Wailea Point Rays

[MauiScubaSteve]

I love Maui winter diving! Manta rays and whale song make my mask leak (the big smile)! Today was the first whale I've heard this year. As I see it, complete recovery from the storm will be when all the turtles return, but at least there were three other good size targets today.

Sean's dslr threads tug at my wallet; unfortunately it can't respond. This is my cheap ambient p&s counterpoint for the week (If you don't count the Apollo scooter).

 

[VBlueV]

awesome shots!

i need to see more mantas..

so, they frequent maui too (not just the big island)?

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

The Manta Pacific Research Foundation has 79 mantas listed on the Maui Manta ID page (don't see yesterdays). In comparison; they show 133 mantas on the Kona ID page and none on the Oahu page?

I saw a handfull in 3 years of full time diving off Oahu, mostly North Shore and West Side. I see a handfull monthly guiding South Maui shore dives in the winter. The bigger ones are seen fairly regularly at Molokini in the winter; there is a popular cleaning station inside Reef's End. There is also a legendary secret cleaning station where divers have claimed to see in excess of 30 trying to get cleaned on the same dive!

I have worked at various Wailea resorts for the last 30 months, with scooters at my disposal. When I have no divers I scooter off into the blue exploring and trying to run into whales. No luck with the whale part but I have very likely had more manta encounters over that period than ~99% of Maui divers. There are a few hundred pics from dives last winter that I just uploaded to computer but never even opened in photoshop (many as good as above).

It's all about volume, I am in the right places more often than most. Just like Babe Ruth I have struck out way more times than I've scored!

 

[Charlie99]

It's all about volume, I am in the right places more often than most. Just like Babe Ruth I have struck out way more times than I've scored!

What's your batting percentage???

I haven't really kept close track, but my guess would be that I've seen mantas somewhere around 1 out of 10 shore dives off S. Maui in the Jan-March timeframe.

Probably 1 out of 5 if I had paid more attention to the area above me and away from the reef a bit. One of my more embarassing moments while diving was a snorkler swimming down, grabbing my shoulder and pointing out the manta that had been cruising above my head while I watched an eel alongside the miniwall of the inner reef at Ulua.

Charlie Allen

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Great shots Halemano!! Looks like an awsome dive! I have only seen a few mantas since June.. I too would love to see more!

Sean

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

We have all probably missed plenty cool critters overhead or in the distance because we are looking down or the wrong direction, especially shooting macro. One of the reasons for my numerous encounters may be that I dive all the way down to crappy California-ish no vis. Many of my manta dives were scouting missions to see if I could take customers. If you wait for perfect vis (50-80', glassy and sunny) there is not much reason for a manta to be there other than cleaning. On the limited vis days they are out there feasting!

With respect to batting averages, for the 30 month period mentioned above, estimating 5 solo 007's / month, I'm sure I saw at least one manta on more than 20 dives. My fuzzy math would indicate better than 15% in winter. I should probably qualify my braggadocio and say more minutes of manta encounter than ~99% of Maui divers in that period. Many times I have cruised with my photo subject for over 20 minutes, once it was over 40 minutes taking nearly 70 pictures! (many non-007 sightings also)

Since moving to a Powerbook I have neglected my MS network and don't currently have access to most images more than a year old (thousands). I really need to get all these dormant hard drives archived better. Here's a few from spring break '06, very close to Charlie's snorkeler location.

 

[kidspot]

I've only seen 1 manta ... so far But I keep looking (I even struck out at the "secret" spot )

Thanks for sharing those images Halmeano

Aloha, Tim

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

(I even struck out at the "secret" spot )

Timing, timing, timing! When did you go? I'd go with a scooter around 4 PM with medium small or smaller swell in Feb or March. Maybe a Thur afternoon double with the Carthaginian as the first dive!