DIVING WITH MANTA RAYS

Diving with Manta Rays is one of the most magnificent diving experiences that scuba divers will ever have. To witness the graceful dancing of these gentle giants is a scuba diver’s dream. Manta rays are the largest of all rays, and can measure nearly 7 metres across. Also known as the ‘Devilfish’, Manta rays can be found throughout tropical waters across the world, where they often congregate around coral reefs. Manta rays are easily recognisable to divers, thanks to their pectoral ‘wings’, the lobes that protrude from their heads and their broad, rectangular mouths. Manta rays are usually dark blue-grey on their topside, with a white belly. Manta rays are filter feeders, meaning that they filter plankton and small crustaceans through their gills as they swim gracefully through the sea.

Some of the best places to dive with manta rays include parts of the Maldives, Fiji, Micronesia and Indonesia. In these areas, some dive sites have Manta cleaning stations, where the rays gather for small fish to pass through their gills, feeding off dead tissue and parasites and cleaning the manta in the process. If you are scuba diving or swimming with mantas around a cleaning station, it is advisable to keep your distance and remain quiet so that the mantas do not get disturbed and leave. On some dives in the Maldives and Micronesia, it is not uncommon for divers to see more then 150 manta rays at the cleaning stations.

Diving with manta rays is an unforgettable experience not to be missed.