Fan Dancer
Sandy-bottomed channel with coral walls extending more than 5 km into the lagoon, a popular night dive at its mouth. The sand near the entrance holds WWII ordnance (artillery shells, a Japanese torpedo, a machine gun) – look but never touch or remove anything. Inside, sheltered walls with hard and soft corals, swim-throughs and deeper sea fans; reef sharks and resting nurse sharks are common, and mangrove runoff can reduce visibility to 9–15 m.
Facts
- Region: Micronesia – Yap, Pohnpei & Kosrae
- Area: Yap
- Depth: 2–37 m
- Level: intermediate
- Current: low
- Type: channel, night, reef
- Coordinates: 9.52, 138.15 (approximate)
- Highlights: nurse shark, grey reef sharks, sea fans, swim-throughs, WWII ordnance
- Permit: Yap's reefs and lagoon are held under customary village ownership, so diving needs the permission of the owning community, normally arranged by your dive operator. A 2017 conference presentation reported that operators pay villages access fees (e.g. US$300 per month for Goofnuw Channel, US$2 per diver at Stammtisch) and that other sites need permission but no payment. No official fee schedule could be found – ask your dive centre; the Yap Visitors Bureau can advise.
- Issuer / contact: Yap Visitors Bureau
- Phone: +691 350 5005
- Website: https://www.visityap.com
- phone from the Yap State Government notice; visityap.com blocked automated access, no official email confirmed; other notices list 350-2298
- Unverified: Position is approximate: no published GPS was found; the pin only places the site on the right part of Yap's reef (dive centre site maps are not machine-readable). Ask the dive centre for the exact mooring.
- Tips: Never touch the ordnance on the sand; use a torch at night.