Take a journey through the wonders of Yap. From stone money, to cultural dances, to Yapese "highways", to traditional fishing and anciant mariners, you will be sure to experince the richness of Yapese life.
Yap is belived to have been settled by a seafaring people from the area today known as eastern Indonesia and the southern part of the Philippines sometime around 1500 B.C.
Yap is probably best known among non-divers as the Land of Stone Money. Up to 12 feet in diameter these massive stone discs rate, without competition, as the largest coins in the world.
The Yapese have managed to maintain their ancient culture better than anywhere else in Micronesia. The heritage and traditions of the Yapese people are carefully nourished to preserve the Micronesian way of life.
Bill Acker, founder of the Manta Ray Bay Resort and Yap Divers, is proud to share his love of Yap and diving with guests from all over the world. A resident of Yap for almost 30 years, Bill is eminently qualified to make your Micronesian dive experience one that you’ll never forget. Bill and his family own and operate the Manta Ray Bay Resort & Yap Divers.
Welcome to The Manta Ray Bay Resort. We are a small, 4-star resort located on the wonderful island of Yap in Micronesia. Enjoy your stay in our luxurious, individually themed rooms. Delight your tastes at our floating restaurant, the Mnuw Restaurant and Bar. Dive in to adventure with our expericed dive team. Relax into bliss at our Taro Leaf Spa. Welcome to paradise.
Our resort offers many different package and activities for everyone to enjoy the wonders of Yap. From our hotel & diving packages to island tours to kayak adventures to spa treatments, our resort offers packages individually tailored to you.
There are many special times to visit Yap and the Manta Ray Bay Resort, like Yap Day, MantaFest, and during the manta ray mating season. Plus, we have partnered with the best resort operators and vessels in the region to offer truly unique and luxurious experiences.
The Mnuw is the most unique restaurant and bar in Micronesia if not the world. She is a 170ft (55m) Phinisi schooner from Indonesia with 3 dining decks, 2 bars and her kitchen all on board.
The Manta Ray Bay Resort was built FOR divers, BY divers. Our harborside dive center, Yap Divers, has everything you’d expect from a PADI 5-star facility and SSI Platinum Dive Center, and so much more. Yap Divers is a full-service facility with modern boats, rental gear, dive shop, camera bays, gear rinse and storage.
The Taro Leaf Spa takes the best of everything that is Yapese to bring you an experience that will, relax, energize, invigorate, revitalize and harmonize you.
Come experience all that Yap has to offer. From exclusive, world-class diving to vibrant mangroves to pristine beaches to a fascinating history to a rich, anciant culture, Yap truly is a wonder to behold.
Serving only 1,000 divers a year, we offer our guests crowd-free dive sites and VIP service. Yap has a resident population of manta rays and several shallow cleaning stations where divers can see mantas year-round. And, Yap is more than just mantas! We have great blue water diving, shark diving, wall diving, critter diving, black water diving and large schools of big game fish!
Among the mangroves you will go were none can go but by kayak. There are no roads, no way to bring a powered boat in and no habitation, there is but you and nature. This is the perfect way to explore one of the few ecosystems on this planet that remains untouched by man.
Imagine looking over the side of the boat into ink blue water so clear that you can see fish swimming 100 feet below you. Imagine being on a boat 20 yards from the edge of the reef, looking across the turquoise colored lagoon to the verdant, green tropical island in the background. You cast your lure into the surf breaking on the edge of the reef and then boom – a huge black Giant Trevally comes from the surf line and attacks your wooden bait. The fight is on.
The Manta Ray Bay Hotel’s Concierge staff offer a complete range of land tours specifically designed to showcase the unique island culture of Yap. Everything from the famous stone money and stone money banks, to traditional thatched roof men’s houses, centuries old stone paths which are still used to connect the various villages, to the flora and fauna.
On Yap you can spend all day on a private beach with your partner, dive buddy or group in the village with no one else around. We arrange private beach trips, group events, parties and BBQs.
The Taro Leaf Spa takes the best of everything that is Yapese to bring you an experience that will, relax, energize, invigorate, revitalize and harmonize you.
Here you will find out the latest goings on in Yap, photo galleries of visiting pros and visitors alike. Plus, a library of wallpapers for your desktop and mobile devices.
Swimming with manta rays is a life-changing experience for many divers. Yap's Manta Ray Bay is one of the world's premier destinations for these encounters, providing scuba divers and snorkelers a rare chance to experience manta rays in their natural habitat.
Throughout the years we have been honored to host several top professional photographers and videographers. From Paul Tzimoulis to William "Bill" Macdonald. From Marty Snyderman to Andy Schumacher. From David Doubilet to David Fleetham plus many, many more. We are very honored to be able to share some of the images captured in Yap by these great friends.
Imagine the thousands of divers who have visited us over the years. Now imagine the wonderful memories they captured via photographs both above and below water. We want to share these with you and ask you to consider posting your memories of Yap and the Manta Ray Bay Resort & Yap Divers.
We know it can be a daunting task to book travel to Yap with diffeent time zones, the International Date Line and often confusing flight schedules. Let us help you make getting to Yap a warm, tropical breeze. Ask Bill!
Here you will find the latest information about the latest on flights to Yap. There are both international and regional carries currently servicing the island. And, for flight help you can always Ask Bill!
All of this photography-game-stepping-up dive partying peaked with the contest awards banquet full of generous prizes. Everyone took home something from the sponsors. Winners were selected in dSLR and non-dSLR divisions with several categories that included big animals, macro, island/culture, night and Mandarinfish. Participants were also allowed to submit a slideshow where judges weighed in the creativity and bulk of work.
“Best of Show” winner was Sheila Ott with a portrait of a manta ray with several juvenile pilot fish from Goofnuw Channel. Sheila will be booking any week she wants with Dive Damai on a super luxury Indonesia liveaboard adventure.
First place winners in each category received a Mares Icon HD air-integrated dive computer, worth $1,900. Among the other category prizes were Mares puck dive computers, week-long hotel and dive packages at Manta Ray Bay, Henderson wetsuits and Ikelite LED dive lights.
Honorable mentions were awarded to several photographers for their work that came with Armor gear bags, Pelican cases, Mares and Henderson ware as well as McNet towels and Ikelite lens cloths.
Participants are familiar with the uniqueness of Yap with such a special mix of people – photographers from all over the world, the local staff, the family who started it all, the Ackers, as well as the presenters mixed it up for two weeks of our best shots with refined party photo game.
Frank Schneider, Marty Snyderman, Sheil Ott, Bill Acker, Ray Bullion and David Fleetham wind up this year’s awards ceremony and start planning for 2015.
There’s a big thank you that goes out to well-deserving sponsors, if it wasn’t for these businesses, and the people behind them, awesome dive & photo parties on tiny little islands that most people never heard of would not be possible.
These are the industry’s supporters of good times, learning underwater photography and epic dive travel.
www.mantafest.com
All of this photography-game-stepping-up dive partying peaked with the contest awards banquet full of generous prizes. Everyone took home something from the sponsors. Winners were selected in dSLR and non-dSLR divisions with several categories that included big animals, macro, island/culture, night and Mandarinfish. Participants were also allowed to submit a slideshow where judges weighed in the creativity and bulk of work.
“Best of Show” winner was Sheila Ott with a portrait of a manta ray with several juvenile pilot fish from Goofnuw Channel. Sheila will be booking any week she wants with Dive Damai on a super luxury Indonesia liveaboard adventure.
First place winners in each category received a Mares Icon HD air-integrated dive computer, worth $1,900. Among the other category prizes were Mares puck dive computers, week-long hotel and dive packages at Manta Ray Bay, Henderson wetsuits and Ikelite LED dive lights.
Honorable mentions were awarded to several photographers for their work that came with Armor gear bags, Pelican cases, Mares and Henderson ware as well as McNet towels and Ikelite lens cloths.
Participants are familiar with the uniqueness of Yap with such a special mix of people – photographers from all over the world, the local staff, the family who started it all, the Ackers, as well as the presenters mixed it up for two weeks of our best shots with refined 
Frank Schneider, Marty Snyderman, Sheil Ott, Bill Acker, Ray Bullion and David Fleetham wind up this year’s awards ceremony and start planning for 2015.
There’s a big thank you that goes out to well-deserving sponsors, if it wasn’t for these businesses, and the people behind them, awesome dive & photo parties on tiny little islands that most people never heard of would not be possible.
These are the industry’s supporters of good times, learning underwater photography and epic dive travel.
www.mantafest.com