Yap trip

[David White]

Due to the unfortunate postponement of the Raja Ampat trip next year I thought it would be prudent to extend the Yap excursion to include some of the other notable dive locations in the area including Palau, Chuuk (Truk Lagoon) and possibly Pohnpei. There is a liveaboard sailboat option for diving Palau that is quite reasonably priced if there are 4 or 5 people on board. Details are available here: http://www.samstours.com/liveaboards-rates.html. Please contact me as soon as possible if you are interested in all or part of this trip extension so that travel arrangements can be made.

[Jonathan Bird]

David is referring to the Yap trip (http://www.jonathanbird.net/yap_trip.htm) I have organized for October.

[sorvju-f]

Due to the unfortunate postponement of the Raja Ampat trip next year I thought it would be prudent to extend the Yap excursion to include some of the other notable dive locations in the area including Palau, Chuuk (Truk Lagoon) and possibly Pohnpei. There is a liveaboard sailboat option for diving Palau that is quite reasonably priced if there are 4 or 5 people on board. Details are available here: http://www.samstours.com/liveaboards-rates.html. Please contact me as soon as possible if you are interested in all or part of this trip extension so that travel arrangements can be made.

David, do you have dive fever growing?;)

Jukka

[David White]

No Jukka, just trying to avoid decompression. Christie and I will be extending the Yap trip by a couple of days due to flight availability and then heading to Palau for a week, 4 days in Pohnpei and capping the trip off with a week in Truk. Since the Lembeh video from last October's trip is still only half complete I figure that there should be enough footage from this adventure to keep me busy editing throughout the winter.

[sorvju-f]

No Jukka, just trying to avoid decompression. Christie and I will be extending the Yap trip by a couple of days due to flight availability and then heading to Palau for a week, 4 days in Pohnpei and capping the trip off with a week in Truk. Since the Lembeh video from last October's trip is still only half complete I figure that there should be enough footage from this adventure to keep me busy editing throughout the winter.

David, I 100% understand what you mean...I have videomaterial from year 2004, which I have not even look trough yet...but good thing is that they are not disappearing:cool:...I have time when I am retired;)

Your program look nice...I also extended my trip by one week and leaving there 30th of September, but just being in YAP. I have to visit Finland as tree weeks after YAP I am heading to Philippines ( Cebu Moalboal one week and Dumaquete one week ) and thats why couldn't join you:(

Jukka

[Daniel]

David, I 100% understand what you mean...I have videomaterial from year 2004, which I have not even look trough yet...but good thing is that they are not disappearing:cool:...I have time when I am retired;)

Your program look nice...I also extended my trip by one week and leaving there 30th of September, but just being in YAP. I have to visit Finland as tree weeks after YAP I am heading to Philippines ( Cebu Moalboal one week and Dumaquete one week ) and thats why couldn't join you:(

Jukka

Jukka, with all the travelling you're doing I thought you were already retired. ;)

Cheers!
Daniel :)

[sorvju-f]

Jukka, with all the travelling you're doing I thought you were already retired. ;)

Cheers!
Daniel :)

Daniel, you just can imagine my travelling, when I really will be retired:D

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

I think this is suitable thread to report our Yap adventures.

I asked Bill Acker, the Manta man from Yap, about internet connection...there is but it is not very fast.

Hope it is enough fast to give here reports and pics during our stay there.

I think I am pioneer by leaving there after 7 hours...the main group of "Jonathan's Team" is arriving there about week after me.

57 kg of gears will give me challenge to get everything there in one piece.

Lets see...

Jukka

[Neptune7]

I think I am pioneer by leaving there after 7 hours...the main group of "Jonathan's Team" is arriving there about week after me.

We should be at the resort on October 7th around 11 PM. Can not wait...

Since you are there before all of us, if you find something missing, tell us so we can can bring it. Enjoy the trip and see you in Yap.
Best,

Pierre

[sorvju-f]

We should be at the resort on October 7th around 11 PM. Can not wait...

Since you are there before all of us, if you find something missing, tell us so we can can bring it. Enjoy the trip and see you in Yap.
Best,

Pierre

Leaving after 20 minutes to airport...hope I can report something before you are coming ( I think typing is OK here but sending pics is ? ).

Are you bringing RED with you?

Jukka

PS I have Mac with me but I need some advices with editing with FCP.

[Jonathan Bird]

Have a good trip Jukka, and we'll give you some editing lessons on FCP if we can read the Finnish! See you soon!

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Have a good trip Jukka, and we'll give you some editing lessons on FCP if we can read the Finnish! See you soon!

Jonathan

If this works like i feel all of you will have great report!

I am now here in Yap ( very tired ), but those who are coming here it looks like very promising.....i will report more tomorrow. Electrical blugs in the room are american style...not european....but you will get connecors from the reception-

There are great working places for cameras .....I have not seen this earliear....

With this speed I think I am able to give you alll some videoshots also:

Best regards to everybody from me and Bill!

Jukka

[Andrew]

Hey Jukka,

Glad you arrived in one piece... can't wait for the first report... :D

Andrew

[sorvju-f]

Hey Jukka,

Glad you arrived in one piece... can't wait for the first report... :D

Andrew

'THANHS ANREW I WISH YHOU ALL ARE HERE, DOMT JNOOW ABOUT DIVING YET, but ykkaou will get TOP RATEDREPort From here
kka
Ju

[Jonathan Bird]

Wow! This is so great....I leave in a couple days, but I'll already have a diving report to get me excited!! Jukka, have many excellent dives before we get there!!

Looking forward to seeing you again my friend! We'll have David White, Pierre, practically the whole gang....except Mark, Clay.....OK, well, we are missing a few still. But with the trip report, everyone will feel like they are there!


Jonathan

[tarczy]

'THANHS ANREW I WISH YHOU ALL ARE HERE, DOMT JNOOW ABOUT DIVING YET, but ykkaou will get TOP RATEDREPort From here
kka
Ju


Hey Jukka . . . glad to hear you've arrived safely and we all look forward to your trip reports. However, I do have one piece of advice . . . posting while drinking vodka is never a wise thing to do. :D :D :D :D

[David White]

Looking forward to meeting you Jukka, even if I have to travel half way around the world to do it. Last week I moved to a new town and need to unpack before I can start to pack. However, you have got me excited enough to initiate this daunting task. Now, where did I put that camera?

[Jonathan Bird]

. . . posting while drinking vodka is never a wise thing to do. :D :D :D :D

whaaddaya meannnn? <hiccup> My postststs arrrr verrrrry profoundddd when I drink.

[sorvju-f]

whaaddaya meannnn? <hiccup> My postststs arrrr verrrrry profoundddd when I drink.

It was XO:D and new mac.

This morning it was great...when I went to diving center...Marty Snyderman was there. He has been here for two weeks and leaving coming night...regards from Marty to everybody.

Two first dives have been made. First one was in this channel trough which mantas are coming to cleaning station...one small manta there. Second one was wall/drift dive...lot of reef sharks passing by.

Weather was in the morning excellent but afternoon started heavy rain.

Anyhow I think it will be great dives here.

I try to post some pics later today.

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

This is a test how uploading of pics works!

this was a view from my room this morning,

[sorvju-f]

Today I saw only one Manta...tomorrow I hope to see more!

Jukka

[Andrew]

Well Jukka, it is one more Manta than I have seen today! The water looks nice and clear (and no doubt warm!), great pic but it looks very green? wouldnt mind waking up and having that view this morning, tomorrow morning, next week.... :cool:

Andrew

[Jonathan Bird]

Nice shots Jukka! Too bad we just missed Marty. Tell him I said hi. The water in the channel is murky with plankton...that's why the mantas are there!

Jonathan

[Andrew]

I thought the water looked quite clear, maybe I am just getting used to diving in the English channel or when I have dived with Mantas before it has not been that clear due to the planton.

It was more the colour that looked a bit green on my screen?

[Neptune7]

Looks like Yap is the place to be.
Eric Cheng was there with a group for 10 days just before Marty Snyderman who there with a group also for 10 days and now us with our famous leader Monsieur Jonathan Bird...
I cannot wait to jump in the plane!

Pierre

[tarczy]

Man . . . I'm sooooo upset, jealous and downright bummed! I was supposed to be goin to Yap with you guys, but elected to stay at home to take care of business. I can't decide if that was a good decision or a bad decision.

On the one hand, I've had a ton of Sellers sign up for my services 'cuz they gotta get outta the real estate market. I expect more Sellers in the coming weeks in light of the world economic turmoil. On the other hand, zero banks are lending on real estate these days, which means that even though I have a lot of property to sell, I have no Buyers. Hence, I'm a little bored.

I'm conflicted. :mad:

Well . . . suffice it to say, I'm going to be reading every one of your posts, both laughing and crying at the same time.

May the diving Gods be with you, my friends! ;)

[sorvju-f]

I was preparing my video-set today and I noticed that this baggage was opened again and this time LCD-wire connection head was broken.

I can run the video, but without screen I can not see what I am shooting.

So David or Pierre you live in Canada...so if you have possibility to ask ambhibico to send you new one and bring it here would save my video shooting.

My housing is Endeavor with HD-LCD screen.

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Jukka,
Does it look like something we could fix with a soldering iron? Can you post a pic of the damage?? That would also help Pierre if he needs to get something for you.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Man . . . I'm sooooo upset, jealous and downright bummed! I was supposed to be goin to Yap with you guys, but elected to stay at home to take care of business. I can't decide if that was a good decision or a bad decision.

I'm going with bad decision. ;)

[sorvju-f]

Jukka,
Does it look like something we could fix with a soldering iron? Can you post a pic of the damage?? That would also help Pierre if he needs to get something for you.

Jonathan

It looks like this and it connects LCD to camera (HVR-V1) component out.

Jukka

[Neptune7]

Hey Jukka,

I was at Amphibico this afternoon! Now the office is closed (it's 18h00 here in Montreal) but I will call Jean-Claude (at Amphibico) tomorrow first thing in the morning to get you the part. I hope they have it. It is only the cable? Send me the picture at my adress pierre_seguin@mac.com so I can send them to Amphibico. I will do my best to get you the part.

I will keep you posted....

Pierre

[Neptune7]

Yo Jukka,

Jean-Claude has the piece. Now, the question is: How am I gonna get it?

I will try to get someone to pick it up.

Best

Pierre

[sorvju-f]

Yo Jukka,

Jean-Claude has the piece. Now, the question is: How am I gonna get it?

I will try to get someone to pick it up.

Best

Pierre

Thank you Pierre!

Yesterday I was running video ( as blind ) so nothing to post.
There were both morning dives 10 mantas hanging around and actually I got good result of them with video without seeing from monitor nothing.

Arriving of mantas to cleaning station depends a lot of what time of tide is.
Visibility varies a lot among tide schedule.

Weather here have rapid changes...every day we have gotten heavy rain but also every day you have had posssibility to burn your skin.

Today I run still camera so hope to have something to post in the evening.

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Great news Jukka! I leave to Meet Pierre in Newark in ~30 hours. Of course, it'll be another day and a half until we get there!!

Jonathan

[Neptune7]

Hey Jukka,

I have a bad news and a good news. I will go with the bad news first: I could not get anybody to pick up the replacement cables at Amphibico.

The good news is that I had to drive to Amphibico myself to pick up the parts. I gave Jean-Claude a good bottle of wine to thank him for taking care of us.
So, if all my flights go fine, I should be able to deliver the cable to you in Yap late on the 7th!
I cannot wait to make the delivery!

See you in Yap.

Pierre

P.S. Since you will be able to see what you are shooting, I have a short list of shots that I need for my TV show. Your talent will be requested... ;)

[Jonathan Bird]

P.S. Since you will be able to see what you are shooting, I have a short list of shots that I need for my TV show. Your talent will be requested... ;)

Uh oh, sounds like Jukka is being put to work. :D

[sorvju-f]

Hey Jukka,

I have a bad news and a good news. I will go with the bad news first: I could not get anybody to pick up the replacement cables at Amphibico.

The good news is that I had to drive to Amphibico myself to pick up the parts. I gave Jean-Claude a good bottle of wine to thank him for taking care of us.
So, if all my flights go fine, I should be able to deliver the cable to you in Yap late on the 7th!
I cannot wait to make the delivery!

See you in Yap.

Pierre

P.S. Since you will be able to see what you are shooting, I have a short list of shots that I need for my TV show. Your talent will be requested... ;)

Thanks, thanks and thanks!

If you need some material from me it is my great pleasure to give it to your show...pics or video!

This "work" to me...diving and photographing and video is the work I like...no need for salary:D .

I will have soon Padi Manta course...but I got some nice shots from the wall dive, which I am planning to post later today...visibility there was much better than manta place...50 meters:eek:.

Jukka

[Daniel]

Some of you are already at another exotic locale, on there way, or departing shortly.

I want to wish each of you safe dives, calm and warm waters, fine weather, and plenty of photo and video opportunities.

Don't forget to update us all on a regular basis and treat us to some images now and again.

[Jonathan Bird]

Thanks Daniel!

Pierre and I are in Tokyo right now on the way to Yap. We have a few more hours here, then a flight to Guam, with 17 hours there. We got a room so we can take a nap and get a shower. We will arrive in Yap ready to dive!!

Jukka, Pierre has TWO replacement cables for your monitor!

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Visibility here is varying due to tide, current and the weather!

It can be up to 50 meters.

Please be patient with posting...every pic takes 1 hour.

More coming with present speed.

I have now 12 dives done. Every second I run video and every second still!

Mantas are in one site called Manta channel....this is where they are up to December and then moving to winter site, which is for mating.

The mating period up to april is other site where you can see so called manta dance where they are making beautiful circles. This we will not see during our trip. We are looking them when they come to certain coral formations for cleaning of parasites by fishes.

Visibility round these places is never the best one...means very challeging photographing.

There are many other dive sites also. Wall dives have the best visibility. Schools of fishes can be spotted there. Reef sharks you can see every dive there, but not very close to make pics. Huge beautiful coral formations.

There is one site called Yap cavern to dive trough small channels...very nice.

I also did one mandarin dive, but did not managed to see itself the mating.

More to come...


Jukka

[Daniel]

I feel this is one of my best pics so far:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20tulossa/huippuposeeraus.jpg/full

Jukka

Sweet!!! Nice job Jukka!

[solisti]

Again you are not just wasting your time, Jukka. Great shots!

And a good trip to everyone else also, waiting to see a lot of good stuff!

[Sharp]

Excellent shots Jukka!

My favorit is that Mandarin.:)

[sorvju-f]

Excellent shots Jukka!

My favorit is that Mandarin.:)

Thanks Daniel, Solisti and Sharp!

Some more:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Manta%2021%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[Andrew]

Wow Jukka that last picture is amazing! well they all are. Keep em coming! Have the rest of the gang arrived yet?

Andrew

[Ken Hawk]

You can go off people sometimes ;)


Have a great time all Ken

[tarczy]

Hmmmmm . . . no new posts from the Yappers over the last 36 hours. Methinks their Internet may be on the fritz. Either that, or everybody is totally out of shape and they're all very tired from a full day of diving. ;)

Hope everything is okay. :D

[Ken Hawk]

Hmmmmm . . . no new posts from the Yappers over the last 36 hours. Methinks their Internet may be on the fritz. Either that, or everybody is totally out of shape and they're all very tired from a full day of diving. ;)

Hope everything is okay. :D

Or they are all on the pi$$ ;)

[Neptune7]

Hey guys,

We haven't forgot you. We had to figure out our internet access. By the way, the internet fees here at the resort are 25$ per day for the equivalent of a weak dial-up!

Jonathan and I just found a much faster way to get the internet using the Micronesia sattelite internet... Wireless and a lot cheaper.

We will keep you posted

Pierre

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Dudes!

We are here and alive. David White's luggage is in Tokyo, but the rest of us all got our luggage.

The first day of diving in the channel with the mantas was a little disappointing. Bad viz and not many mantas. I'm told it's highly variable, both in viz and mantas, based on tide and wind. Today I think we are going to the other side of the island instead to dive.

I won't have pics to post for a while....need to shoot my Blue World footage first. The still camera is secondary on this trip.

As Pierre explained, the internet is slow and expensive...definitely a downside to this destination in a world where we expect free and fast internet access. Even in Lembeh we had free and reasonably fast internet! Manta Ray Bay is not ripping people off...the internet access is just really expensive to everyone here.

Manta Ray Bay Hotel is beautiful! The rooms are huge, nicely decorated, nice furniture, excellent AC, a nice view....just way beyond the level of sophistication of your normal dive resort. Divemasters are very nice. In fact the entire staff couldn't be more friendly and accommodating. I can get used to it. They take care of your gear too! They have camera tables in the gear room, special large dip tanks for cameras....this place caters to photographers.

Aboard their floating restaurant they have a video projector and a huge 20 foot wide outdoor screen, so we are going to have the Micronesian premiere of Secrets of the Reef on Friday night.

More to come....

Jonathan

[Daniel]

Oh my, major bummer for Dave! Hopefully all his gear will arrive soon. Jukka indicated in a previous post that internet transfers were extremely slow.

Hope your luck improves on the other side of the island. Let us know what sites you're diving and we can compare it against this little dive site map.

http://www.mantaray.com/diving/img/dive_sites_map.gif

Dive safe!

[sorvju-f]

Oh my, major bummer for Dave! Hopefully all his gear will arrive soon. Jukka indicated in a previous post that internet transfers were extremely slow.

Hope your luck improves on the other side of the island. Let us know what sites you're diving and we can compare it against this little dive site map.

http://www.mantaray.com/diving/img/dive_sites_map.gif

Dive safe!

Sorry, should dive also!

This time of year you can find mantas from Valley of the rays point. We dived there yesterday...two mantas and terrible visibility. Today our dives were in Vertigo and Mi'ls channel, which actually is manta mating place from December to April...sharks and some small stuff.

To me was ne w the coral which is brown and when you touch it it moves to white.

Yesterday I made alone one macrodive...here some results:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/nudi_a_800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/_skunk_800.jpg/full

Jukka

[Andrew]

Hey Jukka,

Thought something had happened not having any pics for a day or so, but worth it. That nudi picture is fab and great colours. What kind of macro lens are you using and what are your settings?

Keep up the good work and don't forget to keep us posted!
Andrew

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Everyone,
Things are going pretty well here. The mantas so far have not been very cooperative. We see maybe one or two on a dive, and it stays around for a couple minutes and takes off. As it turns out, there is really only one place where they see the mantas. When I say one place, I mean one cleaning station. So there are often 2-4 boats parked at this site and it can be very crowded. Something they definitely don't tell you in the brochure. It can be frustrating trying to shoot Mantas with a ton of people around, bubbles in your shot, etc.

I have been shooting video for Blue World, but I did take my still camera on the shark feed, so here are a few shots. We had 30+ gray reef sharks, silvertips and blacktips. Quite a frenzy!!

The diver is Jukka!

Jonathan

[tarczy]

Good to see Jukka's "Fashion Sense" has improved since his Bahamas Tiger Shark trip. :D :D :D

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Bahamas%2003_08/_MG_3826--2008-Tarczynski.jpg

[scubagirl]

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20tulossa/manta_2_800.jpg/full

Jukka

I love that manta shot with the yellow fish, Jukka!

[Jonathan Bird]

Pierre and I tried the Betelnut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betel_nut) yesterday. We got a buzz!

No stills to post from today....I was shooting video again. We had an excellent encounter with a manta at the cleaning station which stayed around for the entire dive and I got 40 minutes of footage. Very nice stuff!!

Next we headed out to the mangroves in the afternoon to work on a Blue World (http://www.blueworldTV.com/) mangrove segment. I'm doing 3 complete segments here, plus parts of 5 more. Very busy!

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

I love that manta shot with the yellow fish, Jukka!

Thank you Scubagirl!

Tarzy...sorry to say that Bahama was so cold...have to find 5 mmm suit without no bright colours.

Mmmmm...is it a taste to use old nearly all places broken...some might say me a pum.

There was arranged visit to local culture place...stone village.

Famous to this place is huge stone coins. Stone seems to be have been sort of power indication...roads from the stones...chairs from the stones...

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Stonevillage%202%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Viidakossa%202_1%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Viidakossa%202%20800.jpg/full

They ( and of coarse Jonathan and Pierre )are eating here some fruit added with with powder???? rounded with some leaf....biting it and splitting....gives you red teeth...and 20 times per day...

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Boss%20of%20the%20stonevillage.JPG/full

Jukka

[tarczy]

Jukka-

This is a pretty amazing photo image . . .

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20tulossa/Manta%2013%20800.jpg/full

The diver in the lower left corner of the image really gives the viewer an idea as to the size and scale of those Manta Rays.

Cool shot!!

[sorvju-f]

Jukka-

This is a pretty amazing photo image . . .

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20tulossa/Manta%2013%20800.jpg/full

The diver in the lower left corner of the image really gives the viewer an idea as to the size and scale of those Manta Rays.

Cool shot!!



Thanks Tarczy, how you like this one?

Jukka

[Andrew]

Great Pics Jukka. The B&W is a bit strange when you first look at it, it looks like cloud or sky in the background! Lovely and clear though.

What lenses are you using to get those Manta shots?

Andrew

[Daniel]

Great Pics Jukka. The B&W is a bit strange when you first look at it, it looks like cloud or sky in the background! Lovely and clear though.

What lenses are you using to get those Manta shots?

Andrew
Perhaps you're already familiar with this, but Manta's have been known to leap out of the water. Maybe... Jukka captured ;) one of those moments.

Actually, National Geographic has a photograph of an airborne (http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/best-pod-july-08.html) Manta.

Love the photo's Jukka, keep them and any stories... coming. Photo specifics (ISO/F~Stop/Shutter/Strobe setting) would be nice too... time permitting.

[Andrew]

Wow Daniel, now that's a great pic. I have seen eagle rays jump out of the water but couldn't imagine something the size of a Manta leaping out in front of me, I guess you would just have to hope that they wouldn't land on the boat :D

[tarczy]

Well . . .

I guess today is the last day for our Yap divers. They're probably packin up and getting ready to come home. :(

Judging by the relative dearth of postings, I'm betting the Internet connection was either non-existent or just plain lousy. Either way, we wish everyone a good trip home. Can't wait to hear how things went once the Yappers hook into a better Internet connection. :D

[Andrew]

I was thinking that... very quiet on the Yap front and unlike Jukka not to keep us entertained and to post everyday... That connection must really suck (or they are having too good time to remember us poor souls stuck at home!)

[sorvju-f]

For sure we have not forget you!

The one truth here is that Jonathan has made video for his blue world. David is shooting only video and Pierre is shooting only video. If I remember right Jonathan has had still camera UW twice.

For sure you will be rewarded with videos when they are ready and we have better connections.

Internet connection is rather expensive also...I have used already 400 USD for that. To open UW-photochat is eating Mbits from prepaid card a lot.

To me Yap has been not, what I was waiting for...sometimes we are sitting in the bottom for tree hours and no mantas. Actually the biggest disapointment has been the visibility...only one day during my tree weeks stay it was good. This means that pics are often just not publishable.

Luckily there are some other sites where viz is better, but we are really here for mantas.

Anyhow I promise to show you bunch of pics after packing to leave home is ready.

Your Yap team and

Jukka

[tarczy]

Jukka-

Great images my good friend!!!

Have a good trip home!!

P.S. $400USD for Internet??!! :eek: :eek: :eek: Sheesh!!

[Jonathan Bird]

Hi Guys,
We re just waiting for the bus to the airport now. It's almost 2 AM. The flight departs at 4 AM. It's a short nights sleep.

The internet is $25/day at the hotel. Rather expensive. Pierre and I found a cheaper option which goes by the MB rather than by time. Still expensive, but slow, and uwphotochat eats the MB when you load a thread with lots of pics. I have pics to post and a trip report to post when I get back. I'll write it on the plane.

Summary is: great hotel, wonderful staff, some excellent dive sites, excellent viz on the outer reef, crappy viz inside the barrier reef most of the time (which is where the mantas are) and the mantas are much less reliable than they imply in their advertising. I only had two good days of interaction out of 9. I got all my good video one day and all my good stills the other. The shark feed is an absolute blast.

Gotta run, more to come.

Jonathan

[Daniel]

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20tulossa/PA084505%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

This nudi appears to be enjoying a starry night sky. :cool:

Thank you for posting all these wonderful photos Jukka.

[Jonathan Bird]

Hi Gang,
Well, I’m back home and I thought I would post a follow up on my thoughts about Yap and the diving/photography as well as the Manta Ray Bay Hotel and Yap Divers, located on the premises.

First, getting to Yap is not easy. I flew from Boston to Newark (where I met up with Pierre) then on to Tokyo to Guam to Yap and it took 2 days. Some people went through Hawaii instead of Tokyo, which is what we did on the way home. It takes every bit as long to reach Yap as it does to reach places that I think of as more “out of the way” like Indonesia.

When we arrived, we were met by the staff of the hotel at the airport. They took care of the gear, tagged it with our room numbers, and escorted us to a bus. Fifteen minutes later we were at the hotel. The gear was transferred to our rooms and we unpacked.

The way the dive shop works is that you get a locker area in the dive shop to keep your gear, and they have 5 camera tables where you can leave your camera gear and charge stuff. The area is safe and they do not have theft issues. Since this area was in the un-air conditioned dive shop (humid!) and also because all the camera stations were in use when I arrived, I decided to just carry my cameras back to my room after the dives and change things out in the room with dry AC air. They have large dip tanks reserved just for camera gear and separate ones for dive gear, a very thoughtful touch for photographers.

Each morning, the divemasters would transfer our BCs/regs to the boat (including integrated weights) and put them on a tank. We would just bring cameras to the boat, then grab our wetsuits/masks/fins from the locker area, and head out. When we came back from diving, the divemasters would take the BC/reg off the tank and put it in the dip tank. It was our job to hang it to dry or put it away in our locker along with our wetsuits, etc.

The divemasters were absolutely top notch. They were friendly, helpful, and never said no to any crazy thing Pierre and I could think up that we needed for a shot. They were patient with us (which can be difficult!) and always in a good mood. I have nothing but praise for our divemasters. We had the same 2 guys (John and Mathias) and the same boat for the entire trip, so it was very consistent. The boats were not huge, but perfectly fine for the number of divers aboard. A snack was served between dives (usually fruit, banana bread and tea) and most importantly, nitrox (available only in 32% via a membrane system) was FREE for anyone that wanted it and was certified. I found this to be an excellent value that I was not expecting. Given the long dives we were doing, it was worth having. (I did a 110 minute manta dive at 50 feet one day…and this would not have been possible on air).

As for the hotel, it’s a very nice place. The rooms are clean and, especially in the new wing, the furnishings are upscale and classy. The AC kicks butt. We could turn our room into an icebox if we needed to. The staff of the entire hotel, from the cleaning lady to the front desk to the restaurant are all very friendly and make an effort to learn your name. They were eager to be of assistance. It made you feel very comfortable from the start. The pool rocks!

As for the food, well, I cannot be as enthusiastic. It’s not that the food was bad, but it suffers from the fact that Yap is out of the way, and there is a limited amount of variety available. It seemed that the food choices repeated on a 4 day schedule. This is fine if you are like many travelers and only staying in Yap for a few days on the way to or from Palau, as is common. However, we were there 12 days, and the food became extremely monotonous to our group. There were 4 dinner entres offered per day, 2-3 of which were usually fish. Given that I don’t eat fish, I had very little to choose from. The chicken dishes were usually “gristley” (not prime chicken breast like we are used to in the states, but chunks of the less desirable parts of the chicken). They had pasta every couple days. The restaurant makes an okay pizza, which is the best thing on the menu (but it tends to “come back” on the dive!)

They have their own brewery on site, and a Swiss brewmeister named Fredy, who was very friendly and gave me a quick tour of the beer-making facilities. It was pretty interesting. Their beer is quite good. At $4 a glass, it’s also a tad expensive given the low cost to brew it in volume on site. Most people on the trip ran up a pretty good tab on beer—I think it’s a bit of a racket, but this is how they make that extra cash. Just a warning. Several people in our group ran up hundreds of dollars in bar tabs.

The hotel-provided internet service is slower than the slowest dialup line you have ever used and exceptionally expensive ($24.99 per day). Bill Acker, the owner, had no explanation except to say that internet serice was really slow and expensive on Yap. We found that there was another wireless service available (in our rooms) provided via a cell tower nearby that showed up on my “airport” in my mac. We were able to buy internet pre-paid cards at the convenience store across the street. A $5 card gets you 64 MB of bandwidth. Meaning, you enter the card number into the account and as you surf, your available bandwidth counts down. Because uwphotochat is so bandwidth intensive due to all the pictures, loading it drained my card too fast, so I wasn’t posting much from Yap. I mostly just used my access to check e-mail, which is not that bandwidth intensive. It was about the speed of 56K dialup in spurts. Not consistent enough to Skype home.

There is a great little convenience store/car parts store (I couldn’t make this up) right across the street from the hotel. We stocked up on Snickers bars ($.75), Coke ($.75/can) and other munchies for a fraction of the cost of what the hotel charges for snacks and Coke. It seemed strange to me that the hotel was charging $2.00 for a bottle of water when I could get the EXACT same bottle of water for $.60 across the street. Most of the hotel rooms had small refrigerators to keep your Coke cold too! For a hotel that is giving away the Nitrox for free, it seemed odd to be gouging on beer and bottled water, etc.

The state of Yap consists of the main island and the out islands, which are quite a ways out (you can’t see them from the main island). The main island of Yap where we were staying and diving, is actually a bunch of islands clustered in a tight group, surrounded by mangroves, and then surrounded by a fringing reef. Within the fringing reef, such as in the channels and the inner reef, visibility is a factor of the tides. On an incoming tide, clear water is rushing in from the open ocean and the viz could be good, up to 60-80 feet. On an outgoing tide, these inner reefs and channels could drop to 20 feet of viz. Our typical visibility at the manta dive sites was around 30 feet with a fair amount of backscatter.

The outer reefs, such as where they do the shark feeds, dive the walls, the caverns and the really pretty coral sites, had crystal clear 150+ feet of viz very consistently. It was among the clearest water I have seen anywhere, like gin. I loved that. The west side of the island has the best of these outer reef sites and one of the most healthy hard coral reefs I have seen anywhere at a site called Magic Kingdom. Since the hotel is on the east side, it took about 30 minutes to reach those sites on the other side of the island, either by going around the island, or sneaking through the mangroves across the island, which couldn’t be done at low tide.

Of course, Yap is known for mantas, and this was probably the most frustrating part of the trip. What they don’t tell you in the brochure is that the mantas are not found in one channel or even at one dive site, but in fact at one cleaning station on one coral head. (Technically, there are 2 cleaning stations but we only found mantas at the other one once in 12 days for about 30 seconds). It was not uncommon to arrive at the manta site in the morning and find 3-5 boats there (3 from Yap Divers and 2 from the other dive operator on the island). Although the boat captains tried to stagger the time at which people entered the water, we often had as many as 50 people all clustered around this one coral head, waiting for mantas. When it was like this, they typically didn’t show up (can you blame them?) and when they did, it was difficult to obtain an image without someone’s bubbles in it, or their head, or their flash going off in your video. In 12 days of diving, our boat of 8 divers had one excellent day where we got tons of footage with several mantas and without too many people in the way, and 2 so-so days where the action was OK and not too many people spoiled the shots. On the other 9 days….well, we either saw nothing or almost nothing. So we spent a lot of time sitting on the bottom trying to conserve air, waiting for mantas to arrive.

The other thing is that the divemasters control where people can settle down. If everyone rushes the cleaning station, about 20 feet up from the bottom of the channel on the top of a coral head, the mantas will spook and take off. So they make everyone sit pretty close to the base of the coral head. This means that sometimes there is a manta up at the cleaning station, but you may not even be able to see it from where you are sitting, nevermind being close enough for a picture. The best images came from being downcurrent from the cleaning station and grabbing a shot as a manta came upcurrent towards the cleaning station. They tended to approach rather slowly, as they are swimming into the current and you got plenty of time for 10 or so shots as they passed. If nobody’s bubbles got in your shot and the doofus upstream from you didn’t kick a ton of sand into the water, you might actually get a shot.

So in sum, yes Yap is one of the best places in the world to see lots of mantas, but it’s not easy to get good images or video of them. There are a lot of factors beyond your control.

The shark feed was FUN FUN FUN! Clear water, tons of sharks (gray reef sharks, silvertips, blacktips and the occasional white-tip reef shark) and lots of action. This must be their most under-rated dive. After the shark feed, the divemasters dug around in the sand and found teeth that the sharks had lost in the feeding and gave them away. Fun, and great pics/video.

There was a nice macro dive we did a couple times called "Slow and Easy" where were saw a couple octopods, nudibranchs out the wazzoo and even Robust Ghost Pipefish. We also enjoyed Mil Channel. There was the occasional manta, clear water on the incoming tide, and some magnificent soft coral.

I guess that’s about it for now…I’ll post a few pics. If anyone has questions, I can try to answer them.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Here are a few more shots.....

The soft coral and jacks are from Mil Channel.

[sorvju-f]

Here are a few more shots.....

The soft coral and jacks are from Mil Channel.

Nice to hear that you reached home...I am now in Amsterdam and have 5 hours to reach home....I will be back!

Jonathan! Very clear report and I agree 100 %.

Jukka

[Daniel]

Thank you for the trip-report Jonathan. I can't help but note a sense of frustration in your write-up.

How big are these Manta's?
Can you distinguish a male from a female Manta?
What were the water temps like?

Thanks again!

[tarczy]

Jonathan-

Thanks for the trip report.

I guess the only thing to say is that "A Bad Day of Diving is 100 Times Better Than A Good Day at Work!!" :D :D :D

[Jonathan Bird]

Thank you for the trip-report Jonathan. I can't help but note a sense of frustration in your write-up.

Maybe a little, but I didn't mean for it to come across that I didn't enjoy it. Overall, the diving was excellent and the resort/dive operation was excellent. The food was repetitive and the mantas were challenging for sure. But I shot 3 full blue world segments and parts of 5 more. That is a massive amount of stuff. There is a lot to see and photograph there. I enjoyed the trip! I would give it 4 out of 5 stars as a destination. If the mantas were a little more cooperative it would be 5 stars.

How big are these Manta's?

8-12 feet across.

Can you distinguish a male from a female Manta?

Easily. They swim right over....look at the claspers (or lack thereof). They have also been photographing and keeping track of the individual animals for years. Each manta has unique patterns of black spots on its belly, like fingerprints. Over 60 animals are named "regulars".

What were the water temps like?

Warm! In the 80s. Wearing a 3 mm suit I was never even slightly chilled even when I was in the water nearly 2 hours on a dive.

Jonathan

[Clay Coleman]

Thanks for the great report, JB. Nice photos, too. Man, that D300 handles the sun. It's time for me to start saving my pennies to get one. -Clay

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Clay,
You know....now that you mention it, you are right. The D300 is so good with the sun that I have about given up worrying about sun placement like I did with the D200. I am so used to it now that I forgot how much better it is than the D200 was with sunball shots. I actually shot some pictures with the sun as the subject when I was bored waiting for mantas, and they are great!

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Just info from John, our quide. He wanted to sent regards to all of us.

Thank you too, its good to get back home save. After you left and I get another group of divers but only 3 days of diving. 2 days of diving with mantas but no mantas.
So bad luck for them. Any way how is your family? say hi from me. Best to you all.

Our luck was that we saw sometimes Mantas. Somebody is not seeing them att all!

Jukka

[David White]

Perhaps it is a perverse sense of retribution that causes Continental airlines to schedule a flight out of Yap at 04:00 a.m. but that is when our flight left so, bleary-eyed and anything but bushy-tailed, we arrived back in Guam at an unholy hour of the morning and were transported to the Fiesta Hotel for the day. It is easy to see the positive effects of being a U.S. territory since the infrastructure in Guam is reminiscent of any tropical American paradise. The cars are new, the highways are paved, and there is a decadent air of affluence surrounding the beach area. However, all we wanted to do was catch up on some much needed sleep. Unfortunately we were rather rudely awakened in the afternoon by the phone ringing and the front desk informing us that we should have checked out hours ago. Nice!

Back at the airport we said a few goodbyes to some of our fellow divers who had connections to Manila and waited for our flight to Palau. It is probably a good thing that we arrived in Palau at night when we could not see anything. The first impression that we got upon awakening in the morning was that we were most definitely in a third world country. The view from our room is comprised of huge oil storage tanks but, to be honest, the view on the other side of the hotel is not much better. The vehicles are in pretty rough shape but the locals are expert at scavenging parts to keep them running and there are more pot holes than road on parts of the route to Sam’s Tours, the operation that we are diving with during our stay in Palau.

Now, I have some good news and some bad news. First, the good news…my luggage arrived with me. And the bad news…the right hand grip of the housing no longer functions, rendering the housing completely inoperable. With the assistance of the local video professional we took the housing apart and put it back together. Voila…success, we are back in operation. That was, of course, until I took the camera out of the housing and put it back in at which point it failed to operate again. So, we took it apart and put it back together again several times but we could not get it to work. Amphibico informed me that they could FedEx a replacement handle to arrive in three days but apparently it could take up to a week to make it through customs. So, it was decided to wait until returning to Canada to have the housing sent in for service.

Now, about the diving… I have unofficially renamed all of the dive sites that we have visited thus far as “Missed Photo Opportunities”. Our first dive was to one of the signature dive sites in Palau, Blue Corner. Legions of grey reef and whitetip sharks patrol the edge of the wall here. The divemasters do not feed them, they do not have to, the sharks are just there. We hooked ourselves onto the reef using reef hooks and while we were buffeted about in a current that threatens to tear your mask from your face and your regulator out of your mouth, these sharks glide by effortlessly against the current. If you are lucky, a fish will devour a smaller fish and the ensuing feeding frenzy is instantaneous. Huge Napoleon wrasse and several whitetip sharks descend on the area stirring up the bottom into a cloud of sand. And then, as quickly as it started, it is all over and they simply go back to being on patrol. The largest barracuda that I have ever seen hung motionless above us, oblivious to the effects of the current. Upon releasing our hooks we were whisked away in the current to a group of yellow-masked angelfish and a turtle seeking shelter from the current. Eventually we came to our safety stop above the wall and spent the next three minutes in the midst of a school of several hundred barracuda. More missed photo opportunities than I care to remember.

On our second day we opted for the leisurely pace of a kayak tour. First, you board the boat and they take you out to the Milky Way. This is where the adventure begins. While the guides are getting the kayaks ready we busied ourselves by diving to the bottom of the lagoon to scoop up handfuls of sand that is as fine as talcum powder. The sand is purported to hold restorative and curative properties so we lathered ourselves from head to toe to achieve maximum benefit. Reality is that we looked more like a crazed group of native Indians bent on head hunting than a group of middle aged health nuts. The kayaking journey got off to an inauspicious start when my hat got knocked off by a low slung branch. Not wanting to lose my $20 investment I slipped out of the kayak to retrieve my chapeau. Of course this necessitated a re-entry maneuver that would have been successful if Christie had not continued to lean out the opposite side of the kayak. The kayak tipped over and we both ended up in the drink. Fortunately, one of the guides had his camera at the ready so the whole escapade has been captured on film. We kayaked for a while, snorkeled a bit and then went to Shark City for lunch. The shallow, sandy beach shoreline at this popular picnic spot is fringed with a coral reef that is patrolled by numerous blacktip sharks. There are a number of scuba shops that conduct open water check-out dives here. Sounds good to me…have your students remove and replace their masks while sharks circle their heads.

Next we set off for Jellyfish Lake. This is not a trip for the faint of heart since it is necessary to climb up and down a steep, sharp rocky path to access the lake. Permits are required to enter the area but it is well worth the trek. There are literally millions and millions of jellyfish, some as small as peas, others as large as grapefruit. It is not possible to swim a stroke without dozens of them making contact with your skin. It is a good thing that they don’t sting. Scuba diving and even free diving is not allowed in Jellyfish Lake since at a depth of about 15 meters the dead jellyfish have turned the lake into hydrochloric acid.

Every trip out on the dive boat takes you through the rock islands of Palau. There are hundreds, possibly even thousands, of these sheer limestone cliffs covered with dense tropical foliage that tower hundreds of feet above the sea. The ebb and flow of the tides has eroded several feet of these islands at the waterline creating the illusion that these masses of stone are floating on the water. Numerous words that have been used to describe the colour blue and all of them, teal, azure, royal, pale, deep etc. etc. etc. are represented here. Many of these islands have caves and one such cave was used by the Japanese as a fuel storage depot during the Second World War. The Americans bombed this cave and now there is just a large, blackened hole with hundreds of rusted out oil barrels littering the floor. I cannot imagine having to wage war on such inhospitable terrain.

We still have a couple more days of diving in Palau before we head back to Guam for a connecting flight to Pohnpei. Internet access here is sporadic and slow so there may not be any further reports for a while and there definitely won’t be any film at eleven.

[sorvju-f]

David! Sorry to hear your missluck with camera...I really know how you are feeling. Actually I am too weak to go down to see these missed photo opportunities.

I have actually started to prepare some spare part collection for my video gears.

Anyhow enjoy rest of your trip, say hello to Christie and get safe back, which is most important.

Jukka

[Daniel]

Now, I have some good news and some bad news. First, the good news…my luggage arrived with me. And the bad news…the right hand grip of the housing no longer functions, rendering the housing completely inoperable.

That is indeed sad news. Are you giving any thought of using a different housing for your camera and rethinking your relationship with Amphibico?

On a different note, it must be an awakening of sorts to dive without a camera and just enjoying your dive with your dive buddy. ;)

[Jonathan Bird]

Hi David,
I'm sorry to hear of your troubles with the housing. Can you get Amphibico to send the part to someone in Guam (USA...less customs issues I would think) and then pick it up on the way to your next stop? Tim Rock is in Guam...I can ask him if he can help. You might have met him the last night we were in Yap as he was there for a few days.

Damn electronic housings! Mechanical housings are low tech, but they have no electronics to fail.

Jonathan

P.S. Thanks for the update on Palau! Sounds cool. Pics? How far are the dive sites from the dock?

[Jonathan Bird]

I put together a selection of images from Yap (http://www.jonathanbird.net/cgi-bin/saved_light_box.asp?s=44801173&t=39745.5206597222). The link is valid for 90 days.

Jonathan

[David White]

I had considered having Amphibico send the part to Guam but thought that if I missed it's arrival it would either be chasing me all over the Pacific or end up in a desk drawer somewhere. This is the first time that I have ever encountered a failure with any of the Amphibico products that I own and it is difficult to prepare for a failure that you have never experienced. Sad thing is that I have two housings at home with perfectly functional right hand grips which could have acted as spares. Next time I will be better prepared. This is the first time in years that I have been diving without a camera and it really is frustrating. There are just so many incredible photo opportunities in Palau.

Sam's Tours runs a really good operation even though we had become a little bit spoiled after our experience with Yap Divers. The driver picks you up at your hotel and drops you off at Sam's breakfast bar. After enjoying a healthy start to the day, you are required to take your gear to whichever boat you have been assigned. Nitrox @ 32% is available for free and the divemasters require you to analyze the contents of the tanks prior to gearing up. Most dive sites are about an hour away so there is a bit of a trip out and back but nobody seemed to mind except when it pours with rain...quite a common experience here. The temperature variance during a storm caused even the Canadian to bundle up out of the wind.

The Palauan people are friendly and courteous and walking the streets at night is not a problem. There are quite a few expatriate Americans that have set up businesses here and there is a continuous influx of European tourists so it is very easy to establish interesting conversations. There is even a group of twenty somethings from Denmark on a stopover during their two year sailing tour of the Pacific.

The IMAX crew is also here producing a 3D film of macro critters. It seems a bit of an oxymoron that they have a camera and housing set-up which is huge and weighs in excess of 400 pounds to film nudibranchs less than an inch long. They told me that they are going to dismantle their rig to take it to film in Jellyfish Lake. Even the video pro here takes his small camera and housing to Jellyfish Lake and I certainly would not want to attempt to haul the Phenom up there. The trek really is quite a daunting experience.

We leave Palau in the wee, small hours of the morning and will spend the day back at the Fiesta hotel in Guam before embarking on the next leg of the trip to Pohnpei. Until the next time, greetings from paradise.

[Neptune7]

Yo David,

Have you taught of replacing the chip inside the faulty handle? I had one a failure of the O-ring of one button (the WB button) that toasted the chip in the handle. I then disasembled the left handke and used the chip of the left in the right handle and it worked perfect. The left handle function are less critical and you can easily shoot using only the auto-focus. All the other functions are OK...
The chip in theright and left handle are the same.

Try it.

Pierre

[sorvju-f]

Hi David,

Damn electronic housings! Mechanical housings are low tech, but they have no electronics to fail.

Jonathan



There is a piece of truth, what Jonathan is saying, but

One thing with heavier housings is just transportation question...custom/security check is opening the luggage to see if this is explosives or something.

They are working somewhere travellers are not seeing them and when repacking the gears their know how/willigness to finish their work properly seems to disappear. Luggages are hanled with uncare and the weight of housing also have impact to results.

Ikelite is much lighter and this handling with uncare is not influencing to them so much. I think that if those people are seeing "Ikelite" the luggage is getting some special treatment. Actually I have not had problems with my Ikelite still housing.

The truth is that we are paying extra fees for weight and our gears should get proper handling...to break something from somebody even by the authorities and in the name of security...IS ILLEGAL:mad:

Jukka

[David White]

We arrived in Pohnpei shortly after midnight and were met at the airport by the representative from the Village Hotel http://www.reefrainforest.com/p_scuba_diving_resort_pohnpei_village_resort_micro nesia_113_379.html. The first thing that you notice is that the roads are much better than in Palau. That is, of course, until you venture off the highway onto the road to the hotel. “Road” is actually an inappropriate description; it is really not much more than a dirt path that would humble many 4 wheel drive vehicles and twists and turns over roots and ruts and rubble until it terminates at the resort. Then we were led down a jungle path in the dark to our cabin. The first impression is that we are not staying at the Hilton and you get the idea that you may be going to rough it a bit when you discover that mosquito nets and bug spray are available in the room.
Awakened by the sounds of birds and possibly other creatures, I am amazed by the view. The “Sunrise” rooms are perched high atop stilts on a precipice at the top of either a very steep hill or a reasonably small mountain. The view of the ocean is nothing short of spectacular. There is a large lagoon with a couple of islands that separates us from the sea and we are literally in the midst of the jungle. The weather report is the same here every day; if you cannot see the island, it is raining…if you can see the island, it is going to rain. There are bananas growing on trees right outside the room and we share the tree tops with small birds. After checking in and a quick breakfast we head down to the boat for our first day of diving.

The boat is a panga affair with twin 60hp Yamaha engines and several cushions on the floor to soften the bumps along the way. There are no benches and no wind shield, although a canvas covering offers some protection from the sun. We are introduced to Stamp who will be our boat captain and dive guide and Billy, his assistant. After about a thirty minute ride we reach our first dive site and the anchor is set. We descend down the anchor line and are almost immediately in the midst of a hundred two to three foot barracuda. After reaching the bottom we start to cross the channel. At a depth of 90’ the divemaster signals shark and we encounter our first grey reef shark. It is quite a bit bigger than the ones we have become accustomed to in Yap and Palau and slowly patrols the edge of the reef. Again the divemaster signals shark but this time they are quite a bit below us. However, there are somewhere between 60 and 100 of them and some of them are quite large. I pay close attention to the blunt snout of the closest large shark and, as it turns in the sun, I can see the unmistakable stripes of the tiger. There were also several other large sharks in the school which may have been tiger sharks as well. In less than ten minutes of diving in Pohnpei I have seen more sharks than in 14 days of diving in Yap and Palau. We continue the dive over a somewhat naturally damaged reef and encounter three different species of nudibranchs that I have never seen before. After a surface interval the rains begin just as we enter the water for the second dive. Within a few minutes a solitary eagle ray passes by and then just a little while later we see three more floating along the wall in formation, taking turns as to which one will lead. Grey reef sharks are patrolling the outer reef along with some huge Napoleon wrasse and schools of barracuda. This reef, although not as colourful as other reef systems in the Pacific, is vibrant and healthy. We surface and it is still raining. Actually it is RAINING! Torrential downpour! Cats and Dogs! The stuff that invokes stories which become legends. Visibility is reduced to about fifteen feet on the surface and how the boat captain found the fisherman’s shelter is beyond me. We eat our lunch in the shelter and attempt to stay dry. Impossible! This is apparently the second wettest spot on earth. Somebody should tell God to put a diaper on this place…it is that wet. We set out for the third dive and once again encounter more sharks, a couple of eagle rays and plenty of Napoleon Wrasse. The divemaster points out a moray eel and lionfish both seeking shelter beneath the same coral head and, as we finish the dive the rain comes to an end. Good thing too since it is a long way back to the harbor.

Dinner is an elegant affair of steak and crab claw. Apart from the gourmet lunches at the Fiesta Hotel in Guam this is the best meal that has been enjoyed thus far. Then, too tired out from the day’s exertions it is back to the cabin and bed. It rains again at night.

For our second day of diving we are joined by a Japanese gentleman and a couple of snorkelers who had lived in Pohnpei during their tenure with the Peace Corps back in the 60’s. Since the weather was fine and the seas calm we set out for Ant Island, an atoll a couple of miles across the channel. A pod of dolphins escorted us out to the reef. We waited for the incoming tide before gearing up and dropping into the water. Again, we were met by the obligatory schools of jacks and barracuda. The current moved us along at a brisk pace and we headed towards the middle of the channel. A school of perhaps thirty grey reef sharks, some little more than a foot long others in excess of six feet, swam towards us oblivious to the flow of the current. The coral walls here are resplendent with different types or coral and huge orange sponges and once again I encounter species of nudibranchs that I had not seen before. At about the midpoint of the dive we ran into a current moving in the opposite direction and were hard pressed to make any headway against it. Then, just as we began our ascent, a solitary eagle ray humbled us even further by gracefully swimming past us against the current.
We pulled onto a beach on a completely deserted island for our lunch and toyed with sand crabs and coconuts while we enjoyed a break. Then, it was back into the channel for the changing tide. This time our dive took us to the opposite side of the channel wall and we followed a turtle down towards the bottom. The current was a little less intimidating than earlier and so we enjoyed a leisurely drift along the wall. The divemaster signaled “ray” and, coming towards us was a lone manta ray with about a ten foot wingspan. I dropped lower in the water to intercept and was rewarded with a heads-on view of the manta, mouth agape to strain sustenance from the nutrient rich water. As he approached closer he turned and swam towards me to satisfy his curiosity. This was one of the shots that I had hoped to achieve in Yap and here I was without a camera. The customary whitetips patrolled along the edge of the reef and once again we were treated to a wall of coral untouched by the hands of man.

The trip back was a bit of a challenge. The winds had picked up during the day and we were faced with four to six foot swells in the crossing. It made for a bumpy ride and once we reached the relative shelter of Pohnpei we were taken through the mangrove swamp to avoid the rough waters at sea. This was not like the mangrove channels in Yap where the edges of the channel are clearly discernible and it most definitely was not a Disney tour. I took it on faith that Stamp knew the way but we spent almost as much time ducking our heads as we did enjoying the magnificent scenery. Eventually we started to see signs of civilization and soon arrived back at the dock.

The chef at the Village Hotel is very good and people come from other resorts to have dinner here. I enjoyed a delicious meal of scallops dore and a couple of reasonably priced bottles of beer. And then it was off to bed. It rained all night and, since we could not see the island across the lagoon knew that it must still be raining when we awoke in the morning.

The skies were overcast with low black clouds scudding overhead when we set off in the morning and the seas were a bit rougher than usual. Within ten minutes from leaving the dock we arrived at the manta cleaning station, our first dive of the day. Stamp donned his fins, mask and snorkel to see whether there were any mantas at the cleaning station. What a novel idea, determine if there is anything for the tourists to see before getting them into the water…perhaps Manta Ray Bay Hotel should take notes. A few minutes later he returned and informed us that two mantas were going through their routine at the spa. We dropped into the water and found visibility to have been reduced to about fifty feet. Not to worry, we reached the cleaning station and one of the mantas was still there. The visibility did not matter since the manta hovered beside us only a few feet away. Even after the cleaning wrasses had moved away she stayed beside us, inching a little bit closer, apparently just as interested in us as we were in observing her. Then, a larger manta arrived and moved to the cleaning station on the other side, also just a few feet away. There we were four divers and two mantas, all within a ten foot radius, and not a camera anywhere. There were no tourists in front of the cameras, no bubbles in your shots, no divemasters moving you from your spot only to place one of their divers in the place you had just vacated, and, above all else, there were mantas. They took turns at the cleaning station, would move away and then approach from the other side. I could have taken full frontal approaches, side views, hovering just overhead, the view from behind, and close-ups of the wrasses moving in and out of their gills without ever having to zoom in; they were that close. In fact, they were so close that the wide angle lens would probably not have been able to fully accommodate them. We stayed with them for an hour and they were still there when we left. This was the dive I had hoped for in Yap.

[David White]

Our surface interval took us to an abandoned Japanese seaplane station. While off-gassing we took a walk around what is left of the facility. The harbor is still pretty much intact but a few minutes’ walk into the jungle and we came across a bombed out hangar. Apparently there is still a seaplane inside the hangar but the jungle has reclaimed the area and trees and roots have covered the twisted, shattered steel making further ingress impossible. Deep holes indicate where bombs landed so many years ago.

We waited for a couple of hours for the tide to change and then set off for another channel. We were greeted by a turtle which led us to a steep wall of pristine hard corals. A gentle current took us along the wall until we reached an outcrop. Turning once again into the middle of the channel we encountered another school of perhaps thirty grey reef sharks and an enormous grouper having his gills cleaned. The current was strong here so we steered our way back to the shelter of the wall and were met by a group of humphead parrotfish trying to eat the reef one crunch at a time. At the end of the channel the incoming current brings nutrient and reduced visibility. A pair of marble sting rays rested on the bottom until they are disturbed by us. Then they careen down the sandy slope like a couple of skiers laying down first tracks in powder snow. A school of reef squid hover above us in the shallows while we are entertained by the swaying of garden eels on the sandy bottom. After an hour and a half surface interval we are back on the other side of the same wall. Again, pristine hard coral formations from the bottom of the channel to the top of the reef are the order of the day. A lone eagle ray passes by as we drift slowly with the current. A couple more eagle rays approach us but when I descend to intercept, one of them takes off for the top of the reef. The other, much more curious, circles us a couple of times before joining his companion and they both disappear into the blue. This is a calmer, gentler dive than we have experienced, perhaps a fitting end to our diving in Pohnpei.

If you are looking for a little wildness in your blue yonder then add Pohnpei to your list of dive sites. Otherwise, keep it a secret and perhaps the reefs of Pohnpei will remain unspoiled for generations of divers to come.

By the way, it rained again all night and was still raining in the morning when we awoke. Did I mention that it rains a lot here?

[sorvju-f]

David!

Your report are so living ones that actually I can see the things like you would have added some video here.

So you have gotten RAIN and also played with mantas like we should have been doing in Yap. Thats great ( any how second part of sentense ).

Enjoy and hello to Christie.

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

David, we are following you adventures...

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Anemonikala%2012%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

I changed folder name in my homepage and part of the pics inside this thread disappeared.

Anyhow you can see the pics here:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/

Jukka

[tarczy]

David-

Absolutely wonderful trip report!!! Your diving descriptions really have me wanting to go. However, your descriptions of living conditions, surrounding environment and weather, make me reconsider my desire to go diving in Pohnpei.

While I was reading, I couldn't help but feel your pain from not having a camera. :( That said, I'll bet you observed a lot more than if you actually had a viewfinder in your face. ;) Life is nothing but a bunch of trade-offs. :D

[Jonathan Bird]

David,
Thanks for the great report. I feel your pain with the lack of camera. I have a good pal that lived on Kwajalein for many years and he told me that the secret is that Pohnpei has mantas as good as or better than Yap, but is not as well known. He shot some great video there in around 1995 but said they have good days and bad days for mantas like anywhere else. Looks like you hit a good day! Christine and I did 5 weeks in the Marshall Islands/Micronesia in 2001 and planned a few days in Pohnpei but we had to bag out and stay a few extra days in Kosrae instead because Continental cancelled our flight. There's a shocker!!

From what I have heard, accommodations in Pohnpei are not as nice as Yap!

Jonathan

[Neptune7]

Thanks buddy for this exceptionnal trip report. It make me feel wanting to go back to Micronesia! Not Yap but the other islands...

I, too, feel the pain and emptyness of missing your camera. I don't know if you tried to disassemble the faulty handle. Let me know when you are back home.
Have a safe trip home. I will try to shype you.

Pierre

[sorvju-f]

David with lot of bad luck and being our last representative in Micronesia is here in action:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/David%20in%20action%202%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/David%20in%20action%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/David%20in%20action%203%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

I am just going trough the Yap pictures!

Disapointment was that there was much pics from anemonfishes, sharks, nudis but itself the mantas I didnot have much accebtable pics,

I have changed the folder name in my homepages and it might be that some of the pics were already in this thread that I will soon present.

Mandarin fish dives should be something extra in Yap. We were charged 40 USD extra to normal dives ( I am not sure if it is worth that ), specially after having diving paggage and sitting too many times in bottom waiting for Mantas without result.

You left there just before sunrise. The depht of the dive was 3-5 meters.

They were coming up from the coral holes and playing about hour to be photographed and then suddenly disappearing back to coral holes. They are not big ones...maybe 3 cm. Male is little big bigger.

Of coarse everybody are waiting for the mating dance, when male and female are comig up from the corals together and finaly spreading white sperm round them.

I have never seen that, but here is set of pics I got:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Mandariini%2011_1%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Mandariini%2013%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Mandarin%20fish%2021%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Mandariini%2014%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/PA155349%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Some more mandarin fishes:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Mandariini%2015%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Mandariini%2023_800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/_Mandariini%2024%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Mandariini%2017%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Mandariini%209%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

This is rather nice subject to make pics...actually I got info that it is called Crown of thorns and population of these is expanding fast. One can destroy several m2 of corals per annum and several of them can do lot of harm.

In some divesites volunteers are collecting them out of water for protecting corals. I don't know how much it is influencing...maybe to protect certain site...but the see is rather big:rolleyes:

Couple of of pics from it:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/T%E4htipiikit%20A%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/T%E4htipiikit%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/T%E4htipiikit%202%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Some pics of coralformations:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Korallia%2012%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Korallia%2011%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Korallia%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Korallia%206%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Korallia%202%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

One new/different to me was these small anemonfishes. They were hiding inside small anemonbushes, which were located inside close together coral formations...nice creatures:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Tomato%20clownfish%205%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Tomato%20clownfish%206%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Tomato%20clownfish%207%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Tomato%20clownfish%208%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Tomato%20clownfish%209%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Tomato%20clownfish%2015%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Tomato%20clownfish%2011%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Tomato%20clownfish%2012%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Tomato%20clownfish%2013%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Tomato%20clownfish%2014%20800.jpg/full

jukka

[scubagirl]

Great trip reports, David. Pohnpei sounds like it might be worth a visit sometime (though maybe not in the rainy season)! Too bad about your video housing; hope you get it fixed before your next trip.



Nice photos, Jukka!

[sorvju-f]

Fish faces are always nice game and needs patients:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Face%2010%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Face%2011%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Face%2012%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Face%2013%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Face%2014%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Some more fish faces:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Face%2016%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Face%202%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Face%2020%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Face%208%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Face%2018%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Some more fish faces:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Viherparvi%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Sinihuuli%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Sinihuuli%203%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Leijona%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[solisti]

Great shots again Jukka! Nice variety of colourfull pics.

Some construcive feedback: I think you need to increase the contrast in most of the pictures (or is it just my screen?). Some are a bit 'hazy', not your usual crisp standard!

Composition is looking good as always!


(Notice the sandwich modell for feedback! Another leadership course that was not wasted! :D )

[sorvju-f]

Great shots again Jukka! Nice variety of colourfull pics.

Some construcive feedback: I think you need to increase the contrast in most of the pictures (or is it just my screen?). Some are a bit 'hazy', not your usual crisp standard!

Composition is looking good as always!


(Notice the sandwich modell for feedback! Another leadership course that was not wasted! :D )

Solisti you are absolutely right...I have noticed it also. This has become only after I jumped to Mac. Colour difference is huge when I do RAW handling with MAC or PC. Even Mac is operationaly better the colour calibration is poor compared to PC...I think this is one reason why MAC has changed graphic card to their newest lap tops.

Actually this is rather big question to me, when wantig to have only either or.
At the moment I dont have any solution to that.

Of coarse everybody's own calibrations are influencing.

Have somebody else noticed poor colours from the pics in this thread?

Jukka

[Andrew]

Hey Jukka,

Great pics as always. I agree with Solisti, most of your pictures are a bit hazy and not the normal sharpness in colour we expect from you :) Looks like you had a great trip, when does the video preview...

Greeting from a hard time diving in the Maldives! :cool:
Andrew

[sorvju-f]

Hey Jukka,

Great pics as always. I agree with Solisti, most of your pictures are a bit hazy and not the normal sharpness in colour we expect from you :) Looks like you had a great trip, when does the video preview...

Greeting from a hard time diving in the Maldives! :cool:
Andrew

Andrew full report needed as Maldives is one place I have always wanted to go!

When I look these pictures from my PC, they look OK but Mac gives terrible quality. Advice needed, what to do?

Jukka

[Andrew]

Jukka,

I would go with the picture on your mac as a guide as the screen and representation of colour tends to be better in my opinion. When I posted some from my last trip everyone thought they were overexposed, but they looked spot on on my PC. I loaded them on my mac and adjusted them and voila, much better colour. Which mac did you buy by the way?

Will try and post some pics from here but am having trouble converting the RAW files as my normal converter does not accept the new Canon 50d RAW format. I will work on it and report hopefully soon... Put it this way about the Maldives so far... warm weather, white sand, good food, nice hotel, great dive sites but vis so so the last few days.

Andrew

[sorvju-f]

Jukka,

I would go with the picture on your mac as a guide as the screen and representation of colour tends to be better in my opinion. When I posted some from my last trip everyone thought they were overexposed, but they looked spot on on my PC. I loaded them on my mac and adjusted them and voila, much better colour. Which mac did you buy by the way?

Will try and post some pics from here but am having trouble converting the RAW files as my normal converter does not accept the new Canon 50d RAW format. I will work on it and report hopefully soon... Put it this way about the Maldives so far... warm weather, white sand, good food, nice hotel, great dive sites but vis so so the last few days.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew!

The time start to be so and so before making correction tests but actually if colors are different that is only thing to do or find some color calibration program you can run in both MAC and PC.

I am also on my way to new divetrip next thursday. This time Philippines two weeks ( One week Moalboal and one week Dumarquote )

I am stopping to post pics until this is clear...there is no idea to do the work twice.

This viz question we had also in Yap specially with Mantas. Otherwise Maldives sounds nice.

Whats your opinion about 50D?

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Jukka,
Which mac did you buy by the way?
Andrew

Sorry I forgot this!

MAC BOOK PRO 15" 2,5GHz, RAM 4GB, Harddisk 250 GB 7200rpm. With Final cut studio, Lightroom ( not the newest version ) and coming upgrade to CS4 Production ( I needed Photoshop to MAC anyhow so CS production upgrade from earlier ones I had was not bad investment )

Actually the lightroom is working both MAC and PC...same version.

Jukka

[David White]

If Pohnpei has rain, then Chuuk has torrents. The pilot aborted the first and second attempts at landing and, we learned later from one of the business class passengers, that he was replaced by another pilot seated in business class for a third attempt. After a successful landing we are handed umbrellas for the long walk to the customs station. The umbrellas offered little respite from the rain and by the time we reached the shelter of the building were soaked through. A rather surly inspection officer went through her routine as slowly as possible and managed to clear six passengers in about the same amount of time that the officials in Guam would clear an entire plane. We gather our bags and head outside into the storm to meet the Blue Lagoon Resort representative. The bags are loaded and we set out on the next leg of our adventure. Apparently they don’t have roads here, they have rivers with ruts. The posted speed limit is 15 mph but I doubt if even the most stalwart off-road vehicle could manage to maintain that. I have been to a number of locations that would constitute third world status but Truk gives new meaning to abject poverty. Never have I encountered such deplorable living conditions. There is an overwhelming air of despair and groups of young men huddle together beside buildings; it does not appear as though any of them have any work. Even in daylight it is a daunting scene. We have been forewarned not to venture away from the resort and I fully intend to follow that advice. As we get further and further from town a road actually appears from beneath the water and we meander uphill in an area where the buildings are no longer constructed of corrugated tin. Each time we come across a building that looks like it might be a resort I hope that it is not the Blue Lagoon Resort. Eventually we arrive at a security checkpoint and enter the resort grounds. The difference is like night and day. The grounds are manicured and maintained and the building, though not a Hilton, is clean and structurally sound. The rooms are air-conditioned and we have a view of the ocean. Internet access is occasionally available in the room although the TV does not have any reception at all.

After an early morning breakfast we deliver our dive gear to the dive shop and fill out all the requisite paper work. We are introduced to Estos, our dive guide and Gladwin, the boat captain. We set out to sea for our first wreck dive. We descend the anchor line to the stern of the wreck of the Shinkoku Maru and are immediately impressed by the sheer size of the ship. There are numerous holes that make for easy penetration and we are escorted through the ship’s surgery where human remains lay scattered about on a table. It is a stark reminder of the battle that took place here on February 17th through the 18th, 1944. A second dive takes us to the wreck of the Rio de Janeiro Maru, another cargo freighter. There are cases upon cases of bottles of sake in one of the holds and various engines and spare parts in another. After a lunch break we dive on “Emily”, a downed seaplane. Two large engines adorn each wing and the cockpit is still relatively intact. It is interesting to note what qualified as aeronautical so many years ago.
It rains most of the night and Saturday morning dawns to a fierce storm. It doesn’t look good for diving but by the time we finish breakfast the rain has stopped and the winds have died down. We set out for the wreck of the Fujikawa Maru, another freighter. Visibility is quite a bit better than yesterday and this ship is covered with hard and soft corals and literally thousands of small reef fish. We penetrate the holds and make our way past crates and crates of sake bottles. This gives me the impression that the Japanese were either planning an elaborate victory celebration or kept their troops inebriated most of the time. There is a landing gear with the tire still partially inflated and a number of truck chassis in one hold and although the sidewalls of the tires have deteriorated, the treads are as new. Another hold contains the remains of five Japanese Zero fighter planes. After a lengthy surface interval we descend onto the wreck of the Sankisan Maru. Again, hard and soft coral formations adorn the structure and dozens of large clams add to the interest. We drop down into one of the holds where thousands of medicine bottles lay scattered about. They are of varying size and colour, perhaps to distinguish one medicine from another. Moving in to the next cargo hold we find hundreds of thousands of machine gun rounds. Many are still held in their clips. Whether this ordnance was for the troops or for the defense of the ship remains a mystery. We head back to the resort for lunch and then do an afternoon dive on “Betty”, a small Japanese two engine bomber. Although the cockpit is twisted and shattered the fuselage allows for penetration. From inside it is easy to see where the bullets found their mark as daylight enters the dozens of holes. There are oxygen bottles still retained within their mounts and the gunner’s chair rests askew amidst a tangled web of cables.

Day three takes us out to the wreck of the Unkai Maru which has huge holes in the stern from a direct torpedo hit. Penetrating the holds reveals gas masks, shoes and some log books that have not been used. The outer structure of the wreck is covered in coral and thousands of small reef fish make it their home. Our second dive takes us through the Kyosumi Maru, which rests on the port side and, once again, sports huge holes from direct torpedo strikes. Fuel barrels, gas masks, sake bottles and even a bicycle can be found in the holds but it is a bit disorienting since the wreck lies on her side. The superstructure is almost completely covered with hard corals and schools of fish meandering about. There are also some pieces of china, electric lights, sake bottles and a fire extinguisher that have been gathered together. Visibility on this wreck was not much better than twenty feet. After a break for lunch we descend to the overturned hull of the Oyo Maru. Penetration is a bit difficult except through the torpedo hole but care must be taken because of the twisted and severed beams of steel. Huge rolls of cable are still within one of the rooms. This superstructure is also covered with hard corals and visibility here is perhaps less than ten feet. The rudder and propellers are prominent features of this wreck.

Day four dawns with heavy rains and overcast skies. This time the rains do not let up. We are joined by a Japanese photographer and a family of four from Muskoka. Their two boys aged 10 and 12 are being home-schooled and have already visited 48 different countries in their young lives. Dad joins us as we dive the Kansito Maru, another cargo freighter sitting upright in about 90 feet of water. This dive reminds me of swimming in Jellyfish Lake since there are so many of them floating about. Caution must be taken though since these jellyfish have not lost their capacity to sting. We penetrate the engine room which appears not much different from the day she sank with all the railings and ladders and walkways still intact. There are sake bottles and electric lights and china strewn about the deck as well a typewriter that is only identifiable as such since a few of the keys still remain on the keyboard. After about 40 minutes we ascend for our safety stop. Next, to keep the young lads amused we snorkel over another cargo freighter. She also sits upright in about 40 feet of water and has a pair of depth charges still secured on the bow. Since we got off to a late start we head back to shore for lunch and then set out for the Yamaigiri Maru. Resting on her port side she is covered with coral and is only accessible through the torpedo hole in her side. Numerous 18” diameter shells are stacked within one hold and dozens of fuel containers are held in the next one. It is easy to see why so many of these ships exploded and sank rapidly. The third dive of the day takes us out to the Heian Maru, at 510 feet she is the largest wreck in Truk Lagoon. There are oil slicks on the surface from oil still seeping from her tanks after nearly 65 years. Again, resting on her port side we descend to the stern and are amazed at the sheer size of the rudder and props. We make our way to the bow and then enter into the first hold. Numerous torpedo warheads are still stacked in neat piles and, as we pass through into the second hold, find the torpedoes where these would have been attached. The torpedoes are probably 20 feet in length and there are dozens of them. Moving along the passageway into the third hold we find sections of submarine periscopes and more periscopes are discovered alongside the companionway. This was the supply ship for the battleship Yamato and the aircraft carrier Shokaku and the first real indication of weapons of mass destruction. It is relatively easy to penetrate the belly of these beasts but caution must be taken since there are so many potential obstructions. We swim across the starboard side of the hull and it is easy to imagine that you are scuba diving a coral reef since nearly the entire hull is encrusted with coral.

[David White]

Our last day of diving dawns bright and clear and we set out for the destroyer, Fumijuki. She rests upright in 120 feet of water with both fore and aft guns aimed at the same target on the starboard side. A direct torpedo strike to the port bow caused her destruction. Although a long way from the freighters that we have been diving all week, she is headed towards the action and appears to have died a warrior’s death. A small, narrow ship in comparison to the cargo freighters we have seen previously, the large guns attest to her capacity for battle. The forward gun has two cases of shells beside it, one full with twelve shells, the other holding only three. Penetration is not possible here without proper equipment so we just observe her from the outside. Our surface interval takes us just off-shore the air field and we skin dive over a downed Japanese Zero. Resting upside down in about 20 feet of water it is remarkably well preserved, the landing gear retracted indicating that she was not shot down during either a landing or takeoff. One machine gun is still visible on the left wing. Our next dive takes us to the Gosei Maru, another freighter resting from a depth of 10 feet to more than 100 feet with a slight list to her port side. We do not penetrate this wreck since a group of CCR divers are literally crawling all over it. Perhaps buoyancy control is not an issue with closed circuit re-breathers. We stop for a traditional barbeque at lunch with our dive guide and boat captain and I am left with the task of choosing the site for our last dive. The Fujikawa Maru is selected but instead of penetrating the holds we content ourselves with touring the outer structure. Both guns are pointed in the same direction, indicating that the attack came from the starboard side and it is still possible to look down the barrel of the stern gun. Hard and soft corals have formed here, providing homes to thousands of small reef fish as schools of Jacks and Barracuda patrol the periphery. The bow appears as though somebody planted a coral garden and is breathtaking in its beauty. We tour the deck twice and then ascend for our safety stop. It is a fitting close to our diving here in Truk Lagoon.

On our first day of diving we met Roy, a Californian who was here for his ninth consecutive year. Later in the week we met a group from New York who are here on their fourth tour. Initially I could not understand somebody scuba diving the same location over and over again but after only five days of diving and fifteen dives we barely scratched the surface as to what is available here. It is estimated that 275 aircraft were downed and more than 60 ships, comprising in excess of 300 tons, were sunk during Operation Hailstorm, an assault 15 times more powerful than the attack on Pearl Harbour. Many of these wrecks are so large that you could probably dive the same vessel every day of the week and still not see all of it. Truk Lagoon is the only place in the world where so many shipwrecks are accessible within recreational dive limits in such a relatively small area and should be added to every wreck diver’s itinerary.

[Neptune7]

Initially I could not understand somebody scuba diving the same location over and over again but after only five days of diving and fifteen dives we barely scratched the surface as to what is available here. It is estimated that 275 aircraft were downed and more than 60 ships, comprising in excess of 300 tons, were sunk during Operation Hailstorm, an assault 15 times more powerful than the attack on Pearl Harbour. Many of these wrecks are so large that you could probably dive the same vessel every day of the week and still not see all of it. Truk Lagoon is the only place in the world where so many shipwrecks are accessible within recreational dive limits in such a relatively small area and should be added to every wreck diver’s itinerary.

Great report David,
I am not a wreck guy but your report make me wanting to go there soon. Would you return?
Have you tried repairing your housing by transferring the chip in the left handle into the defective right one?
Pierre

[David White]

Actually Pierre after taking the handle apart a few times and putting it back together without getting a successful result I just gave up and left everything in Guam. Didn't seem to be any point in paying excess baggage charges just to haul the case around the Pacific. I will send it in to Amphibico for an overhaul before the next trip.

Truk Lagoon is a place that can be visited over and over again without seeing everything. Technical training is advisable since many of the wrecks are well beneath recreational limits. Not that there isn't lots to keep recreational divers entertained. Filming the wrecks would present significant planning in order to do them justice. In some cases visibility just would not allow for wide angle shots and lots of lights would be required in some of the penetratable areas. Then again, it would most certainly be a worthwhile project.

The facilities that we found in Yap to accomodate photographers and videographers simply are not in place in the other locations we visited. It was a very long haul from the boat docks back to the room and transferring the Phenom back and forth would have been a bit of a challenge.

Given the time and resources I would go back to Truk but there are a lot of other locations that I would prefer to visit first.

[Jonathan Bird]

Thanks for taking the time to write it all up David. I have to admit, pictures would help the trip report!

I agree with you on Truk. Depressing and sometimes scary place. I would not recommend diving there except on a live-aboard. But the wrecks are amazing, even if you are a reef guy--there is just so much marine life on them. I enjoyed Truk tremendously.

Your report makes me want to check out Pohnpei.

Jonathan

[David White]

The Blue Lagoon Resort in Truk, although suffering a bit from age, is a well run, clean, safe facility. All of the commentary we heard about Chuuk prior to us going there had me concerned for our safety but once in the resort my fears were allayed. The liveaboards may provide a shorter ride out to the wrecks but essentially everyone is diving the same sites and cost savings are available by diving from shore. One interesting addition to diving from shore was that we were able to interact more with the local people. Being employed in Chuuk goes a long way towards attitude adjustment.

Pohnpei was completely unexpected. The dive sites are stellar; not surprising since hardly anybody dives there. However, I think it would be a logistical challenge to take a large group there specifically for diving; they simply are not set up to accomodate it. One of the most interesting aspects of diving in the channels were the schools of grey reef sharks. Every channel has them and they number anywhere from 20 to 40 animals. I could not help but think that these are family units since there are very small sharks, intermediate size sharks and larger sharks all in the same school. It was the larger sharks that would approach us for closer scrutiny although for the most part they were completely unconcerned with our presence. The largest school, upwards of 60 to 100 sharks at a depth of perhaps 150' (no, I didn't go there) was comprised of grey reef sharks, whitetips and tigers.

The next time that you are in the neighbourhood add Pohnpei to your itinerary, you may be pleasantly surprised. Just don't forget your raincoat and umbrella.

[sorvju-f]

After I changed name of the folder in my web-pages some pictures were lost from this thread...here some updating:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/PA084505%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/PA084485%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/cardinal_fish_800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/darth_vader_white_mantis_schrimp_800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Barracudat%202%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Some manta updates:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Micronesia%20Yap%20Mantaray%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Manta%20sumussa%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Manta%20close%201%20B%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Manta%20ja%20kuvaaja%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Manta%2022%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Some more Yap updates:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Valkosilm%E4%20800jpg.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Yap%20sharks%201%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Goby%20800.jpg/full

Jonathan and Pierre here are going to "Work":

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Pierre%20ja%20Jonathan%20800.jpg/full

Here is a station of boarding...our boat the first one:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Preparing...800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Here some small stuff:

Down right corner you can see the egg-band:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Nudi%2011%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/sarvet%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Robust%20ghostpipe%20fish%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Nudi%20WB%20800.jpg/full

Eyes of the white mantis schrimp:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Eyes%20of%20white%20mantis-schrimp%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Yap was a pain to get to, but we got a lot of great shots there!

[Clay Coleman]

Yap was a pain to get to, but we got a lot of great shots there!

I can see that! Nice stuff, Jukka!

[scubagirl]

Cool photos, Jukka! Sounds like a good place, everything from sharks to nudibranchs!

[Andrew]

Great Shots as always Jukka!
Andrew

[sorvju-f]

Thanks to all for the nice comments!

Here are the last pics to this thread:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Manta%20face%203%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Manta%20ja%20kuvaaja%207%20800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/Micronesia-Yap%202008%20Lokakuu%20/Grey%20reef%20shark%20800.jpg/full

Jukka

[scubagirl]

Very nice! Love the last two photos especially.

[Jonathan Bird]

WOW! Those last three are all amazing! I never saw any mantas with pilotfish!

[David White]

Thanks for the memories.

[Jonathan Bird]

All these pictures make me want to go back! But MAN it took so long to get there!!

[Christie]

Wow...great pictures! And thanks for the memories! Would love to go back again..especially to Pohnepi ...that was a pleasant surprise!

[Jonathan Bird]

I have another friend who raved about Pohnpei. After David's blog, I am wanting to get out there for a Blue World or two!!

[David White]

Make sure you take an umbrella.

[sorvju-f]

It is time to return to our great Yap-trip 2008.

Here you have short review of how shark feeding looks like:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/Yap%20shark%20feeding.mov

Jukka

[Sharp]

It is time to return to our great Yap-trip 2008.

Here you have short review of how shark feeding looks like:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/Yap%20shark%20feeding.mov

Jukka

Very nice close ups on you video! I like that.

[Andrew]

Nice video Jukka, must add that onto my long list of places to visit! :D

Andrew

[Jonathan Bird]

Yap is really nice. It's a pain to get there, but the diving is so much more than just mantas. And Manta Ray Bay Hotel is quite nice. My only complaint with them was the food got repetitive. But the hotel itself, the pool, the dive boats, the staff, the dive sites, were all excellent.

Jonathan

[David White]

Wow, there hasn't been a post to this thread in eighteen months so I would just like to add that the Yap videos have just been completed and can be previewed at: http://oceanviewvideos.net/Yap.html