OK...so I could talk about some other stuff that happened today...but really...nothing compared to the dive we did tonight. We had a do-over opportunity for the Manta Ray Night Dive because on our first attempt no Mantas arrived. Tonight we were not disappointed. It was unbelievable!!!!
We new it was going to be a magical evening when we left the harbour and were greeted by a pod of Humpback Whales who offered us a show of tail slapping :-).
Once we got to the dive site we had a bit of a wait until the sun went down...so we had Story Time With Flipper...our Dive Master told us all about the mantas and the history of the manta dive. How this is the only place in the world where the mantas have learned that when the people come with the bright lights...that means FOOD. There are several generations of mantas in the group that lives in this area and some of the mantas have been here since the 70's. He had a book with photos of the different mantas and showed us how to recognize them by the markings on their bellies. He said we'd wait a bit and let the other groups on the other boats get in first...that way there would be lots of lights...attracting lots of plankton...which we were hoping would attract lots of mantas! We were slowly suiting up when we heard the first shout...Manta! They were here!
We were soon in the water and heading out to our viewing spot. We dropped down to about 35 feet and anchored ourselves to the bottom with rocks. It was hard to be calm and settle as the water seemed full of huge gliding manta rays! There were lots of lights and the water was full of plankton and little fish. I found a good spot with a nice big rock that I could wrap my legs around and hold myself relatively still while watching the acrobatic show going on around and above me! I must have taken a million pictures but they just can't capture how it felt to be in the water with these amazing creatures. They are so big...think 10+ foot wing spans...but so graceful and agile...they would swoop right at you and at the last second skim right over you...brushing across your head. They would do barrel rolls and loop the loop through the water scooping up the plankton. We stayed down watching and filming for about 45 minutes and then it was time to head back to the boat. I was pretty chilly by that time...the water really sucks the heat out of you when you are just sitting still! I released my rock and gave a couple of kicks to get off the bottom...but there was something wrong...I was missing a fin!!!! I quickly looked around me to see if I could find it and it was floating in the water nearby...luckily my buddy Wade was right there...grabbed it and handed it back to me. I got him to hold my camera and by then Ecky saw what was going on so he came over to help and steadied me as I put it back on and tightened it up. Crisis averted :-). I suspect the strap got rubbed loose as I was holding on to the rock with my legs as the mantas swooped over me. They generate an incredible amount of pull/push/current when they go by and I really had to squeeze the rock to keep from getting blown over.
Soon we were back on the boat enjoying a hot chocolate as we excitedly talked about the experience and headed back to the marina. Total count was 14 mantas but it sure seemed like a lot more.
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