What's New Archives
March 30, 2006
New Mandarinfish Site Found!
 The
dive guides of Beyond The Reef have recently discovered a new
site filled with the exotic mandarinfish, the second most popular
dive in Yap after the mantas. "We've dove this site several
times, to make sure there was an abundance of mandarinfish as
well as the sunset mating that occurs at the other, more frequently
visited sites," commented Dave. "We were not disappointed.
In fact, there were more mandarinfish and far healthier corals
and a heck of a lot more mating than at the other locations."
 In
fact, due to the plethora of untouched hard corals surrounding
this new site, named Mandarin Isle by Dave, Beyond The Reef will
limit the number of divers based on diver skill levels and bouyancy
control techniques. Because the other mandarin sites have seen
lots of divers with less than perfect bouyancy skills, there is
some damage to the corals. We don't want this new site to be harmed
by mankind, so in our effort to protect this habitat, we need
to restrict this new site to divers demonstrating exceptional
bouyancy control. In addition to the healthy coral growth, there
are many juvenile fish, moray eels and critters such as starfish
and tube worms. And Mandarin Isle, being of respectable size,
offers numerous vantage points from which to view the action,
so divers and photographers can spread out and not get in each
other's way.
April 2006
Dave celebrates 25 years of diving!
Dave Vecella, owner of Beyond The Reef,
became a certified diver 25 years ago. Dave enrolled in his first
scuba class in the Fall of 1980 at the ripe young age of fifteen.
The class was taught at a local YMCA. Having spent much of his
youth snorkeling in the shallow waters of the Florida Keys, scuba
diving was a natural second step and Dave was ready to take that
giant stride into the blue. "In those days, we used the hard
plastic backpacks, horse-collar BCDs with the CO2 inflation cartidge
if you needed a quick ascent, and there was no such thing as an
alternate air source, except for bulky pony bottles", said
Dave. The Open Water dives were conducted in a quarry in Pennsylvania,
USA in 38 F water in early 1981. "Diving equipment has changed
so much over the years. Keeping up with the advances in technology
for a diving dinosaur like me can be challenging--- good fun,
but still a challenge."
 
Dave became a PADI Instructor in 1987 in
his senior year at the Florida Institute of Technology and, upon
earning his bachelor's degree, immediately went to work in the
Bahamas as an instructor and dive guide. "I've had such a
great time diving. There's nothing I'd rather do in life than
be underwater. And if I can share my excitement with my guests,
that's the icing on the cake!"
Dave has done over 8,000
dives and taught hundreds of people how to scuba dive, from 10
year old kids to 75 year old seniors. The top left photo features
Dave (on the right) after his third ocean dive when he was just
15. Notice the "brown paper" gear bag under his arm
and the horse-collar bcd. Not very fashion-conscious. Dave, top
right, hovers horizontally at Yap's famous macro photography site
1:2 recently, 25 years after the photo on the left.
January 27, 2006
Beyond The Reef was recently asked to
assist Graduate Student Vanessa Fread working with the Yap Community
Action Program to help her release back to the ocean a female
Green Turtle that was caught (by hand and not by us) for scientific
research over a two-day period. The turtle was very well cared
for and was needed to accurately map the shell structure so
that research can be conducted on the symbiotic relationship
between turtle shells and barnacle growth. The turtle
was on board our boat waiting to be released back into the sea
as our boat headed south to dive Yap Caverns, Lionfish Wall
and Magic Kingdom. Our special thanks go out to Krates, Natsumi,
Sally and George, our guests for that day, who assisted with
the release prior to the dives, and got some terrific photos
too.
  
Going.....going....going....gone!
  
Beyond The Reef is committed to protecting
our natural resources and we gladly offer our services for local
agencies wishing to conduct environmental research and educational
programs.
January 8, 2006
"Happy New Year! -- Reflecting
on the Past and What's Ahead"
From all of us at Beyond The Reef, we
want to wish our guests--past, present and future--the best
in the coming year. 2005 continued to be prosperous for Beyond
The Reef. We had great weather this year, free from any tropical
storms, and there is abundant new coral growth at Yap Caverns
and Magic Kingdom. Our grey reef shark population is multiplying
rapidly with the addition of about 80 new pups at the southern
end of the island. These little guys (and girls) are curious
yet shy, as they will approach our guests but then swim deeper
to rejoin their siblings on the drop-off.
 
 
What's next for this coming year? Look
for our O'Keefe's Waterfront Inn specials as they are made available
from time to time. And the Pathways Hotel is enjoying a great
occupancy rate with the completion of their typhoon repairs/renovations.
Things are shaping up nicely at the Pathways.
We'll continue to offer the same great
service our guests have come to expect. We'll still be adhering
to our "4 divers per boat" policy, and we're still
telling the same awful jokes we told when we opened our doors
for business 14 years ago. Gordon is beginning his eighth year
as our senior dive guide, and Morgan and Debbie are still battling
with each other as to who chews the most betel nuts in a single
day. So 2006 brings us to a new year but we are having as much
fun diving with our guests and showing our new friends the BEST
that Yap has to offer as we did when we started. Come join us
in 2006 and experience a whole new kind of dive vacation!
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