Starlit ballet

After a late afternoon dive and three or four mantas cruising by as well as a turtle, a range of beautiful nudibranch, dwarf moray, white mouthed and giant moray, octopus and two scorpion fish sitting together, tonight, we experienced our first manta ray dive.  The first dive was fabulous enough.  The exquisite sunset from the boat as we listened to the dive briefing would have been extraordinary in itself but that was not the focus of the evening. 

Our dive crew are seriously knowledgeable, keen on wildlife, very funny and perfectly professional; a brilliant combination. We were given a puppet show all about mantas by Luke, a lovely bloke from Cornwall who has a daughter called Moon (but in Hawaiian - I thought that was lovely). I can't possibly recount all the funny moments in his show but it's worth learning to dive to hear it!

We were given powerful lights to see but in particular, to attract in the krill and plankton for the mantas. Before everyone had jumped in, there were already mantas trying to swipe the plankton from around our fins. It was incredibly exciting and we were still at the surface! We all descended together and headed for the 'campfire'; a circle of rocks that a few boats of divers gathered around to create the best feeding station around.  

There was no waiting required. Mantas with between 6 and 12 foot wingspans were already gliding around.  We took a perch around the stones and began to take in the most wonderful starlit ballet I have ever seen.  

The plankton and krill twinkled in our lights and divers' bubbles danced in the glow.  As we sat on the floor of the ocean, mantas brushed our heads, glided without collision and seemingly danced in the middle of the feast. It gives me a little shiver to recall the moments and feelings.  

It was difficult to be told our time was up after the 45 minute performance and I'm sure the mantas were just as disappointed to see us go.  We could not resist, however, booking on to another night dive in a few days time.

For my dive log:
Dive 1: Eel Garden Cove
18 metres
65 minutes
Extra 5mm shorty for warmth worked much better! Plus 1kg

Dive 2: Eel Garden Cove
10.7m
49minutes
24 identified mantas