Miil Channel

Miil Channel on Yap is a shallow manta cleaning station, sitting in about 5 m (16 ft) of water in the channel. Divers tie off to the manta mooring and roll in, then follow a reef of staghorn coral to the cleaning station. Numbers and conditions can change from day to day.

The mantas can arrive in force. On one dive a manta passed overhead, did a back flip, and then others followed until the water was full of them, too many to count quickly. Divers drop to the edge of the ridge and watch from there. Mantas hold position among the cleaning fish, and one was seen using its cephalic fin to take the tail of its mate.

A fat emperor appeared to hold sway over the other fish at the cleaning station, and a slightly smaller bluefin trevally darted in and out around the action.