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

Turtle Released!

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!