{"id":409115,"date":"2024-05-30T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=409115"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Yap-hosting-Pacific-s-premier-dive-photography-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Yap-hosting-Pacific-s-premier-dive-photography-events\/","title":{"rendered":"Yap hosting Pacific\u2019s premier dive photography events"},"content":{"rendered":"

YAP, Federated States of Micronesia\u2014<\/strong>In about 90 days Yap will play host to two of the Pacific\u2019s premier dive photography events, MantaFest and BlackwaterFest. Both events are organized by the island\u2019s leading hotel and diving facility Manta Ray Bay Resort and Yap Divers, with MantaFest running from Aug. 24 to Sept. 8 and BlackwaterFest from Sept. 7 to 15.<\/p>\n

Manta Fest is in its 17th 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\u2019s amazing underwater world\u2014from 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\u2019s underwater hidden assets.<\/p>\n

Along with the usual stellar lineup of regular photo coaches attending, this year\u2019s MantaFest will welcome Logan Wood, a well-known video producer at Ikelite. Wood 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.<\/p>\n

Following on the heels of MantaFest will be the second edition of BlackwaterFest, which will run from Sept. 7 to 15 and focus on deep ocean night diving. Participants will explore the waters of the \u201cYap Trench\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Yap is an island in the Federated States of Micronesia, in the Pacific Ocean that is ringed by spectacular coral reefs and famous for its scuba diving with giant manta rays, sharks and mandarin fish. Other key activities on the island include kayaking, hiking, deep-sea fishing, and exploring the many World War II historical sites. Yap is also uniquely famous for its stone money (huge disks of stone, which are still used today in major transactions), strong traditional culture and way of life, and welcoming residents. A short flight away from Guam or Palau, this Pacific gem is one of the tourism industry\u2019s best kept secrets. For more information: www.visityap.com<\/a>. (PR)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Male and female mandarinfish, Synchiropus splendidus, performing a mating dance off Yap Island.<\/p>\n

-DAVID FLEETHAM
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<\/p>\n

This image was captured a mile off the island of Yap at night with the bottom 1,000+ 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.<\/p>\n

-DAVID FLEETHAM
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

YAP, Federated States of Micronesia\u2014In about 90 days Yap will play host to two of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}