Today was an exhausting amazing day. Today we completed four dives in strong currents. We started at 6am, at site called Manta Alley in South Komodo. Today all of the interns looked bigger, because we were all wearing extra wetsuits. Why? Because the waters in this location are much colder!
Preparing for a manta survey
Our first dive impressed us all, because we saw lots of mantas. I estimated that we saw 10-12 mantas in the first five minutes of the dive. This was the first time for the Interns to observe and record manta rays up close. I was nervous taking my first manta ID photos, but the results were OK. We found many mantas at a cleaning station at 26 m. The cold water made us all hungry and ready for breakfast, and we returned from the dive to taste more of chef Ale’s delicious food.
Capturing our first manta ID photos
Patience and good buoyancy are important skills!
Our second dive was at the same location. As before, we separated in groups. Group 1 was Yuvens, Gerald, Dita and Vidlia. Group 2 was Fabi, Lucia, and Mutiara. Group 3 was Andy, Niomi, Divo and me.
During the second dive my group did not see any mantas. Group 2 found many mantas, and also a mola mola. Manta Alley must be the best dive site in the world!
We then dived Manta Alley two more times, and found many mantas just hovering in the currents. It was difficult to get into position to photograph them.
After each dive, we filled in our logbooks and record all our observations and data. That’s how we do the manta monitoring, and know about the population, migration, and conservation of mantas.
In the evening, we learned how to organize the photos and videos from the cameras, and how to backup our data. It was interesting to review our photos, and to identify the individuals. Protecting nature is a noble task, and with MantaWatch it is also a lot of fun.
I hope that these experiences will help us all to become Indonesia’s young marine leaders and manta ambassadors, and to gain new knowledge about marine ecosystems. Thanks MantaWatch and Guy’s Trust.
