Just to let you know the recently Eagle Ray and Manta experiences!
As a start I would like to tell you about our little family on our Komodo Resort house Reef. A couple of weeks ago I was sitting with my 11 year old Scuba Diver student in the restaurant and just out of the corner of my eye I noticed something in the water, something I could not strait away identify so I told Astrid, my student to help me look. We saw little fins coming out of the water but still could not make anything of it. We started walking to the beach leaving the course behind for a minute to investigate. As we got closer the fins also came closer to the beach not soon after which we where standing a meter away from mummy Eagle ray and her 5 youngsters. Awesome! Since then they have been spotted by a few of our happy house Reef snorkelers.
In the same week we had a snorkelling trip to Batu Bolong and Manta Point. On their return with a massive smile on their faces they told us that they spotted a Whale Shark on the way to Batu Bolong from the boat. After having spend a beautiful time in what I like to call our overfilled fish tank (Batu Bolong) on to Manta Point where spending time just counting Mantas and they said that the stopped counting after 30 ish. Which brings me to my M25 experience a time before that, where we went to Manta Point. After about 15 to 20 minutes having spend some time with 1 Manta here and 2 Mantas there we where flying along the reef in a Peter Pan style fashion letting the current take us where it wanted to take us when suddenly we felt like going against the traffic on the M25 (very busy ring road motorway around London). At least 11 but more like 15 or more Mantas in a line flying over our head trying to avoid head on collision with us. Lucky enough Jonas had a GoPro with him giving us the evidence to share with everyone. Check out the video, Highway to Komodo Resort, on our Komodo Resort & Diving Club Facebook.
That was my best Manta dive up to date! Note the word was! Sorry Jonas but the experience has been topped!
A few days ago I was on the beautiful dive and snorkel site Makassar Reef, the original name of Manta Point north of Komodo, with a French couple, Patrice and Christelle. The first 20 minutes we didn’t see any Mantas. This is quite common on Manta Point not seeing any Mantas for the first part of the dive. After 20 minutes we spotted 2 Mantas so we hooked of on some stable rocks. The current was medium strength but as usual the Mantas didn’t show any signs of any current whereas we where moving like flags in the wind. Not long after we had secured our front row seats, fastened our safety belt when more Mantas came. Within 10 minutes there where 8 to 10 Mantas around us. Another 20 minutes went by of Mantas coming and going. Suddenly as if someone flicked a switch the current went from medium with us waving like flags to no current at all giving us the change to unhook and have a good look around coming to the conclusion that we where badly mistaking about a 8 to 10 Mantas. We found ourselves in a overfilled Manta tank with at least, without exaggeration, 40 to 50 Mantas comprising of Mobula’s, Black Mantas, Reef Mantas and in my belief Oceanic Mantas with here and there an eagle ray. The next 15 minutes we just spend swimming between the wide variety of very relaxed Mantas feeling like we were part of the family. I can’t wait to Go on the dive that is going to top this experience!
We love our rays and the shows they give us. I wish for everyone to experience the same to understand how much more valuable these creatures are under water I suppose to on our plate or any other places!
