READ THE 2016 TRIP REPORT

SEE THE 2016 PICTURES

When we say we're willing to travel halfway around the world for good diving, we mean it!!! It's a long way to get to the Maldives, but the investment of time (and money) is well worth it as the diving here still presents some of the most pristine in the world. And because it takes so long to get there, we're doing this as a 10-day trip, with 9 days of diving. (Plus there's an optional three days in Istanbul on the back end.)

As you may know, the Maldives lie south of India and Sri Lanka and most of the low-lying islands are protected by vast atolls. We will explore as may of those areas as weather and time permits, visiting both North and South Male Atolls, and Ari Atoll, to name just three. This will mark out third trip to the Maldives and although we haven't been back since 2002, we're doing the trip again with our good friends on the Manthiri, probably the longest-operating liveaboard in the Maldives and definitely the most knowledgeable crew.

The other nice thing about this trip is that we've got the entire boat to ourselves but that still means our group will be small as capacity of this vessel is capped at 12 divers. So no crowding, no cattle boats, and we'll pretty much get to dive our own schedule.

Take a peek at the 2002 trip report to get a feel for what we saw then and give us a call at 310/652-4990 to snag one of the boat spots.

                                                      READ THE 2002 TRIP REPORT 

This is going to be our best Yap trip yet.

The general thought is that it's a 13-day trip with 10 days of diving in Yap. We call it "Yap Immersion" because we really want to immerse you in everything that makes Yap such a special place to dive and to visit. On the diving end, we will do up to 24 dives that will include manta dives at the cleaning stations, a shark feed, a Mandarinfish dive, macro dives, reef dives, and wall dives. We will also include a Manta ID program (you'll get a PADI specialty card) which will teach you the ins and outs of manta identification. We'll build on that with what I'm calling "The Manta Project" which is simply that we will track with photos all of the different mantas we see over the course of our time there. (Sometimes we have one at a cleaning station, but sometimes we get seven or eight or more. And without photos to document the different markings, they start to all look alike.) And because a lot of this ID-ing is enhanced by the photos, we also be including photo workshops and critiques throughout the week. The best plan is to do the dives on nitrox, which is included in the trip package, and for those of you who are NOT nitrox-certified, we'll include a NAUI Nitrox course at no extra charge (other than materials costs). On the non-diving side, we'll take one day off from diving to do a full island tour that will include delving into Yap's role in World War 2, and giving you a sense of the history of the people, which also includes the unique Stone Money that forms part of their culture. On our final day (non-diving to outgas before the plane ride home), there will be a morning kayak tour of the mangroves for those interested, followed by an afternoon visiting a local village. You probably all know by now how much I enjoy going to Yap, and I think this will be a fabulous trip. We're also scheduling this for July (usually we go in March) because the winds have died down then and that means that all the dives sites on both sides of the island should be accessible, as well as it should be the time of the calmest waters and the smoothest rides. Everyone will get a double-occupancy Ocean View room (single supplement available if desired), breakfast daily, all the stuff I just mentioned and more, airport transfers, and crew/staff tips. Not included are lunches and dinners (figure another couple of hundred bucks) and also not included is airfare (generally around $1800-2100). Cost of the "Immerse Yourself in Yap" package will be $2,995 which I think is a really good deal, especially when you consider everything you're getting. (Of course, I might be a bit prejudiced about this.) The other thing I like - and you will too - is that we're setting this up as a 12-divers max trip. So no big cattle calls to deal with. And even with 12, we'll likely do it as two boats of 6 most days, with me on one boat and Bill on the other. The goal is to give you a really great and unique experience and find the best diving possible on every given day. You can download the flyer by clicking here. If this might be of interest to you, print it out and stick it on your refrigerator as a reminder.

READ THE 2016 TRIP REPORT      SEE THE 2016 PIX

So nice, we're doing it twice..

The general thought is that it's a 13-day trip with 10 days of diving in Yap. We call it "Yap Immersion" because we really want to immerse you in everything that makes Yap such a special place to dive and to visit. On the diving end, we will do up to 24 dives that will include manta dives at the cleaning stations, a shark feed, a Mandarinfish dive, macro dives, reef dives, and wall dives. We will also include a Manta ID program (you'll get a PADI specialty card) which will teach you the ins and outs of manta identification. We'll build on that with what I'm calling "The Manta Project" which is simply that we will track with photos all of the different mantas we see over the course of our time there. (Sometimes we have one at a cleaning station, but sometimes we get seven or eight or more. And without photos to document the different markings, they start to all look alike.) And because a lot of this ID-ing is enhanced by the photos, we also be including photo workshops and critiques throughout the week. The best plan is to do the dives on nitrox, which is included in the trip package, and for those of you who are NOT nitrox-certified, we'll include a NAUI Nitrox course at no extra charge (other than materials costs). On the non-diving side, we'll take one day off from diving to do a full island tour that will include delving into Yap's role in World War 2, and giving you a sense of the history of the people, which also includes the unique Stone Money that forms part of their culture. On our final day (non-diving to outgas before the plane ride home), there will be a morning kayak tour of the mangroves for those interested, followed by an afternoon visiting a local village. You probably all know by now how much I enjoy going to Yap, and I think this will be a fabulous trip. We're also scheduling this for July (usually we go in March) because the winds have died down then and that means that all the dives sites on both sides of the island should be accessible, as well as it should be the time of the calmest waters and the smoothest rides. Everyone will get a double-occupancy Ocean View room (single supplement available if desired), breakfast daily, all the stuff I just mentioned and more, airport transfers, and crew/staff tips. Not included are lunches and dinners (figure another couple of hundred bucks) and also not included is airfare (generally around $1800-2100). Cost of the "Immerse Yourself in Yap" package will be $2,995 which I think is a really good deal, especially when you consider everything you're getting. (Of course, I might be a bit prejudiced about this.) The other thing I like - and you will too - is that we're setting this up as a 12-divers max trip. So no big cattle calls to deal with. And even with 12, we'll likely do it as two boats of 6 most days, with me on one boat and Bill on the other. The goal is to give you a really great and unique experience and find the best diving possible on every given day. You can download the flyer by clicking here. If this might be of interest to you, print it out and stick it on your refrigerator as a reminder.

READ THE 2016 TRIP REPORT      SEE THE 2016 PIX