Dive Review of Manta Diver/Manta Ray Bay in
Micronesia

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Manta Diver/Manta Ray Bay, Apr, 2008, by Paul S. Jacobsen, CA, USA ( Reviewer 5 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 4416.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Manta Ray Bay (MRB) for a week prior to a live aboard on Palau. Having the week on Yap first made the pace good and I was able to get on the time zone with little pain in preparation for Palau. MRB is a superbly run operation and I was impressed that the owner, Bill, is still investing further to improve it. Such as he purchased more land away from the resorts to move off site the laundry, storage and be able to haul his boats out at night. The buildings and rooms are in top notch condition and newly remodeled. My room was a Standard room, but I was very impressed with its excellent quality, comfort and condition. It had the best bed of any hotel I've ever stayed in (even four star hotels). I probably didn't need the single supplement that week as the resort was light, but I was glad I had the whole room to myself to spread out. Depending on the week the resort could be full so a single might have to share a room. The dive set up of the resort is excellent and convenient, with a well organized dive operation, dive gear storage, and rinse tanks, just steps away from the boats and rooms. There are separate camera tables and charging work areas. Separate gear and camera rinse tanks, (but no camera rinse on the boats). Your dive gear ends up on the boat each morning set up for you. They’ll unload at the end of the day and you just pull your gear out of the rinse tank and hang it to dry. Yan the dive manager is very personable and will typically try to adjust to your schedule or interests. Arriving at the resort when I did put me on a different schedule than other groups already there. So instead of sticking me on different boats with a new group, Yan had me stay with the same captain and dive guide which meant I had a boat to myself several times. Even on the last day for a land tour I couldn't go in the morning when they normally ran the tours, so MRB arranged my own driver for a personal tour in the afternoon to fit my schedule. The resorts dining set up is nice with a 100 year old Chinese sailing boat, the M’nu, moored at the resort which is the restaurant and the top deck is the open air bar. This is a great place for sunsets and an evening drink in the steady nightly breeze. All meals area available on the M’nu, with typical American breakfast items to Dinner. The selection for food was somewhat limited and I thought a little too high at the resort, but I found a local spot just a 2 minute walk that was less expensive for lunch. I'm glad I had the breakfast package, but a full meal package would have been a waste. Being on an island the selections declined as the week went on as the supplies where getting short since the monthly supply ship was going to arrive the next week. But that's part of the island experience. MRB in a sense is a victim of their own successful marketing of their Manta Ray dives. Most divers mistakenly think there is only Manta Ray dives and week might be to long. However the reef diving in many instances was excellent and much better than I had expected. A week is not too long, with some Europeans spending several weeks at MRB. I did see Mantas on two dives; however they are not as consistent this time of year versus other times. One group had gone 5 days without seeing a Manta. The typical Manta drill is hanging out near a cleaning station and wait in the sand for the Mantas, great if they show up, boring if they don’t. When they do show up you are close to you and they stay a long time being cleaned. It’s an awesome experience. MRB has fast twin outboard boats with the commute times are typically 20 to 40 minutes depending on how far away the sites are and the tide level. The typical schedule is a 2 tank morning dive, back for lunch then a single tank afternoon dive. The afternoon dives are usually on the inside of the reef, near the resort and mostly rubble looking for lion fish or other small critters. Not that great of a dive considering the extra charge (depending on your package). If you have a group of experienced divers and the afternoon winds a calmer talk to Yan to see if you can get him to go to the outside reef, but be prepared for a bumpy ride. The reefs on Yap are healthy and very colorful, with a good assortment tropical species, as well as a good selection sharks. (MRB offers a Shark feeding dive which I have heard good comments about.) While most of Yap reefs are really nice the reefs on the south end I think are the best. One site, Magic Kingdom, have coral formations that were the most spectacular and beautiful of any dive of Yap and Palau combined. A must see at MRB is the Mandarin fish night dive. The location is near the resort and always has Mandarin Fish, which is a great opportunity for photographers. It’s an extra charge, but worth it. I didn’t see mating my dive but saw plenty of Mandarin fish in the coral. Since the dive is only 20 ft, you can stay as long as you want.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	[Unspecified]
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	4
Water Visibility	40-150 Ft/ 12-46 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Great work area on shore to set up system and charge batteries. Dedicated rinse tanks, that are tiled and lighted.

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Dive Review of Manta Diver/Manta Ray Bay in Micronesia

Manta Diver/Manta Ray Bay, Apr, 2008,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Manta Diver/Manta Ray Bay in
Micronesia