Magic Kingdom

Gently sloping reef that was once counted among Micronesia's most beautiful until a November 1992 typhoon wrecked much of its lettuce and staghorn coral; the hardier stony corals survived and the reef is recovering. Storm damage created hiding places where clouds of small reef fish gather with jacks hunting around them, and schools of hundreds of barracuda appear occasionally.

Facts

• Region: Micronesia – Yap, Pohnpei & Kosrae
• Area: Yap
• Depth: 5–30 m
• Level: beginner
• Current: low
• Type: reef, slope
• Coordinates: 9.43, 138.08 (approximate)
• Highlights: whitetip reef sharks, grey reef sharks, barracuda, jacks, staghorn coral
• 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: A relaxed, shallow dive; look for the barracuda schools over the rubble.

Sources

• https://mantaray.com/sites/magic-kingdom/
• https://mantaray.com/the-manta-blog/the-southern-walls-of-yap/