3. Manta magic…

On the trip continues … in much the same vain as it started….

We dive 3-4 times a day, seeing all the delights that Raja Ampat has to offer. It ranges from: ‘small stuff’ - little shrimps, nudi, Pygmy seahorses and various things too small for the naked eye to really see but the treasure of the macro photographers; to the ‘fish’ - dancing schools of fish feeding and playing in the current and excellent for ‘reef scene’ photos with corals and anemones; up to the ‘big stuff’ - manta rays and sharks which are the wide-angle photographers’ dream! We’ve had a bit of all of it on this trip. There is a shark here called the wobbegong shark, sometimes called the carpet shark, who mostly lies in caves and under rock overhangs opening and closing his mouth periodically to feed. They are quite well camouflaged and have chin ‘tassels’ to help them blend in with their surrounds! I also did one more night of looking at tiny stuff and the odd hermit crab in the sand!

One dive, we went to see the mantas in a place they’re known to get cleaned and feed. The visibility wasn’t too good (which is good for manta chances as it means the sea is full of plankton that will attract them but less good for photography). We hung around near the old coral and rock barrier that divers aren’t allowed to cross and have to watch from …. and we waited … and waited… you can tell boredom has set in as people start studying the sand and trying to photograph the tiny shrimps rushing about moving grains of sand around. Then suddenly 4 mantas (3 white, one black bellied) arrived and they did not get the memo on which side of the barrier they were meant to stay on. They spent a good 15 minutes swooping and flying around out and around and over our heads, barrel rolling then gliding back above us in the most magically majestic and incredible encounter. They were so close and not bothered by us there at all. It was amazing. Utterly and totally amazing! I’m the diver in the photos that one of my group took!

On several dives, during the brief we were told about the black coral that we’d see and how beautiful and plentiful it was in these parts. Each dive, I diligently looked for the black coral and tried to identify it. Each dive, I couldn’t see any. After the second attempt, I asked Egi what it looked like and why I wasn’t spotting it. There was much consulting of the coral guides and reference books, some internet searches and pointing it out on the next dive. For anyone who finds themselves in the same predicament a wishes to identify black coral, here are some photos of what it looks like …. Obvious once you know!!!

If further identification support is needed,all of the below are NOT black coral! ….

In addition to our under sea adventures, we’ve also done some over sea trips when we piled into the little boats and chugged round the lagoon (and one of the group had a drone and got some great shots from the air to show the place we’d anchored for the day). We were even lucky enough to have a manta join us from below for more magical photos! At various points on the trip as we’ve sailed from location to location, we’ve also watched from the boat as sharks, whales and dolphins accompany us and glide by! We get 4 meals a day (first breakfast, second breakfast, lunch and dinner) and also a snack between lunch a dinner with food before and after every dive. Mostly we eat in the covered cabin next to the dive deck but one dinner and ‘snack’ is always on the sun deck. What a life!

To add to our land based activities, we even climbed up the many steps to one of view points at one of the nearby islands - and watched as a rain storm approached on the horizon! then before long, it was back onto the little boats for the return to Lady Denok and more diving, eating and napping!