Manta Ray Bay Resort & Yap Divers   View MAP

Stammtisch is Yap’s signature dive to interact with Manta Rays cleaning. It is a shallow, static dive spent at the cleaning station for up-close interaction.

During the winter (Dec-Apr) the mantas are courting and the cleaning station becomes an activity hub where the mantas dance over the reef.

Mantas typically pass just overhead of divers and slowly move around while the cleaner fish go to work.

Dominant features
Coral outcroppings rising from the sandy bottom of the channel serve as Manta cleaning stations. The Mantas hover over the coral heads & allow cleaner wrasse and other species of small reef fish to pick off parasites.
The center of the Valley is dominated by a huge formation of lettuce coral called the Merry-Go-Round which is the largest of the Manta Cleaning Stations. On the north side of the channel (Maap Side), another smaller formation of lettuce coral serves as another cleaning station called the Carwash. About 20 Meters east of the Carwash is Manta Rock, a large coral pinnacle that rises to within 33 ft. (10 M) of the surface and is the third cleaning station located in the Valley of the Rays. This tall outcropping also offers divers shelter from the current when the tide is strong.
This area is usually dove from moorings on the south side of the channel (Gagil Side). If the tide is slack, the boat stays at the mooring until you return. If the tide is running strongly, you begin the dive at the upcurrent mooring and exit at the downcurrent mooring to avoid a tiring swim. The current can be very strong here at times, especially near the outer cleaning station where the channel is slightly narrower and shallower. Make sure that you stay in the areas that the dive guides position you in. They will place you to get the best view without blocking the Manta’s approach to the cleaning station. Stay low, and avoid touching any of the live coral.

Corals
Beautiful variety of antler and table corals on the top edge of the channel. The center of the channel features a very large formation of lettuce coral.

Fish life
Mantas are the primary attraction at this site. They enter the channel in the morning to be cleaned after spending the night feeding in the open sea. When the tide is running, they will hover motionless over the cleaning station while small wrasse and other species pick parasites from their skin, and inside their mouths and gills. When the tide is slack, the Mantas slowly circle over the cleaning stations and allow the small fish to groom them. Sometimes several Mantas will be circling in a holding pattern much like airplanes at a busy airport. It is common to see several White Tip Sharks along the bottom of the channel. Large puffer fish frequent the sandy bottom of the channel. Octopi are sometimes seen both in the shallows at the edge of the channel and on the bottom near the outer cleaning station. While waiting for Mantas to show up, keep your eyes peeled because the channel is filled with all sorts of marine delights.

The southern most tip of the island offers divers the most diversity of life and interesting topography where divers swim through the reef with life big and small. Yap Caverns amphitheater is one of Yap’s best environments for macro subjects at every depth. Porcelain crabs, moyers dragonettes, nudibranch, leaf fish, scorpion fish, antheas, flame angels, cleaner and ghost shrimp as as well as more exotic subjects such as ghost pipe fish and ornate ghost pipe fish reside at this site.

Dominant Features
A combination slope and wall to 80 ft. (25 M) then a gentle slope to the bottom. There are several large canyons in the walls. Usually done as a gentle southerly drift dive (approx. 1/2 kt) but watch for the counter currents near the big fissures.

Corals
Excellent color above 30 ft. (9 M). Some of the large coral heads around 50 ft. (15 M) have many Christmas Tree Tube Worms.

Fish Life
Many reef fish above 30 ft. (9 M). Larger reef fish such as Humphead Parrots, down deep. Most dives report sightings of solo Sharks, Turtles, Barracuda, etc.

Vertigo is home to our school of grey and black tip reef sharks. Located on the West coast of the island south of M’il Channel, a 25 to 35 minute boat ride.

One of the best shark dives in Micronesia, happening everyday.

Shark Dive

Get as close as you are comfortable to these animals while they circle the reef. Work around the reef wall shooting 360 degrees of shark behavior for as long as you want. Sharks in the blue, making tight turns between divers and swimming right up to your lens and making eye contact.
Day or night

During our annual photography festival, MantaFest, we mix colorful sunsets, photographers from around the world and Vertigo for “Sunset shark split” shooting.

This is also a popular snorkeling site due to the close encounters, you don’t need to dive, the action is good at the surface.