February 11th has always held special meaning for me, and on this day in 2019 I encountered my first manta ray. This has to be one of my favourite encounter stories due to the sheer luck of being in the right place at the right time which allowed for an entire boat full of people to also share this experience. I feed off of other people's joy, so on this day I hit the trifecta!
This particular Monday morning we were heading out on 2 dives to the north side of the island, arguably where some of the best diving is on Utila. The topography here is very different from the south side, immense walls with plunging drop offs which make you feel as tiny as a juvenile trunkfish. Here it is widely known that your chances of seeing Utila's marine megafauna are far greater, typically consisting of turtles and nurse sharks, possibly even a whale shark sighting from the boat if you're lucky!
On this day I was joined by my then-intern, Andrea (@memoirofamermaid soon became my fellow colleague at WSORC), and our objective of the dives was to conduct a survey on reef associated organism abundance, which covers basically all species outside of fish and coral; such as invertebrates, cephalopods, benthic organisms etc. For those of you who are familiar with Utila's dive sites, we were at The Maze for our first dive, a definite favourite across the board! We were about half way into our survey along the wall when Andrea gave me the 'problem' signal and pointed to her ear, so we shallowed up to about 7m/25ft just below the lip of the wall where Andrea could comfortably equalise.
[Myself and Andrea on a survey with ALL the slates!]
Out of my peripheral I saw a large shadow glide towards us overhead from the shallows. For Utila standards, my instant reaction was that it had to be an eagle ray or a turtle. Nevertheless I caught Andrea's attention but by that time she was already gaping at the outline, as this shadow against the sun revealed itself to be (you guessed it...) a manta. This just was not heard of in Utila! Of course it's not impossible, but rather an occurrence that may happen every few years if you're in the right place at the right time; and that's exactly where we were. After looking at one another with wide eyes and a celebratory dance, we cruised behind it in an attempt to securely engrave the encounter in our memory.
Now at this point in my story I should mention what a 'DSD' simulation is. During their internship, Divemasters in training (DMT's) must learn to conduct a number of PADI programs, one of which involves demonstrating proper control and supervision of Discover Scuba Diving participants (an uncertified diver) and to be able to efficiently recognise and correct any problems during the dive. In this workshop, DMT's take it in turns to lead the dive whilst a staff member acts as the DSD participant, simulating realistic problems along the way for the candidates to catch and correct. As you can imagine, this often makes for quite the theatrical performance and my colleague Bob 'Tex Avery' was no exception. In fact, Bob had earned a reputation amongst DMT's for creating a particularly memorable experience for them during this part of their training.
So there we were, gingerly following this manta ray when I see Bob and his DMT's executing their DSD scenario, so I try to direct their attention to the once-in-a-lifetime encounter happening right next to them. As a dedicated actor through and through, Bob pays me absolutely no attention and continues his role as novice diver Tex Avery, successfully also occupying the concentration of his DMT's. I spend a good 30 seconds banging my tank in an obscure melody like some sort of instructor morse code but he's after the Oscar for this scene so there's no hope. During my wasted efforts the manta changed course and had disappeared into the blue. At least our professional photographer Shaun (@shaundoylephoto) had been along for the ride so we could could share our excitement with him as well as have photographic evidence!
[The reef manta captured by Shaun Doyle]
By this time we only had five minutes or so left of the survey before our safety stop, so we both did our best to continue collecting data, though really we just spent the entire time gazing out into the blue anticipating the manta's return. I felt frustrated with myself that I had been so focused on trying to get the attention of others for them to enjoy the encounter, that it had taken away from my own. One of the luckiest sightings of my scuba life and it had all happened too quickly.
Though as we made our way back through the shallows to the boat on our safety stop, our prayers had been answered. There it was, flying elegantly through the water whilst feeding, gently skimming the surface with its fins as if to wave hello to the divers already back onboard the boat. I revelled in the opportunity this time, focusing solely on the manta: its size, movements and markings, just soaking up that I was merely an arms length away from this effortlessly graceful life. I assume that this ray was a juvenile reef manta, with a wingspan off approx 2m (they can grow as wide as 5m!) and a distinctive black 'Y' across its white dorsal side, opposed to the 'T' shape of a giant manta.
Once my safety stop had finished I looked around to see who else was still in the water, scanning fins and masks to identify the staff. Luckily I saw that instructor Hunter (@hunta_m88) was right up in the action filming with his GoPro, and thanks to him and Shaun I am able to share the footage and photos with you here. I quickly surfaced to see who was missing out on the boat, and amongst them was my dive buddy for life, Asa. The thought of him not having this opportunity made me call over to tell everyone to grab their snorkelling gear and get in! I'm so grateful that all of us were able to spend time with the manta whilst it happily fed, so happy in fact that we had to move on to our next dive site whilst it was still feasting next to the boat.
[Footage taken by Hunter Morgan - sound on to hear his excitement!]
It's moments like these, of just pure magic, which makes diving so addictive. On every dive there's always an opportunity to see the unbelievable, an encounter you would never think possible. It leaves me with a giddy feeling that I just can't get from anything else in life. I feel so incredibly honoured and lucky to have had this experience, that this animal graciously allowed me to share its space in the ocean, in its home. And that I also got to share this with many of my friends, especially those first moments of discovery with Andrea; experiences like these will bind your friendship for life!
[Back on the boat and the manta is still happily feeding: I think my face says it all!]
Thanks for joining me in reliving this magical moment and I hope that your next one is just around the corner.
Safe diving & happy dreaming,
A.
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