The Yapese nature

Last but not least we have to say something on the nature of Yap. This is by far the most beautiful surrounding we have ever visited. And we have seen quite a lot (as we may say so ourselves).

At land...

We already mentioned the stone paths at Yap that you can use to explore the island by foot. Everywhere at Yap you find amazing sorts of palm trees. It is very interesting to see that they use these trees for everything; from the roots to the leaves. Apart from palm trees, you find banana trees, betelnut trees, trees we have never seen before, tropical plants en a lot of flowers. We cannot describe the beauty of Yap. The pictures give a view, but without sound (silence!) and smell (green!) we can never give a good view.


	So this is how palm trees grow

A movie of just another short car ride at Yap

The coast of Yap earned its own paragraph. The beaches are small and the sea is very calm. This is because till 100 meters outside the coast you can still stand in the sea. In these 100 meters you find sand, seaweed, rocks and beautiful coral. Somewhere far away you see the waves with behind that the beautiful blue ocean. The beach is what you expect from a tropical island: clean, palm tree, coconuts, no-one to be seen and the see is amazingly blue.

At sea...

Our marinal adventures started with snorking. We were carrying fins, masks and snorkels for months and finally found our chance to use them. One arrived ot our private beach, we entered the sea. Pfff, pfff, swim, swim... after 20 minutes we finally found some coral. We thought it was a bit irresponsibe to go this far into the sea, but we could still stand up straight. he coral was amazing; we saw a lot of different sorts of coral and even more tropical fishes. We were stiffed with fear when all of a sudden we saw a shark circling around us. Luckily we did not panis and the shark disappeared as fast as it showed up. By the way, it is a so-called reef shark, which does not seem to be dangerous. But still, it stays a wild shark and we were alone out there...

After this amazing adventure we wanted to see more of the underwater world. Hala told us that we had to dive at Yap, so we went our for getting some inforamtion. After visiting one of the diving schools (Beyond the Reef) even Cindy was convinced. We decided to take an introduction course. This course was a piece of cake; we learned how to cope with crisis situations, which made us confident. After this course which took an hour at land and one and a half hour in the water, we made a test dive. The dive was at 'only' 27 feet, but really cool! Our snorkling experience was child play. Because we did very well (according to our instructor Dave), we cool go and do a manta dive. Eeeeeek!

Divers from all over the world travel to Yap to see the manta rays. They are gigiantic flat fishes that can grow to 18 feet wide! They hover in the water, which makes them very elegant. They are very friendly and not dangerous at all because they feed on plankton. They are also very curious which makes it possible to get very close to them. Well, a big challenge, but also a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We decided to go for it, despite the fear Cindy had for the unknown waterworld.

It took 40 minutes by boat to receive the Vally of the Rays, Goofnuw Channel. The tour was worth it! Full of adrenalin we had to put on the gear and sit on the side of the boat. A short introduction and we back-flipped into the water (yes, like you see on television).

Dave

There was a very strong current so we had to hold on to the bouy. The first five minutes were very tough! Even our dive instructor had a hard time, he told us later. Once we arrived at 60 feet below waterlevel (!), the current got less. There were like ten sharks around which were as big as 7 feet... stay calm, "they are not dangerous, they are not dangerous". We floated with the current (we felt like Nemo in the flow with the turtles) and this felt great! Once every time we stopped a huge coral reefs with tropical fishes. Dave showed us (for us) invisible fish and other sea animals. Really cool!

Eventually, we arrived at a manta cleaning station, where small fishes clean the manta rays. The chance to see a manta is 50-50. In the current, we had to sit down in the ground, which was really impossible for us. Wat a mess! How could they do this to us? After 10 minutes we started to run out of air and we had to go up. Unfortunately, we had not seen a manta, we were a bit disappointed. Cindy went ahead (faster than she planned). Al of a sudden, Dave saw a manta and informed Harm. They tried to inform Cindy as well, but Cindy did not notice them. Finally, when see saw them, see was really close to the manta ray. The manta was a female which was at least 12 feet wide! When Cindy turned around, the manta was only two feet above her and she was still going up.... Dave asked Cindy to get down, but how did did work again? In the end it went well, she did not hit the manta! A second manta ray showed up. This is amazing! So big and so elegant! A beautiful experience!

Our first real dive! 60 feet deep	The first manta ray
A beautiful sight!	The first manta ray got really close
The second manta ray

Because we bought a second tank (in case we would not see a manta ray in our first dive) we could dive again. We proposed to go beyond the reef where the water is much clearer and even more blue. On our way to the second spot, dolphins showed up. They jumped out of the water and tumbles in the air! An amazing sight. We though that Dave would jump after them, but they are very shy and would leave immediately. Luckily, we were able to make some pictures.

The second dive superceded the first one. We are not sure which dive impressed us most. The water was beautiful, blue and clear. We floated among huge coral reefs, tropical fish, octopusses, squid, and amazing animals. The pictures say more than thousand words. In the end we are glad that we went out diving. An experience that we would not have missed for a stone money.