The "Washing Machine"

[ishbaby]

and i thought dennis was harassing a fish in one of the footages haha. . . then this big moray eel snatched that fish off your hand! Awesome!

I loved that ride on the manta. . . haha

 

[Halthron]

Nice videos, I'm going to have to try that some time with mine.

 

[Zeeman]

whoah! That is one cool ride on a manta! Where was that Dennis?

Z...

 

[jonix]

great videos! loved the manta ride hehehehe

 

[Diver Dennis]

Cool! Where was the manta video taken?

It was taken in Puerto Vallarta Mexico, Matthew. There are a group of us that the Mantas recognize and some of them like to be ridden. As you can see in the video, I'm stroking her back. I'm actually cleaning the sea lice off her back and they LOVE it. some mantas like their back being stroked, although I think they might think of me as just a big cleaner fish.
The Manta in the video is just a juvenile, about 15' across. Some of the big girls are 7M or 25' and weigh up to 3000 lbs. Believe me, if they did not like it they could do serious damage to you for trying. Their skin is very rough and I've had skinned knees more than once.

 

[Diver Dennis]

and i thought dennis was harassing a fish in one of the footages haha. . . then this big moray eel snatched that fish off your hand! Awesome!

I loved that ride on the manta. . . haha

That was a Moray that I used to feed a lot Ish. Just before the video was shot, I was petting her but as soon as there is a fish smell in the water they know it is feeding time. You can also see that her mouth is big enough to not only grab the fish but my hand too but she only grabs the tip of the fish head, I think because she knows she could hurt me. Probably not the case but a nice thought. The young man beside me is a student who wanted to watch and who also holds onto my leg so I don't get pulled in too far. This Moray is abut 6' long and VERY strong.
We don't feed her too much any more because she and the other Moray we feed started to follow divers around. It is a bit scary for divers who are not used to it to have a 6' Moray following them around or sometimes coming right up to their mask, even though they a just sweet girls to me.

 

[ishbaby]

she's a loooong scary moray eel! that would be something really freaky following you around. haha

 

[Matthew]

There was once a story here on SB about a tourist who lost a finger while feeding a moray, and with a gory picture too.:11:

 

[midwestdvr]

There was once a story here on SB about a tourist who lost a finger while feeding a moray, and with a gory picture too.:11:

Yep, I remember that one although I think it wasn't a moray. Probably a pufferfish.

 

[Narcd_dvr]

Yep, I remember that one although I think it wasn't a moray. Probably a pufferfish.

Dang mid, you look hot, err, you're avatar, that is