A week has passed very quickly, and this year’s interns are becoming a skilled MantaWatch survey team. Their buoyancy control and underwater communication have improved, and they are quickly learning how to find mantas underwater and take a good photo ID.
Today we joined Dive Komodo and headed north. After our success at finding mantas in The Cauldron a few day’s earlier, we hoped the mantas would still be around.
As we arrived at the site the tide was falling, creating a gentle drift dive. From the boat the visibility looked fantastic, as we peered overboard and down through the azure water, searching for a telltale manta-shaped shadow.
We kitted up, completed our buddy checks, and entered the water with a giant stride from the boat. We’ve been practicing negative entries recently, and everyone is becoming comfortable with descending as soon as they hit the water.
At around 20m, we spread out across the white sandy sea floor in our buddy pairs. And very quickly we saw the distinctive movement of a manta in the distance, feeding in the current behind a small coral bombie.
I sat back and watched the MantaWatch Interns. It was like watching a military special forces team at work. AÂ couple of clear hand signals passed between them, and everyone instantly knew exactly what they doing.
Tami and Gerald settled down motionless on the sand, cameras at the ready in case the manta should head their way.
Ayu and Evi swam slight up current, where they too settled into a good vantage point behind a rocky outcrop.
Meanwhile Danmo and Niomi gradually moved closer to the manta, continuously checking for a rolled up cephalic lobe or other behavioural indicator that the manta was becoming stressed by their presence.
But their patience and good buoyancy skills paid off, and Dhanmo and Evi captured great manta ID photos.
Danmo and Niomi prepare to take a manta ID
A few minutes later another, smaller manta passed by, and another manta ID. Then one more manta whilst we were on our safety stop. But this one passed below us too deep to get an ID.
Next we headed to Castle Rock. No dolphins today, unfortunately, but we did record a lot of sharks in our eco-logbooks, including white tip reef sharks and grey reef sharks. This information will be extremely useful for the continued development of the West Manggarai and Komodo shark and manta sanctuary.
Sharks and giant trevally at Castle Rock
