My wife and I just spent 3 nights at the Trader's Ridge Resort (known locally as TR). The 22 room hotel and grounds are much more attractive than the others in town, with native art displayed everywhere to great effect. Our room was large, attractive and very functional; the bathroom was fine, but finished to a lower standard. The pleasant pool is small but surrounded by all kinds of tropical plants to create a nice environment.
There are two restaurants. The less formal one (nothing's very formal in Yap) can serve you from both menus. Food at lunch and dinner is reasonably priced and generally quite good. However, breakfast is a problem, with all choices $15 and ala carte items limited and overpriced - like a "bread basket" containing two slices of toast and one of banana bread for $4.50. A cup of coffee is $2.50. Get some provisions at the local markets and eat your own breakfast on your balcony before diving.
The hotel is only a 4 or 5 minute walk from Manta Ray/Yap divers, and several shops/restaurants, so it is easy to stay at TR and dive with Yap Divers if you wish, as we did. Yap divers always offered to drive us, but we walked half the time. The dive operation at TR was changing hands during our stay.
While we really liked the hotel, we cannot say the same for the dive and hotel managers. For example, as soon as the dive manager found out we were using another dive operator, the friendly veneer was gone. The hotel manager smiled, but was never helpful. Forget about them and go anyway - it's still a great place to stay in Yap!
