Manta Ray Bay Resort

Manta Ray Bay Resort is a full-service dive resort, designed by divers and built for divers. The motif of the entire hotel is marine life with each of the rooms individually decorated in tropical elegance. There are 35 uniquely fish themed rooms with air conditioning, refrigerators (upon request), IDD telephone, Internet Access and in-room TV and DVD player. You’ll have your choice of standard, ocean view or deluxe ocean view rooms some with private plunge pools and rooftop jacuzzis. The festive Manta Ray Restaurant is located on the main deck of Mnuw and offers an excellent view of the harbor. Meals, from the same menu, are also served in the Nautical Weaver Bar located on the Bridge Deck of the Mnuw and/or the Crow’s Nest on the top deck. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served daily. The food is inspired by Asian, Local and European recipes with generous portions which are both wholesome and delicious.

Yap is gifted with a year-round manta ray presence. It’s one of the only places in the world where you have a great chance of diving with a manta ray any day in shallow crystal clear waters. With Yap Divers, you can be assured of clean, pure air, safe diving and a full range of instruction available from Open Water through Dive Master. They also offer a number of specialty dive certifications for those who want to expand their formal dive training. Yap Divers is also home to the only place in the world where you can do the PADI certified Manta Ray Awareness Course. The dive experience here is amazing and completely satisfying with regularly scheduled drift dives, wall dives, cavern dives and night dives, as well as the specialty - Giant Manta dives.

The resort has all of the services and conveniences for divers and non-divers alike. Take a dip in the infinity pool and soak up some Micronesian sun. You may also enjoy a relaxing massage at the Taro Leaf Spa. Delicious cuisine is served up onboard the Mnuw at the Manta Ray Bistro plus there’s an on-site brewery, Stone Money Brewing Company, at the Crow's Nest Bar.

A half or full day kayak adventures is an absolute must at Manta Ray. This is the perfect way to explore one of the few ecosystems on this planet that remains untouched by man. Among the mangroves, there are no roads, no way to bring a powered boat in and no habitation; it’s just you and nature. The resort also offers a complete range of land tours specifically designed to showcase the unique island culture of Yap. Tours include everything from the famous stone money and stone money banks, to traditional thatched roof men’s houses, to centuries old stone paths which are still used to connect the various villages, to the exotic flora and fauna.

Dive into luxury in one of the well-appointed, individually-themed rooms and suites. Enjoy breathtaking views of the bay and our floating restaurant, The Mnuw, from a private veranda. Enjoy a warm sunset soak in a private, rooftop jacuzzi. Take a cooling, romantic dip in a private dip-pool. Dream of waterfalls and warm rain in a private, in-room, island-rock shower. We have a room for every guest.

Manta Diving!
Yap is gifted with its manta ray presence – it’s still one of the only places in the world where you have a great chance of diving with a manta ray any day of the year. In the winter months the Manta diving is exciting, this is the time when you see small groups of rays and their courtship behavior, mantas dancing. Manta mating season is December – April and it offers the most frequent interactions with multiple animals and most behavior. Cleaning station diving is done year-round and it offers extended shallow dives with the mantas in close proximity, excellent for photography.

Yap Shark Diving!
Yap is a world-class location for diving with reef sharks. Thanks to our healthy shark stocks, encounters with the three most common species, – Grey Reef Shark, Blacktip Reef Shark, Whitetip Reef Shark, are almost guaranteed during a one week stay. In fact, those shark species had been seen on almost every dive site around the island. A definite “must-do” for shark friends is our shark feeding at Vertigo Reef. The sharks are already present on spot, but once the chumsickle is in the water their elegant semblance rapidly changes for their hunting mode. More than 15 reef sharks, mostly Grey and Blacktip Reef Sharks, will speed up to get their share of the bait as the divers sit still on the balcony formed by an array of dead hard corals. Note that the sharks are very much focused on the bait, they hardly seem to notice the divers.

Critter Diving!
Tiny creatures have always been a part of the philosophy of Yap Divers, supported with repeating photo events like the “Critter Hunt.” The diversity of the smaller reef inhabitants never ceases to surprise our guests. Generally little critters like ghostly white mantis shrimps, scorpion leaf fishes and (ghost) pipe fishes are not this far out in the Pacific, but just off Manta Ray Bay Resort and the Mnuw mandarin fishes, pipe fishes, razorfishes and shrimps & gobies live in symbiosis.

Snorkeling!
Snorkelers are welcome right alongside the scuba divers on all boats departing to dive sites both on the reef and within the lagoon. On most of our sites, the reef starts very near the surface and can be appreciated by snorkeler and diver alike. However, we would like to caution all snorkelers that swimming from the ocean-side onto the reef is best left to good swimmers/experienced snorkelers even on the calmer days.

Kayaking!
Discover Yap by kayak and enjoy a half or better yet a full day, unique experience in the diverse mangrove systems of Yap. This is the perfect way to explore one of the few ecosystems on this planet that remains untouched by man. Among the mangroves you will go were none can go but by kayak. There are no roads, no way to bring a powered boat in and no habitation, there is but you and nature. See some of the wild bird life endemic to Yap with your host Patricia Acker, wife of hotel manager Bill Acker. Charming, knowledgeable and capable are words that have aptly been used to describe the manager of Yap’s Planet Blue Kayak Tours.

Island Tours!
A shy, but gentle and friendly people, the Yapese welcome visitors from abroad. On our cultural tours, you will have the opportunity to visit a village and experience village life and traditions for yourself. The Manta Ray Bay Hotel’s Concierge staff also offer a complete range of land tours specifically designed to showcase the unique island culture of Yap. Everything from the famous stone money and stone money banks, to traditional thatched roof men’s houses, centuries old stone paths which are still used to connect the various villages, to the flora and fauna are available on a daily basis for our guests.

We offer a series of 4 hour (½ day) island tours with tour guide, driver, air-conditioned transportation and soft drinks. These tours are custom designed for each guest in that our staff will meet with you before departure from the hotel and discuss various options. Some of these options include merely site seeing around the island concentrating on flora and fauna or beaches or jungle to WWII tours concentrating on remnants of the war to stone money, stone paths and men’s houses. Of course a combination of the three tours is also available.

Yap is served 3 times weekly from Guam (direct, non-stop flights) and 3 times weekly from Palau (direct, non-stop flights) by United Airlines using new 737-900 jet aircraft. From Guam it is 1 hour and 15 minutes and 45 minutes from Palau.

MantaFest 
The popular event hosted by the Manta Ray Bay Resort and Yap Divers attracts divers to the small, remote island of Yap in Micronesia to capture images of the renowned resident population of manta rays and their underwater neighbors in and around the reef. At the end of each day, everyone meets in the Crow’s Nest bar atop the Mnuw, an Indonesian schooner anchored next to the hotel that is popular with guests and locals alike, for a pint or two of Manta Ray’s own brewed-on-the-premises beer.

There they watch videos by well-known underwater photographers that are projected on the schooner’s large outdoor screen, review their day’s work, get one-on-one critiques from the pros, and begin to decide which shots they’ll enter in the final competition. Good luck!

Dates: 2024 dates tba

Package includes (please inquire for rates).
Hotel room
3, 5 or 11 dive days (2-tank)
Participation in photo contest
Seminars and workshops
Evening Media Presentations
Shark split photo
Land/culture Photo opportunities
Private Beach BBQ
Land, culture & island tour
Local dinner buffet/meal
Breakfast
Roundtrip airport transfers
Free Wi-Fi in public areas
Hotel Taxes
Wake-up service with coffee and tea