Last month, I had the privilege of being the dive guide for a wonderful group of divers from the State of Utah. Mac Garrabrants, the owner of The Dive Shop, is a repeat guest and that always makes us feel very special as we know there are a lot of wonderful places in the world for divers to visit. When guests come back multiple times, we know we are doing it right.

I would be lying if I were to say to you that it’s been an easy three years. I feel like the captain of a ship that has transited a typhoon for 3 years, but I am safely in port now. I can’t properly express my feelings for how good it is to finally have guests back in the resort, guests on dive boats, and most importantly staff back at work.

EXCITING NEWS! Starting in April 2023, United will offer twice-weekly flights between Guam and Yap! The flights will be on Tuesdays & Saturdays. Flights (Tentative as of 12/31/2022) Departs Arrives Guam (GUM) Yap (YAP) - UA185 Tuesday @ 23:35 Wednesday @ 01:10 Guam (GUM) Yap (YAP) - UA185 Saturday @ 23:35 Saturday @ 01:10 Yap...

Starting November 22, PMA has switched its weekly flights between Yap and Palau from Friday/Saturday to Tuesday/Wednesday. The NEW Tuesday/Wednesday schedule will connect with the Tuesday night flight to Manila or Guam, making it even easier to get to/from Yap! PMA (https://www.pmapacific.org), our local airline serving Yap’s Outer Islands for over 40 years, flies between Yap...

There is some very good news regarding airline service to/from Yap. Starting in October, PMA (https://www.pmapacific.org), our local airline serving Yap’s Outer Islands for over 40 years, will fly between Yap and Palau on a regular schedule which allows divers and non-divers alike to enter Yap via Palau or to combine Yap and Palau easily....

A lot of our friends, including us, have been looking forward to the opening of the FSM borders, which was scheduled to happen on the 1st of August. However, due to a quick rise in positive covid cases on Yap from returning residents who proudly represented our island at the Micronesian Expo held in Pohnpei last month, resulted in Yap State implementing a government mandated 7-day quarantine for all travelers entering Yap. This mandate has since been rescinded by Yap's Governor, the Honorable Jesse Salalu, on the 20th of August in a letter to the FSM President. So Yap's borders are finally opened for all visitors!!!

When meeting people for the first time, the most asked question of me is "Why Yap – what is it about this place that made you make it your home"? The answer to this question, at least for me, is very simple – the people. The Yapese people are the nicest people I have ever been associated with and every day I am on this island, surrounded by my family, friends and co-workers is a blessing. Life has been very good to me. This brings me to today's main topic – Graduation Season.

Folks, I am not complaining at all. Despite all the setbacks and challenges, I consider myself a lucky man. In late November 2021, Patricia and I underwent surgery for her to receive one of my kidneys and we are still in the Philippines. She is doing really well and we are hoping to be approved for travel soon. Being able to travel again will be a relief, but the question is: "where to go"?

I’m sure that for some, if not most of us, we pictured a different situation when asked this question 4 months ago. In August/September, everything looked so promising. More people got vaccinated and despite the Delta-variant being dominant, it looked like the Holiday season would be kind of “back to normal”. Some of you were ready to travel again, planned that long postponed visit to family or friends or thought a stroll over a Christmas market would be possible again. And then Omicron surfaced.

It’s good I’m not superstitious – or maybe I am – but having to write in my 13th blog post that we won’t be open this year, can’t be a coincidence can it? The President of the FSM has extended the declaration of public health emergency to January 31, 2022!

Divers within a certain age bracket, but also music lovers from younger generations for sure know the Beatles’ song “Octopus’s Garden” that was released in 1969.

Initially my plan was to write a blog every three-to-four-weeks, but scrolling through the Facebook posts, I realized it has been eight weeks or so since the last time you heard from me. Is there nothing to share with you? On the contrary, lots of developments are in progress, but none of them give us the answer to the question: “When?”.