Mad for Mantas in the Maldives

Wow! What I week! I’m just back from a week-long live-aboard in the Maldives. Three dives a day from a very comfortable boat, who could ask for more? As it happened, the best dive of all was the very last. We had been unsuccessful all week in spotting the big manta rays that the Maldives is most famous for, but on the last day, we in fact returned to the spot where we had our first check-out dive because the guide had heard mantas had been spotted. Our guide Cindy knew exactly where the cleaning station was, and even the best spot to rest on the bottom to take pictures without disturbing the action.

The mantas were already there when we got down, and didn’t seem at all disturbed by our presence. I took mostly still shots, but did take one video sequence to try and capture the gracefulness of these big creatures.

We spent almost an hour on the bottom watching the show, as the mantas came and went.

Of course, I saw a lot more than mantas in the Maldives, but it will take some time to sort through all the pictures, so more will be coming later.