Yesterday was All about Manta Rays... Today was all about the SHARKS!

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We had an amazing day with the whale sharks today. There was a lot of sharks, all ram feeding on the billions of fish eggs floating on the surface. The action was so damn good. I am over the moon with how much fun we all had today.

We did have some major cloud coverage though and the water was a bit dark, and with all the fish eggs murking everything up, it made photography a bit challenging. So I decided to shoot video instead of stills. I did snap a few stills, but not as many as I usually shoot on a day like this. Video in these conditions is a lot more forgiving.

We all had a blast swimming with the sharks today, and everyone had a chance to capture something fun. I know I did.

I did not post a blog yesterday because the signal at our hotel was pretty glitchy. Every time I tried to log on, I got kicked out. But it gave me a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep.

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A quick update for you; Rooster showed up! I have seen this shark every summer for the past 15-ish years. I was super happy to see her. I finally got an ok photo of her dorsal fin. I would love to get a better shot of her fin above the water surface, so you can see why we dubbed her Rooster. And I know Rooster is a boy name, but it’s all about equality right now, so it’s fitting. LOL

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DAY TWO

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Yesterday was day two of our expedition and it was all about the mantas. There was so many manta rays swimming around, it was pure magic. Today we hardly saw any mantas, which I find interesting. Where did they all go?

In the area we were hanging out at yesterday, there wasn’t very many sharks, which was surprising. But that was fine with me, variety is great on big animal dives, and manta rays are really exciting animals to swim with.

The few sharks that were there, were all coke bottle feeding, and that made for EPIC photo opportunities.

The day was just great, we had clear skies and blue water, and the action was top notch, the kind of stuff that dreams are made of. It was a hell of a day at sea.

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Ok, its 11:30PM and tomorrow is our final of the day of the trip, so I is going to bed. Super tired today, but wanted to get a quick blog up. Until tomorrow… FYI; gonna try going live on FB again. I went live this morning, but FB kicked me out pretty quick.

Manta Valley and Currents from Hell!

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October 11, 2021 - This was our first time visiting Manta Valley, and what a fantastic place. The trip itself was challenging and did not go perfectly. But nature does not always give you her perfection, but what she did give us was so damn good.

DAY ONE
We arrived at Manta Valley, which is something like 40-50 miles out. Thankfully, conditions were terrific, the sun was out, and the seas were flat and calm, making the ride out beautiful and fast. Once we arrived though, the reality of the challenges of Manta Valley slapped us in the face. The currents were ripping. It is not always like that, but today the currents were harsh. Despite the currents, we decided to give it a try, so we anchored up and began our descent on the anchor line. We were all stretched out like flapping flags as we pulled ourselves down the line. Even with gloves on, the anchor line was burning our hands from the strain of fighting the currents.

I was at the tail end of a head cold, and I was stuffed up, so I was having a hell of a time dropping down to the seamount, which was about 80 feet deep. I was slow, so by the time I got down, the group was gone and off to the area where they might see the best manta activity. Unfortunately, I lost track of where they went, so I stayed by the anchor line and watched the locals swimming around. On this dive, a highlight for me was seeing a full-grown rainbow parrotfish, which is massive. And by massive, it was around five feet long and I am guessing, was at least a hundred pounds. I had no idea this species got that big, and now I am obsessed with wanting an image of one.

Sadly the dive for our crew was a bust, and the mantas were a no-show. They were also a no-show for the second dive. Frustrating, but that is nature and the way it goes. But this is why we do these types of trips over several days because you never know what you will get.

If you want magic to happen, you have to put in the time.

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DAY TWO.
When shit happens, it happens. I had a family emergency that I had to deal with, so I could not go out with the group and dive. Mari was able to go and lead the group, but I had to stay behind and take care of things. The group went out and had an incredible first dive. They had a manta ray come in for a cleaning. It swam straight up to them to get a closer look. Manta rays are so curious. Once its curiosity was satisfied it swam off around 30 to 40 yards away and hovered over the reef getting cleaned. It stayed there for the entire dive. Our guests were on fire with the excitement and beauty of this graceful animal.

Image by our buddy Amanda Williams

Dive number two, the mantas were a no show.

DAY THREE
We motored out to the dive site. The thoughts of more manta encounters on the sea mount got me fired up, along with everyone else. As we were running on, our captain spotted a fin on the surface. It was a manta ray. Upon closer inspection, we noticed several mantas, all on the surface. Then off in the distance, a manta breached. We looked at the water, and there was a lot of manta munchies floating around; fish eggs, and plankton. We stumbled upon a feeding event on a current line! There was quite a few manta rays scattered around.

We jumped in and swam with a few of them for a little while. It was a fun way to start the day. After a while, we fought the urges to stay and continued our journey out to the cleaning station. When we arrived, our heart sank... The currents were ripping harder than on day one! They were sadly just too strong, and we were not able to get in the water. We tried, but the currents were so strong that they pulled our massive anchor line buoy, which we thought was unsinkable, underwater when the anchor set. Seeing that, there was no chance that we would be able to get in.

So we pulled anchor and went back to where we found the feeding mantas and spent the rest of the day swimming with them. It was a great session with a lot of courting behavior. Love was definitely in the air, and the manta rays were chasing each other around. The mantas were showing off and breaching for the ladies. At least I think it was for the ladies. It could be the ladies showing off for the boys?

You never know… not a lot is known about courting mantas yet.

We ended the day and the trip. This was a quick three day run. Our guests were super happy about the encounters we experienced. The trip was not perfect, but it was fun. I am already looking forward to next season and the opportunities for more mantas and hopefully less currents.

NATURE CAN BE CRUEL
Two days later, we got to see on social media that my bro and our guide Rodrigo showed up to Manta Valley and encountered good conditions with five-plus manta rays getting cleaned. Freaking Nature!

Oh well, we will get them next season for sure.

A huge hug and thanks to our friends who joined us out there… miss and love you guys!

Day 3 - The Mantas Are EVERYWHERE!

July 16, 2021 - Day three was freaking amazing! We didn't spend much time with the whale sharks. In fact, we only saw about three or four of them, but it did not matter because there were manta rays everywhere.

It was a slow start, and once we got out to the area, the radio chatter was that there were not many whale sharks. When we got to the area, we saw ten plus boats all taking turns with one shark. I am not a fan of that, and we will go off to try to find another shark when we see that happening.

While we were motoring around looking for sharks, we heard reports of manta rays coming in over the radio. We listened for a while and motored over to an area where our captain's buddy told him to look. Sure enough, the mantas were there; at first, we thought it would be one or two, but NOPE! We hit the jackpot; I am guesstimating at least 100 mantas were in the area because they were everywhere; it was magic.

The excitement on the boat was electric. Everyone hurried their gear on, all of us wanting to be in the water. These are the moments you live for - those wild, unpredictable, memorable moments that nature gifts you with sometimes. They are rare and oh-so-special. We took advantage of all our time in the water, hoping to capture something special in our cameras. With as many mantas that we encountered, I have no doubt our friends all left with something fun and unique.

We swam with them all morning, none of us even thinking about trying to find whale sharks. The water was murky and thick with food, and the mantas were feeding up a storm. It was so good. After about two hours of swimming with the mantas, we look over and saw one whale shark swimming towards… of course; behind that shark were at least 12 boats, filled with tourists, all hoping for a chance to swim with it.

That blows my mind. I know that whale sharks are unique, and swimming with them is amazing, but in the water, less than 50 yards away were 20 plus manta rays, and none of the boats were trying to put their guests in with them. I guess I do get it; after all, it is a shark, and sharks are special. But damn, mantas are genuinely magical beings, and it seems a shame that they were not willing to show them what else is unique about the waters surrounding Isla Mujeres. Instead, they all just crowded this poor shark.

We watched the shark passed our boat. After it swam by, I asked our captain to move us, to get us away from all the boats following it. We took off to find quieter waters with more mantas to swim with, which was not hard because they were everywhere. I guess it is good that the other boats did not want to swim with them; it meant more mantas for my buddies and me. HELL YEAH! Tomorrow is our final day in the water, but the forecast shows a lot of rain. We will make the most of it; we are planning to get wet anyway.

Thank you for reading.