Text and photos by Daniel Brinckmann YapHome of the Big Stuff

26 X-RAY MAG : 43 : 2011 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED travel Yap

Yellow, white, black and purple paper fishes inhabit a bommie in Mi’l Channel (left); Lovestoned eagle ray the second before it hits the dome port (above). PREVIOUS PAGE: Valerie the manta ray with the tell-tale v-shaped marking on her belly greets a diver

You name it and you know Probably the most intriguing thing is," said Bill after taking a deep sip from it—the itching and scratching about my "day of days" is that none his beer mug. "The day after tomorrow, of the above happened. Actually, we need to tug in the jetty and get the in the morning, those five it started out worse... much worse. resort storm-proof." minutes of mini breakfast, the The evening before, dive center The next morning, the tropical coffee swallowed so quickly manager, Jan Sledsens, and Bill paradise greeted us with its grim face, it it burns your throat—all for the Acker, the owner of Manta Ray Bay was raining cats and dogs, and instead Resort in Yap, assembled in front of of rushing off to dive boats, everybody anticipation of the adventure the weather forecast on the internet. seemed to be glued to their coffee to come. The Big Game. Every The worried looks on their faces said it cups. Shrugging his shoulders, Jan said: experienced diver knows that all: one typhoon was coming in from "Okay guys, let’s go. The other guests feeling, but hardly anybody is Guam in the North, one from that are waiting for their mantas." coral patchwork in the East they call The giant rays, one has to know, are able to describe the notion just the Outer Islands of Micronesia, and Yap’s pleasure and pain, at the same why one feels a certain day is finally the last one from the Philippines time, since many guests are just keen gonna be the very special one. just after it left Manila flooded and on their flying carpets and ignore even devastated. "This could be too much the sharks, the reef and everything in for the 56 square kilometers that Yap between. Adding insult to injury, no

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Manta ethics of your fisheye lens is a different issue you Manta Ray Bay Resort and Yap Divers is best explore on the spot. the only locality in the world where divers The reef mantas (Manta alfredi) are able to do a PADI "Manta Awareness" inhabiting Yap's waters usually do not specialty. Bill Acker, who basically founded exceed a wingspan of 15ft, however there tourism on Yap, and his crew celebrate are some special features about the local their 25th anniversary this year—not too animals, for instance, with the presence of bad for a privately owned dive resort in two white specimens—one aptly named the middle of the Pacific. This is exactly Snowhite. Judging from the photos, how long the guys have been diving with renowned ichtyologist, Helmut Debelius, those elusive flying carpets. claims these two animals are "rather Around 100 different individuals have unlikely real albinos, but suffering from a been recorded and named in the dive lack of pigments". On the other hand, this center's data base over the years. If you color variant is much rarer than the black should be one of the happy ones that find ones ("melanism") that can often be found a new one, which after all these years still off Komodo, for example. happens, you can gladly give it a name. Between December and April, divers With six cleaning stations in Mi'l and Goofuw that are in the right spot at the right Channel located between 33 and 78 feet, time may witness mating dances in Mi'l Yap is an all year round destination for Channel. Generally speaking, it is less manta ray encounters, even though they the numbers but more the quality of the can often be absent for a few days. encounters that make Yap an enchanted Only last January saw the discovery of place to go for the giant rays. But don‘t There to feed the cliché: spinner dolphin a new cleaning station in just 21 feet of let the mantas fool you, diving Yap is so family riding the dive boat’s bow wave; depth. “This is a sensible environment," dive much more, with the steep walls off the Two reef sharks on patrol (right); Manta center manager Jan Sledsens said, "and west coast, 120 feet plus of viz on the outer Ray Bay Resort and Yap Divers (top right) that's the reason why we do have a code reef, the healthy shark population (these of conduct for diving at the channel's days “Vertigo“ hosts less divers and more mantas had been seen in the last two cleaning stations." First, to sit still on the teeth than Palau‘s famous “Blue Corner“), days, and everybody was pushed sandy bottom and swim after the mantas the pelagics, the critters on the inner reef to the limit to get the guests "their“ are as much no-no's as touching them. and the surprise encounters that the open mantas. How they get the mantas to hover over waters off the southern tip may hold for Green water engulfed us as your head and make them fill the frame you. See: www.mantaray.com ■ we navigated through Goofnuw Channel, in the middle of the Valley the clear blue water—surprise, surprise— his head. Valerie just loves the tiny air of Rays. We could hardly find the came the mantas. One, two, three, bubbles from the regulators. No doubt, if cleaning station. Even though the four—one by one, they glided over the she was human, Valerie would spend her water was blooming with plancton, rocky channel bottom and rose up to the days in a jacuzzi. Mission accomplished! I there were no mantas around. "Why cleaning station next to our heads. could almost hear dive center manager didn’t I just stay in bed," I thought, From the V-shaped blotches on her Jan sighing in relief. but in the next moment, the tables belly, I recognized Valerie, one of the Pretty much to our surprise, the other turned. "friendliest" mantas in Yap, that has a very mantas also remained motionless. As if Driven by an invisible force, a special habit. Swimming a long curve, they hung on transparent wires, they did strong current came in from the she passed me and hovered on top of not even bother to move a single tip of open ocean, clearing up the water my buddy’s head, going deeper and their black wings. Maybe they saw them by more than 20 meters. And with deeper until she basically sat on top of coming earlier than we did: a bunch of

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THIS PAGE: Mandarin fishes, gobies and cuttlefish are typical critters; The cleaning stations not only attract mantas, but huge humphead parrot fishes

three dorsal me. I think my heart fins sticking stopped beating for a high out of second! A heartbeat later, the water like it approached me for a swords in the quick sonar scan and quickly air. passed below my fins. There "Could I? are hardly words to explain in front of the main channel," Would I? Should I?" Before how it felt to be in the water said Captain John with a I started thinking too much with such a big animal, calm smile, as if to suggest about the risky part of without a reef at your back, that the movie he‘d just sharing the water with wild a tank on your back, or even watched wasn’t too bad. orcas, I grabbed mask, a buddy close to you. Initially, everybody started snorkel and fins and slid Let’s say, it is less cracking jokes: "Sure, orcas, into the water as calmly as frightening than just here in the tropics, we possible. "If they take me for overwhelming, because call ‘em spinner dolphins, an alternative to Hawaiian you are so much struck my friend! Let’s go for monk seals or whatever else, by the fact that there is them, and after that, you then so be it." no space for fear in your get us a school of tiger But just like it is most brain! Needless to say, once sharks feeding on floating often with so-called we climbed the ladder coconuts." However, jaws dangerous animals, the back onto the boat, we dropped when John showed orcas immediately fled as all enthuastically started us a video on his mobile soon as we saw a glimpse of shouting, probably so loud phone with an orca looking them. However, the first five even the seagulls were curiously up to the dive attempts proved to be not scared away. boat’s bow. fruitful at all. All the way we In this happy mess, it grey reef sharks made their way ventured closer than they had Five minutes later, the saw nothing but wonderful turned out that the others up the channel, of course, not ever wished. plans for any further dives transparent blue water... counted four animals, without taking a closer look at the were put to rest for the day, up to the moment when a including a small calf. What foreign intruders. Orca time and we were going out huge black body of at least a day. From then on, we saw As cool and as bold as they Ninety minutes after we jumped with roaring engines. Orca six meters appeared as if it them only a few times, even appeared to be, their lively eyes in, we finally breached the time! "This is like looking for a came out of nowhere. though our approach got were rolling and revealed that surface with nearly empty tanks. needle in the hay," I thought Resembling a big black a little more professional— they were not about to miss the The second boat which had just to myself, hoping for the best torpedo, one of the adult jumping into the water and slightest movements on our part. arrived, brought news: "Guys, and expecting nothing at orcas came on a straight going after the whales at full For some people, the sharks we‘ve seen a couple of orcas just all. And there they were— head-on course towards fin power obviously did not

29 X-RAY MAG : 43 : 2011 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Mangrove whiptail rays can often be travel seen resting Yap Shooting mantas Obviously, with the exception of shots of the eye or other details, crisp manta photos demand either fisheye or super wide lenses, with an angle between between 8.5 to 18mm. Timing and control of your strobe power is everything. Mantas are highly indivual in behavior. Marine biologist and renowned manta specialist Dr Andrea Marshall pointed out recently that “mantas are the only fishes that probably‚ get "the concept of playing due to their intelligence". Still, not every one of these flying carpets might be in the right mood. With respect to both their future behavior in presence of Sunfishes are rare visitors, but make a good example for special encounters off the island’s divers and your very own results, it is southern tip recommended to wait for the right moment to pull the trigger rather than than of proper sized whales. The case off the outer reef wall in order to protect to go for rapid fire, which might scare seemed to be clear—taking into their young one from predators like tiger the animals off. This goes especially for account that the bull and the cow had sharks. This said, everybody knew that cleaning stations, which are sensible a semi-adult and a calf of not more than orcas normally tend to stay and feed in environments and crucial to the two meters with them, it was obvious cooler water with only a few exceptions mantas. At the same time, cleaning that they were looking for shelter in off the Great Barrier Reef and Papua stations give photographers extensive relatively shallow and safe water just Newguinea. shooting opportunities as the mantas The next resident population from Yap will often circle the corals where the lives around Okinawa in south of Japan. cleaner wrasses live and come over Still a good share of miles to swim. So, to the divers before getting back could it get any better at that point? to body hygiene. Their snow-white Yes, indeed it did! Not only were we bellies will often require low strobe able to track the orcas for the next two power. However, one is better off if hours and spend a few minutes with the equipment allows TTL-corrections. them swimming in the distance, we saw With manual settings you will need to another high dorsal fin in between the be quick, as it can be difficult to trace whales when we followed them around the manta‘s next movement. Let the the southernmost point of Yap to the west animal come close, wait for your shot side. "A fifth orca?," somebody thought and never ever chase it. ■ out loud. cigarettes from last night, I noticed a Sunfish fun small boat approaching. "Hey, wanna Sliding into the water once again, we ride?" a familiar face shouted. It turned do the job. would not change their direction. Quite immediately saw the orcas playing with out to be a local marine biologist I briefly You could fin forever, as some red often, we would see them swimming past a massive sunfish before they noticed met. He threw a line over board, towed faces indicated, but the animals were us 10 to 15 meters away. In fact, they us and changed directions. And while and dropped me just in front of the always faster even though they did not tended to keep this distance, which did all of the snorkelers were going after the sunfish. seem to move at all. We found ourselves not make things easy for me, as I was whales, I rushed after the sunfish with the This was my moment—for the next ten in a much better position when we equipped with a strong wideangle lens. camera housing in increasingly aching minutes, nobody disturbed my tête-à-tête stopped the boat 20 meters in front of Looking through the viewfinder, the arms. with the beautiful spotted giant. Having them, got into the water, just hoping they orcas reminded me more of sardines Running out of air and cursing the seen a number of sunfishes off Estartit

30 X-RAY MAG : 43 : 2011 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED travel Yap

One in roughly 20 curious grey reef sharks (above) resident in the shallows at Vertigo Reef; Hawksbill turtles (left) frequent Mi’l Channel, next to a patch of purple spiny soft corals; Wanyaan Beach can be reached within 20 minutes (right)

ten years," joked Bill, Manta Ray Bay Resort’s owner. "I should send you back to f*****g Germany!" Needless to say, the evening went by much too fast with beer from the house brewery flowing like a waterfall, and the best footage surfacing on the restaurant ship’s five- meter outdoor screen. and the Azores islands, I can say One could tell the animal started underwater photographer, who "Two mantas, whitetips, chance to the see the whales. So, to become more familiar with that this animal had the greatest to feel stressed, so I decided took his first pictures by the time I at least five grey reef sharks, against all odds and the weather, the boat and those strange coloration of all. Certainly it was to leave it alone just to be learned how to walk. four orcas, a sunfish and two we went out again the next humans in rubber suits watching not the brightest of them. He approached by two bottlenose With increasingly rough sea bottlenose dolphins," I thought to morning. them from every angle possible. really did justice to the reputation dolphins for a quick hello. and clouded skies it took us more myself with a beer in my hand, After roaming the southernmost Unfortunately, the cloudy weather of a fish with a walnut-sized brain On board, photo buddy than half an hour to find the orcas “This is what I call a good quota!" point for a while, we found them. and the waves swallowed the last and ran me over with flapping fins Andy Sallmon gave me a big again and decide to head for the Cheers! To our surprise, one of the adults beams of light below the surface, more than once. thumbs up: "You lucky bastard," coast before we run out of fuel. was missing, but they did not leaving me with low contrast and Once the other seven snorkelers he yelled while hugging me. Back in the dive center, happy Take two turn away like before—they just dark blue water like ink. arrived with the boat, the sunfish "Congratulations on this excellent insults are flying. "Now, I hate you Of course, by that time, the seed ignored us, if we did not get too While the conditions did not quickly became more shy, went sunfish footage." Not the worst even more than I did before—I­ was planted into the mind of close. Being the smart animals improve a bit the next morning, horizontal and started spinning. compliment from a veteran haven’t seen an orca in Yap for all those who did not have the they were, they really seemed we could see the whales really

31 X-RAY MAG : 43 : 2011 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Adult nurse sharks prefer deep over- hangs in the channel entrances (left); Dressed for success—Yapese siblings ready for a traditional chamorro Yap travel dance (far left)

day. "You mean, these black and white diving than spending the day on the sea whales? Yes, of course we know about searching them." If we could only speak them," he said and left us with mouths "whale" and invite them on a few fishing wide open. "They have been around for trips... almost one month now and always try to steal our hooked tuna." Manta Visions With stars in his eyes he recounted The pioneering dive center of the island, how one of them jumped out of the Yap Divers, harbors the photo and video water with a shark in his mouth. "Having center, Manta Visions, and plenty of dry a really great head-on shot of this storage room for housings and other would be a good reason to sell all of my equipment. Or, to put it in a nutshell—16 equipment and quit diving," I thought. booths, each equipped with electric Actually, Stan wondered that we did not looking glasses, charging station with hear about the "small whales with the three 220V European style sockets, as round fins" as he names them. well as three 110V US-style sockets and Back at the hotel, we asked Bill about a spacious locker unit. Over the years, it and earned shrugging shoulders: "Yes, pros like Eric Cheng, Marty Snyderman, there is a group of pilot whales living Andy Sallmon and Bob Halstead rubbed around the island, but you never asked shoulders at Manta Ray Bay Resort, as for them, and I thought you‘d rather go well as many TV crews up to National

showing off their playfulness. have rather been me who feel Instead of us approaching them, uncomfortable sharing the water it was them approaching us, with with predators that outgrow a splashing black and white fins great white shark? Anyway, the so close to the boat we all got a Swiss guys slowly dared to go into shower. the water. In the best cartoon The group of Swiss guests on style, one by one—with every board could hardly believe their jump into the water—there was eyes and decided to leave the yet one more snorkeler. close encounter underwater to me. As it started raining Whales, whales, whales... heavily, I was surprised to even Leaving the orcas aside for a see the orcas coming, thanks moment, the true miracle was to their white bellies. Surprise maybe not even them, but the again—they all came towards three typhoons. They could have me upside down and clearly devastated the island and the communicating with each other. surrounding reef, but they all It really seemed as if the parents changed directions less than a decided to show their calf the hundred kilometers off the island. strange beings that we must be Still the wind and two-meter to them. As if to say: “Look, these waves forced us back to the little humans are not dangerous, shore, where we decided to go they produce bubbles just like on an island trip. us." During our visit in Kaday Village Evidently, at this point, we were surprised to learn that the four whales were not "our" orcas were old news. Stan uncomfortable with our presence Fillamed, a 69-year-old fisherman anymore. Maybe it should from the village really made our

Orcas roam the seas around Yap (left and right) 32 X-RAY MAG : 43 : 2011 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED The walls of the Western side offers enough subjects to make a good movie as seen on the big outdoor screen of the resort’s restaurant Yap travel schoner Mnuw, Seahawk (below); Underwater photographers with their gear (bottom center)

opportunity to sneak in and connect your notebook while you‘re waiting for your blackened sashimi. ■

Daniel Brinckmann, 31, started diving at age 11 and published his first travel story in a German scuba diving magazine prior to his final exams at school. He then went for journalism and media studies and English at Düsseldorf University. Throughout this period, he worked as a freelancer for the county capital's daily newspaper as well as for other scuba diving magazines. Following his university career, he decided to focus on travel reporting full-time and now works for 11 magazines throughout Europe. His motto: "There are no boring dive spots. SOMETHING used by National Geographic and Discovery photographs, Yap‘s reputation for "big stuff" can even be found in a dirty little pond, even Channel, nine years in French Polynesia made him extends to the screening of images—the if it is only a withered lighter with small shells also an expert of marine life in the tropical Pacific. In restaurant ship beamer screen measures no on top!" Photo equipment used by the author short, ask him what subject you need and how to get less than 18 feet and is used for the display includes 2x D90 with 2x Ikelite DS-160/161, it, and he will very likely bring it to the table—not only of the day's best images and frames virtually Tokina 12-24mm, Sigma 50mm, Sigma the big classics, such as sharks and mantas, but also every evening at dinner time—a perfect 105mm. mating mandarin fishes, white mantis shrimps and a colorful array of leaf fishes just to name a few. Next August, Schneider will also host the MantaFest shoot-out along with fellow pros Tim Rock, Frank Schneider and—once again—Marty Snyderman. While there are no docking stations at Manta Visions to catch an immediate glimpse of one's

Geographic. Apart from the decent infrastructure for us lens geeks, the resident videographer and manager of Manta Vision is another good reason to pick Manta Ray Bay Resort in Yap. Peter Schneider, originally a cameraman for German public TV in Berlin, worked with the likes of Christian Petron (Luc Besson’s film,The Big Blue) and won an award for his film,Sharks of Rangiroa, from Legend to Reality— an uncompromising manifesto against shark fishing, which effectively triggered a federal ban on finning in the Southern Pacific in 2006. Schneider was also the first to capture not only the mating of manta rays, but their actual copulation in the wild. Not only were his frames

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