Hawaii - the Manta Night Spectacle

[chillyinCanada]

wow, you were even hit.....what did you do? ;-)

My eyes rolled a bit and I rubbed my forehead. I pondered on that thump because I had always believed that mantas had such good radar that they would never hit us.

Last year, I had one lay on me. That was weird. Fortunately, it kept moving forward and so it was a very short lived experience, uh, which I lived through. I am so much wiser now and have even greater respect for these beautiful creatures.

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

Like this one?

Great video! They came really close. The remoras reminded me of my dry suit course. We were doing a dive along the local reef (Dibba Rock) and a remora came out of nowhere. It was cool to see but I lost site of it so as the leader of the dive, I continued. My teammates were freaking out and kept signaling to me. It took me a minute but I finally realized they were saying the remora had attached itself to my cylinder. It stayed there for 45 minutes until it decided to leave when we were making out ascent.

I now know what it feels like to be a shark. Sadly we did not have video because we were on a course but a great experience none the less.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Great video! They came really close. The remoras reminded me of my dry suit course. We were doing a dive along the local reef (Dibba Rock) and a remora came out of nowhere. It was cool to see but I lost site of it so as the leader of the dive, I continued. My teammates were freaking out and kept signaling to me. It took me a minute but I finally realized they were saying the remora had attached itself to my cylinder. It stayed there for 45 minutes until it decided to leave when we were making out ascent.

I now know what it feels like to be a shark. Sadly we did not have video because we were on a course but a great experience none the less.

You're lucky Turk. The remoras I've seen attach to divers, have gone for the crotch.

 

[chillyinCanada]

wow, you were even hit.....what did you do? ;-)

Perhaps you mean, what was I doing at the time? Lol

On night dives off of the liveaboard in Maldives, we were lined up on our knees in the sand, arms folded (except for the photographers). Our flashlights (torches) were in the sand facing upwards. We had created a runway of sorts. The mantas would fly in along the runway to the end of the lights and then roll back. They'd come around again and again. Quite thrilling.

So, in answer to your question, I didn't do anything and wasn't out of position. The one manta was out of position

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

You're lucky Turk. The remoras I've seen attach to divers, have gone for the crotch.

Yikes!! Glad I am not one of those divers. Wait, does that mean my crotch was unappealing? Either way, I am ok with it LOL

 

[Juergen_187]

My eyes rolled a bit and I rubbed my forehead. I pondered on that thump because I had always believed that mantas had such good radar that they would never hit us.

Last year, I had one lay on me. That was weird. Fortunately, it kept moving forward and so it was a very short lived experience, uh, which I lived through. I am so much wiser now and have even greater respect for these beautiful creatures.

....exactly, I also thought they would never touch you. During snorkeling in Fiji, our guide reached out to a Manta and touched it very gently on its wing tip which made the Manta abruptly turn away. But even if they don't touch you, being so closely to a couple of them for a long time changed my view, they appear much more powerful yet still gracious to me.

 

[Dan]

In Socorro, those giant oceanic mantas love bubbles from divers, so we gave them some.

 

[chillyinCanada]

In Socorro, those giant oceanic mantas love bubbles from divers, so we gave them some.

I see your buddy got a thwack not just a thump on his noggin.

My word, aren't they beautiful magnificent creatures?!

My thanks again to @Juergen_187 for sharing his experience and starting this thread.

 

[Dan]

I see your buddy got a thwack not just a thump on his noggin.

My word, aren't they beautiful magnificent creatures?!

Ya, that's the DM. He gave too much bubbles to it. So it whacked his head to tell him that's enough bubbles.

I was told that they love bubbles to get rid of some of the parasites off their skin.

 

[Kharon]

Is there a best time to go to see this spectacle?