Networking is EVERYTHING! And it never stops! Occasionally those presentations lead to quite funny situations. While I gave lectures and slideshows on Yap and Manta Ray Bay Resort for regional dive clubs’ x-mas dinners, for travel wholesaler events or on tourism shows like Duikvaker in the Netherlands – the ones in other dive resorts or on liveaboards during press trips always make me chuckle. On one hand because they’re usually improvised and the technology usually fails at one point, on the other because of a certain slight irony. You certainly do not want to do this if the viz is one third of what was expected and the amount of fish resembles an aquarium after an algae bloom. I am really not striving for meanness, but just imagine… Fellow scuba divers that are still dripping from their last dive or daydreaming after dinner and a great diving day… and whooooosh… here come the manta and shark close ups from Vertigo or Stammtisch. While there were no mantas, there were quite some grey reef sharks during this one week of really nice diving in North Male, Rasdhoo and Ari Atoll. The big stuff just did not happen to come really close, Yap-style. “You don’t really run after those sharks to get headshots anymore, do you?”, said John, one of the guests from the UK. After seeing the colorful dance performances and learning about our diving-and-lodging under one roof concept and the family business that Manta Ray Bay in fact is, I am positive we have some new friends out there who are coming for a visit next year. How do you get there? By plane (okay, bad joke)… How long does it take you? Is it okay with kids? Is it suitable for non-diving spouses? What does the island offer? Chances of cabin fever? Malaria? What’s the price? How long should we stay? Pleeeenty of  ears to be fed with information, which was a pleasure, of course. Nothing like showing off with your own photos. Even more if your water pipe with apple tobacco is waiting for you upstairs on the sundeck under a star-spangled sky. A German in the Maldives talking about Yap and smoking a hookah from Jordan filled with tobacco from Egypt. Well, life is a tough one, isn’t it? Happy Easter to all of you, Daniel