Our patience paid off yesterday afternoon. Having anchored Maunie near Manta Ray Resort, we'd snorkelled the reef before lunch and then took the dinghy across to the pass where the Manta Rays are said to drift through, feeding on the plankton-rich waters. A couple of other yacht dinghies had been there for a while with no sightings and they eventually gave up but we stayed, drifting with the current then motoring back up-tide to repeat the drift. The light afternoon light was beginning to fade when we spotted a Manta, quite deep, and Graham & Amy managed to get a good view of him. Better still, 15 minutes later, we had two of these majestic and huge (about a 10ft wingspan) beasts close to the surface and they were very happy to swim in lazy circles around us as we snorkelled. Wow!
We've taken some video which we'll post on the blog as soon as we get stronger internet connections.
Great that you caught up with the Mantas. If you go ashore at barefoot resort, the resident Marine Biologist (Dan I think ) will tell you about them. I believe 1 gave birth a couple of day ago.
ReplyDeleteGreat Blog. Thanks for sharing. Cheers