We typically do live-aboards where 4-5 dives per day are standard. At Manta Ray Bay many people only seemed to do the two morning manta dives. Freddy the manager was happy to accommodate us when we expressed our wish to do 4 dives per day. But given conditions we dove the same 3 spots every day, Mi’l Channel for mantas, Slow and Easy reef which was standard reef ranging from 15ft to 60ft and Rainbow Reef home of the psychedelic Mandarin fish. Often we were the only two on the skiff which was fine by us. Mi’l ChannelThis is where the manta’s come in for their cleaning. While viz was low the manta action was great! Mantas showed up every dive and would come in so close you had to fight the temptation to reach out and touch them. Your two morning dives are done in this spot. There were typically mantas in the area for a good 20minutes of each dive. We always saw at least 4-5 mantas over a 40min dive and on one occasion I counted at least 11 that went by in one long line. If you are as fascinated with these creatures as we are this is well worth the trip! Slow and EasyThis is a decent reef with plenty of angels, pipe fish and all the usual subjects in the sand. The boat would drop us in at one end then pick us up at the other after a nice leisurely 70min or more dive. There were some very friendly reef squid that typically hung around the exit mooring along with a well known mantis shrimp.
Rainbow Reef
We were very excited to have a chance to dive this spot. It is home to one of our favorite fish, the psychedelic Mandarin fish. This is done as a dusk dive since this is the time they come out of the coral to feed and mate. The diving is shallow no more than 20fsw so you can stay for quite awhile. The dive guides said the best way to do this is find a big male and just follow him around. He will introduce you to all the others in their area as they feed and look for a little romance. There are plenty of subjects and once they got use to your presence, which only takes a couple of minutes, they would go about their business as if you weren’t even there.
The Outer ReefsIt was not until our last day it calmed down enough we could dive the outer reef and even then it was a little bouncy but well worth it. After a week of 10-30ft visibility inside the reef the +100ft viz outside the reef was amazing. The reef is healthy and just packed with wonderful hard corals all sorts of schools massing above. This is a drift dive and along the way you are treated to a variety of angel fish, schools of barracuda, bump head parrot fish and plenty of sharks. We only wish the weather had cooperated more so this could have been our final two dives everyday. In the End
Without a doubt the major attraction here are the awe inspiring mantas. To watch them glide in one after another, mere feet away is an experience that all can savor. Yap and it’s mantas are a destination worth going to in itself but defiantly should be combined with any trip to Palau or other memorable destination in the area.