. Ah well, you can't have everything I guess :-)

Bye for now.

Jo.

February 9, 2008 A Beautiful Windy Day in Yap

Another fabulous day. Only two dives today. The wind was blowing fiercely, but on the leeward side of the island it was very nice. We took a boat ride out (about 45 minutes) to the first site which was called Big Bend. It was an incredible drift dive, probably the fastest I have experienced. It was difficult at time to take pictures. I have been taking stills with the smaller camera and I think I'm finally beginning to get the hang of it. This place has some of the most diverse corals I've ever seen.

Our second dive was called Sunset Ridge. Another incredible dive. We saw several Crown of Thorns, anemones and clown fish and a huge diversity of corals. This dive had a current that would come and go every few minutes. It was a sunny day today although I believe it will be stormy for the next several days.

The people here are so friendly and lovely. The majority chew the betelnut. I'm not sure if that is what makes them happy or if they are just that way. They are a very shy people overall.

We went to a cultural event and it was so enlightening and special. We took a bus to the location and then walked down a long stone path. Our guides name was Mary and she was dressed in traditional attire. The women in these villages are all topless and we learned a lot about their culture. At first it seems odd to see all of these women walking about topless, but after awhile it does not seem strange at all.

At the event, they served us coconut milk right from the coconut. They also served us fresh mango and other exotic fruits. I actually tried the betelenut which I found quite unappealing and had to spit it out after a minute or so. They sprinkle lime (the mineral) onto the betelnut and then wrap it in a chili leaf, then you chew it. The lime grinds away at the teeth so that over time the teeth wear down to nothing. It is apparently quite addictive and most of the locals chew it non-stop all day long.

It is a big industry for them as well.

We watched a traditional dance by the young people of the village and when we entered the village we were greeted with floral headbands which were beautiful. I bought a lovely souvenir woven by the women of the village. The chief was a very pleasant man and agreed to let us show the dance of his people on our next video. The people of Yap seem to be a kind and gentle people and we felt very honored to share a part of their lives. They thanked us for coming and we thanked them for having us. This was truly a wonderful experience.

We felt two aftershocks - one around 4:00 a.m. and a larger one at 7:00 am. I am quite certain we all felt one during one of our dives (this was no boat engine). This has been quite the journey and I so wish our friends were here to share it.

I hope you are all well.

Jo

February 8, 2008 A Great and Glorious Day

We had an incredible day. We dived the same site twice - which doesn't help our film making, but does increase our odds of seeing what we came here to see, Manta! On our first dive we saw a 9' Manta and on the second dive we saw a larger Manta even before we hit the bottom. We saw a pair towards the end of the dive, very cool. The visibility is so poor during these dives that we are never sure how the pictures are going to turn out.

In the afternoon we went to a dive site named Slow and Easy - and it was awesome. We saw a beautiful Lion Fish tucked into a hidey hole. We saw nudibranchs and gobies and a Manta Shrimp. That was a great dive that went no deeper than 30 feet so we had a long bottom time. Our Divemaster is very laid back and once we are back under the boat, he leaves us to our own devices. So naturally, we milk the tank dry.

We came back to the hotel and took a nap. During our nap we experienced an earthquake which naturally scared the crap out of us. I don't know what it was on the Richter scale but it certainly shook the hotel to the point where I wondered if it was solid enough to withstand such a shaking. This was David's first earthquake experience and it woke him right up. We thought there may have been another one during our night dive, but those on land didn't notice it.

For our fourth dive we went on a Mandarin Fish hunt and we had very little luck. Mandarin are found in very murky shallow water. Yap Divers was very concerned that we did not see what we were promised and offered us another try for free. This place is incredible. The service is impeccable and everyone is very friendly. Best service we have ever had. The restaurant closes at 9:00 pm, but because we came in late, they kept it open for us. I just can't say enough good things about this place.

It is now 10:45 pm and we are ready to sleep.

Tomorrow we go out late - 9:00 am. It will be good to sleep in I think.

Hope you are all well.

Jo

February 7th, 2008, Gaining momentum

Hi Everyone:

It is now 9:00 pm. I had my two glasses of fairly bad wine and I am ready to hit the sack. We had an awesome adventure today. We went back to Miil Channel in search of Manta. We waited quite some time but did get this reward. One very nice Manta flew right over David's head. I think we are going back again tomorrow. Unfortunately, we need to see more dive sites to make a good video.

We did three dives today. The first was the Manta dive, the second was Yap Caverns and the third was Magic Kingdom. The first dive was murky and 30 foot vis, just as it was yesterday, only today the current was much less.

The dive at Yap Caverns was fabulous with vis over 150 feet. We meandered in and out of swim throughs and saw some great stuff. We saw a leaf scorpion fish, some great anemones and clown fish. We also saw a juvenile ribbon eel. Very tiny and very cute. We saw a few white tip reef sharks and much more. This was a great dive.

The third dive was called Magic Kingdom and it has a huge variety of corals. A very pretty dive with vis over 100 feet. I saw a large Crown of Thorns. I don't know if my picture turned out, but I am learning. Once again we saw a couple of white tip sharks, as well a couple of gray reef sharks around 5 ft in length. The butterfly fish are quite diverse and beautiful. I have never seen so many different kinds. We saw an intermediate black snapper - a beautiful little fish.

We got back to the dock, cleaned up, went to dinner and once again we are exhausted. Tomorrow will be a longer day as we plan on a twilight dive to see the Mandarin Fish.

Miss you all and wish you were here to share all of this. There are only 7 on the boat and sometimes I think of all of us laughing and comparing dive notes.

Goodnight to you or have a great day, whichever the case may be.

Jo

February 6, 2008, Tired but in the water

It was a mostly cloudy and windy day in Yap. We arrived at the hotel at 8:30 a.m. and immediately had a dive briefing. The Manta Ray Bay is a fabulous hotel. We are in the Cuttlefish room with all decor and I mean all decor in the Cuttlefish motif. We are in the newer part of the hotel and it is very nice. We actually did two dives today and left around 10:30.

We went in search of Manta on the first dive. We took the boat through a channel surrounded by Mangroves and it was quite beautiful. We dived Mi'il Channel and unfortunately, we did not see any Manta, but we did experience low vis (about 30 feet) and a ripping current towards the end of the dive as the tide went out. We actually had to pull ourselves hand over hand along the bottom to make our way to the boat. David and I both came up with around 200 PSI.

The second dive site was called Vertigo and it was a much nicer dive. The vis increased to around 100 feet. There was a wall and we stayed on top and saw several small (4-5 feet) black tip reef sharks. We meandered along a fairly light current. The reef here had quite a bit of damage, but there were a lot of bright spots on this dive. We saw some anemone fish that were oh so cute.

There are seven people on our dive boat and all are very nice. Two of our group speaks very little English, so communicating is a bit tough, but we are enjoying everyone's company. Many of the local people here chew Betelnut and it stains their lips and teeth a reddish-black color. It appears to be widely used and a part of their culture.

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant which is located right outside in a refurbished boat that looks like an old pirate ship. Dinner was good, but we had a hard time keeping our eyes open so we decided to come back to the room and call it a night.

It is 7:50pm right now and we expect to be on the boat by 8:00am.

Hopefully we will be back on some kind of biological rhythm tomorrow. The weather is supposed to improve steadily and we are looking forward to some great dives.

Signing off,

Sleepy Jo

February 4 - 6, The Journey

Hi Friends:

Well, here I sit in the Guam airport at 2:30 a.m. It has been quite the journey so far. We left SLC on Monday the 4th at 8:30 a.m. It was snowing when we left so the plane was delayed an hour for de-icing. We had plenty of layover time however, so we were not concerned, okay, maybe a little. David wasn't concerned, me - I'm always concerned.

We did not have long to wait in LAX before we boarded on our next leg - Japan. This was a 13 hour flight and after taking an Ambien, I slept for 10 hours of it. Not too bad for me as I have trouble sleeping on an airplane. The problem with Ambien is that it stays with me for longer than 10 hours. So, I slept on the plane and in the Narita airport for a good portion of the four hour layover.

We next boarded our plane to Guam and - good for me, the Ambien still had me in its clutches and I slept another three hours on a 3-1/2 hour flight.

So here we are in the Guam airport and I am wide eyed an bushy tailed at 2:30 a.m. Our plane leaves at 6:00 a.m. and we board at 5:00. I am hoping to get a couple more hours of sleep before our arrival in Yap. We are excited and our hope is that our bags arrive with us. We carried on the necessities (regs mask, computers, swimming suits, cameras), all the rest of our gear was checked through all the way from SLC. This was nice, since we didn't have to lug everything around at each destination. It is a bit disconcerting however, not to see your stuff and wondering if it will make each flight.

We do miss our friends from Team Nitrox and wish you were here with us.

Click here to email Jo!