Cities
Understand
The island is famous for its stone money, which is rather large and cannot easily be moved. The island was opened for tourism in 1989 and has seen a good amount of tourists visiting, especially for the scuba diving and to catch a glimpse of the traditional micronesian island culture. Skin Diver Magazine has called Yap "the most interesting island in Micronesia" and gives Yap the honor of being one of the magazines top 3 dive sites.
The state of Yap consists of 134 islands and atolls. Twenty two of these are populated, stretching across an excess of 100,000 square miles in total area. Yap's main island is made up of four high volcanic islands, accounting for 38 of Yap’s approximate total 50 square miles of land area. The main island of Yap is where the state capital and commercial center, Colonia, is located. Most of the outer islands stretching approxmiately 600 miles east of Yap Island are coral atolls. These atolls are sparsely populated by people different from the Yapese in both culture and language.
Climate
Holidays
Talk
Yapese, Ulithian, Woleaian and Satawalese are the island's official languages (all of which are indigenous), but English is also spoken by many of the locals and travelers will have no problem getting by knowing little if any of the indigenous langauges. Many of the elderly Yapese people are fluent in the Japanese language as well.
Get in
Continental Airlines offers flights to Yap a few times a week. Many visitors to Yap make it a stop over on the way to Palau.
Get around
Taxis are plentiful in Colonia, and travelers are free to use the public bus system in Colonia to get around. These busses are often used to transport students and government workers and run between Colonia and the outer villages in early mornings and evenings.
While on Yap, visitors may charter boats to the outlying Islands, which can be taken care of at a variety of places on the island.
See
