Yap Hosting the Pacific’s Premier Dive Photography Events

(May 25, 2024: Yap Visitors Bureau, Yap, FSM): In about 90 days Yap will play host to two (2) of the Pacific’s premier dive photography events, MantaFest and BlackwaterFest. Both events are organized by the island’s leading hotel and diving facility Manta Ray Bay Resort and Yap Divers, with MantaFest running from August 24^th to September 8^th and BlackwaterFest from September 7^th – 15^th.

Manta Fest is in its 17^th edition and brings together amateur and professional underwater photographers and other scuba diving enthusiasts from around the world. They compete for prizes, attend workshops led by experts in the field, and take tours of the island to experience the unique attractions and culture of Yap. Daily dive trips will provide opportunities to view and photograph a variety of species in Yap’s amazing underwater world – from manta rays to sharks, turtles to bumphead parrotfish, and mandarinfish to gobies. Special night dives will also be available to provide further glimpses into Yap’s underwater hidden assets.

Along with the usual stellar lineup of regular photo coaches attending, this year’s MantaFest will welcome Logan Wood, a well-known video producer at Ikelite.  Logan is an experienced  cinematographer who blends his passion for storytelling with adventure, creating content that educates and inspires an ever-growing community of underwater photographers and videographers. His work drops him into some of the most stunning environments to film, test new equipment, and hear first-hand how people are re-defining what it means to be a modern-day creative.

This image was captured a mile off the island of Yap at night with the bottom 1000+ feet below. Hundreds of these squid passed by very quickly. This one paused just briefly for a portrait. It appears to be a Japanese common squid also known as a Japanese flying squid, Todarodes pacificus, one of the most abundant of the commercially valuable squid in the world. Micronesia.

Following on the heels of MantaFest will be the 2^nd edition of BlackwaterFest, which will run from September 7-15^th and focus on deep ocean night diving. Participants will explore the waters of the “Yap Trench” in the Pacific Ocean, which reaches depths of over 9,000 meters. Here they will discover exotic creatures of the deep blue sea that are rarely seen and experience them in their natural habitat. This event will be co-hosted by Mike Bartick, a world renowned underwater photographer and a bona fide pioneer of blackwater diving. Also on hand to assist with this event will be David Fleetham, another blackwater diving expert and one of the most published underwater photographers in the world.