Yap

Family Trippin in Micronesia with Kids Sea Camp

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Yap, whale sharks, Kids Scuba, Family Scuba Diving Adventures, Kids Sea Camp, Family Scuba Diving Vacations, Family Dive Adventures, Scuba Diving, Manta Ray Bay

A Divers paradise and whole-family eco-adventures

Manta Ray Bay Resort, Yap. 2016: Yap and Palau have the strongest cultural bonds in Micronesia, are geographically next door to each other, and both offer unique family travel opportunities. Come here for the natural beauty, island culture, and iconic diving in marine sanctuaries on an eco-adventure. The Micronesia experience is embodied in nature, culture, and conservation. Yap and Palau put an exclamation point on your family’s trip for divers and non-divers alike.

These destinations have a lot of advanced diver allure; they come with special cultural and land-based opportunities for every traveler. Nothing says to bring the whole family more than non-diver adventures that rival the experiences of Vertigo, Blue Corner, or an Oolong Channel drift.

Each day of a Family Divers package includes eco-activities for small children, teens, and non-diving adults. In Yap and Palau, that means kayaking through the rock islands or a rich mangrove forest. Or taking a WWII history tour or visiting a traditional village, being “local” for a day, learning about village life or traditional skills and engaging people on a unique cultural excursion. Enjoy a private beach, snorkeling with manta rays, reef sharks, chambered nautilus, and giant clams.

Unplugging in Yap

Yap will help you forget about bling and the busy world. Here you’ll find a mix of fellow adventure travelers relaxing in the natural energy that comes from an undeveloped island. Your world shrinks down to 38 square miles of mangroves and gold sand beaches. A rainforest backdrop speckled with coconut trees, and your front yard is a glassy lagoon. It won’t take long until nature’s rhythm dominates. And you’ll notice your body feeling the tide changes and the afternoon sun falling behind the island.

Yap and Palau offer our modern lifestyle some counterbalance – busyness and our multi-tasking, the world gives way to the moment, and you might find yourself feeling and trying something new to you – after all, that’s why we travel, to learn something, engage ourselves, and embrace the world we live in.

This is where family time includes understanding our ecosystem, what threatens it, and what we can do to change that – then diving or snorkeling with protected animals. Yap and Palau have taken big steps in marine conservation through locally grown island initiatives. Yap established the world’s first government-backed manta ray sanctuary, which now includes shark and turtle protection, and legislation that allows these animals to safely interact with divers in ultra-close proximity every day.

The blue water classroom

Kids Sea Camp safely pairs kids with sharks through education and adventure. Led by local marine mammal experts and professional dive guides in Yap. “Vertigo” is a blue water classroom where divers of all levels safely interact with schools of reef sharks. Before entering the water, divers and snorkelers learn about the site, shark behavior, and how to safely observe these animals as a family.

Get some blue sky and clear water “me time” through careful activity planning. Parents dive on a private boat and a dive plan. Kids dive with extra guides on their own boats at different sites. Non-divers begin their adventure right after breakfast. Mixing it up brings the family together in the middle of the adventure. See your kids in a village on their surface interval. They might tell you that they just swam with a whale shark.

At the end of the day, photography lights up the dinner table with SeaLife cameras, smartphones with GoPro footage, or tablets being passed around. While fragments of the stories can be heard amid the excitement. Parents, kids, divers, non-divers, everyone gets their adventure. Whether you went to the reef, eco-touring, fishing, or getting your zen on at the spa. Yap and Palau; do them both and get two countries, two islands, two cultures. . . in one vacation.

Story  by Brad Holland

 

Her first Manta encounter

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Palau, sharks, scuba and kids, family dive vacations, kids sea camp

Finally, a Manta!

I smelled the salty air as I strapped on my scuba gear. I was anxious to get into the ocean. I hoped and hoped and hoped that I would see the one thing I’ve always wanted to see — a manta.
This summer, I was in Yap with Kids Sea Camp, an island in Micronesia, to scuba dive with my family. This morning, I was excited to go scuba diving with my friend, Sophie.  My other friends were scuba diving with their parents, so it was just Sophie, Bill Acker (our instructor), Patricia Mangthin (his wife), and me. Bill had decided that we would go to the manta cleaning station to try to see some manta rays. We had tried so many times that my hopes weren’t very high, but as we got closer and closer to the diving site, they inched higher.
Now, here I was, my hopes higher than the sky. I put on my mask and stuck my regulator into my mouth. As I tumbled into the water, I shivered. The water wasn’t cold, but I always feel chilly when I first jump in. When everyone was in the water, we descended into the ocean.

A manta!

Sophie and I swam through the cool, salty water. We spotted brightly colored fish and little hermit crabs, but no mantas. My heart sank. Just as I was about to give up, Sophie jabbed me in the shoulder. I was about to give her that “what did you do that for?” look when I realized she was pointing at something.  I looked.
“A manta! A manta!” I yelled. I had my regulator in my mouth, so it came out like, “Blubablurbla!”
Patricia waved us over to a better place to watch. The manta ray was so big and graceful as it swam through the blue sea. It had a white belly and a dark blue back. Soon, another one came and joined it.
As we swam back to our boat, I replayed what just happened in my head. My heart was pumping hard in my chest. I was so excited! Yap was the first time I had ever seen a manta ray, but not the last.
By Hannah McClure

The Beauty of Yap family dive adventure with Kids Sea Camp

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Yap, manta, Kids and scuba
Kids Sea Camp is at Manta Ray Bay in Yap

Margo, Tom, Jen Peyton, along with Fraser & Sophie Purdon, are leading Kids Sea Campers around the globe to Yap and Palau.  See more in our Facebook photo album. Yap sure gives us memories to last a lifetime.

We have learned the legend of Stone Money, walked through the villages of Yap, and met the beautiful people of this amazing little Island.  We have shared their home, their food, learned about their cultures, and enjoyed their company.

Arrive at Manta Ray Bay

Our rooms overlook the sea, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided on an ancient sailing vessel called the Mnuw. Sunsets on the Crows’ nets are spectacular. Taro Leaf Spa for relaxing after a tough day of diving, and fresh, frosty Yap beer served poolside during happy hour. The kids have enjoyed diving, beaches, educational hikes, Kayak tours, and Digital photo dives with their new SeaLife cameras.

How is that to start your diving career?

Sophie and Lilly earned their Jr. Open Water rating and completed their final dive with sharks and a Manta.  Mrs. Sarin and Mrs. MacDonald hit their 100 Dives here at Manta Ray Bay during Kids Sea Camp and were honored with Mantas saluting them overhead.

Morning coffee, off we go, 2 dives for adults and kids, a wonderful sunny day, lunch, and afternoon dives as a family. That’s not all, if you want more, we also enjoy dusk dives in the mangrove to spot the little Mandarin fish.

Still not done?

Dinner is waiting with slide shows of the day’s find. Night dives or snorkeling are always waiting for you. Tom Peyton got us singing and started the first Kids Sea Camp Youth Basketball club. Tyler is coaching, and dads are trying to find their game. Lying by the pool, the ladies sip their coconut drinks, soaking up the sun and thinking about the next activity.

Diving has been hard to beat

Macro and reef dives, Vertigo sharks, Goofnuw channel for manta, Napoleon rass, Munk head parrot fish, leaf fish, and more. Yellow wall and Cabbage Patch, Miil Cannel’s and Magic Kingdom, Gapow reef, and Lion fish wall, just to name a few.   Surface intervals are spent playing among wild dolphins. We watch them jump and spin alongside our boats, and yes, even jump in to have a closer look at the moms and babies, too.

Pilot whales, white tips, black tips, grey reefs, and Yap showed us sharks galore! But best of all are those beautiful Manta Rays that will dance in our heads for the rest of our days.

7 days have flown by, and we are sad to go. We will return to Yap again, but for now we look on to Palau… (See the KSC gallery)