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.
Give a big welcome to Kudakwashe “Kuda” Lusinga, Manta Ray Bay Resort’s new head chef, blends Zimbabwean and Yapese flavors with standout dishes like Stuffed Pork and Dovi Chicken. Inspired by his uncle and a passion for cooking, Chef Kuda brings creativity, culture, and fresh ideas to the Mnuw restaurant, delighting guests with innovative cuisine.
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!
I am about to share my day with you but I am asking any of you to send me your comments on what you would call a day that went like this.
We departed on Popou, which in my opinion is the best dive boat in Micronesia not classified as a live-aboard, at 8:30 on a beautiful sunny morning headed for the Southern tip of Yap. Had a very nice international group of 4 Americans and 7 Germans plus Small Willy, Nico and myself as driver and guides. We passed Yap Caverns to move up the Western side of the island for our first dive and then planned to come back to the Caverns for our second dive.
Boy was that a winning decision! Cruising slowly up the reef line, we noticed what at first we thought were Pilot whales, but upon getting closer we realized we were with a school of 5 Orca whales. There was at least one mother and calf pair plus the individuals. This got everyone racing for cameras and places on the port side of the boat for pictures. The whales stayed with us for several minutes and then decided enough was enough and dove for the deep.
After leaving the Orcas, we headed for Spanish Walls but when we got there we noticed that the winds were blowing sediment off the reef and turning the waters murky. Nico then told me about a new place he had dived a few days earlier and had seen 4 cuttle fish. I always like to dive places that I might not have been, so I immediately canvassed the group for their reaction to trying a new dive site and the vote was unanimous – “let’s go for it”. So off we went up North between Cabbage Patch and Spanish Walls to what I told them was “no name dive site”. Obviously not much of a briefing was possible but I explained our policy of no limits diving and told them about surfacing and how we pick up divers with Popou and overboard we went with Nico guiding the Americans and me the Germans.
We weren’t 2 minutes into the dive before Nico found the first cuttle fish. Moments later, we ran into the first to 2 turtles and right after that a big barracuda decided to see what we were up to. The barracuda was followed by a very large skipjack tuna who didn’t seem to want to leave us. About 10 minutes before we began our ascent, we found a 2nd cuttle fish. All of this taking place in the midst of an incredibly beautiful hard coral reef formation with hundreds of different kinds of healthy coral.
My plan was to ask the guests for suggestions on naming the new dive site but since I was the last out of the water, by the time I moved to the bow of the boat someone was saying that “if you don’t call this Buena Vista then I will do it myself”. This“ultimatum” came from Jeannette McWilliams who was visiting us from Florida with her daughter Cheryl Lynn. It took a moment to translate Buena Vista for the others on the boat and the unanimous approval was readily given. Thus Beautiful View became our newest dive site.
As we slowly motored South for Yap Caverns, there was lots of positive chatter about Yap’s newest dive site. I want to thank Jeannette for the wonderfully appropriate name and thank the rest of the divers with us for so readily agreeing to go exploring. Next time you visit Yap why not ask Jan to schedule you for 3 tanks and lunch on Popou and visit Buena Vista? You won’t be sorry.
The Caverns, with its clear water and abundance of both macro life and big animals was almost an afterthought but you can NEVER call Yap Caverns an afterthought and sure enough we had large grey reef sharks being cleaned, 2 HUGE dog tooth tuna swimming by, a pair of robust ghost pipe fish, a juvenile dragon wrasse, a school of bumphead wrasse and of course the drift along Lionfish Wall was as spectacular as always. What a day? What do you think?
What others say
Another day in paradise!
I think….I wish I was there! Be sure to take Pete P. there when he’s down so he can get some shots of the new site and post them for us! 😉