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5 Responsible Ways to Snorkel with Mantas

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Recently I got to spend time snorkeling with over 100 manta rays (closer to 150 to be precise) in Komodo National Park. It was one of the pinnacle sea moments of my life.

I was on a dive boat with about a dozen others when the captain shouted from the distance the huge school of mantas. We turn the boat around, stop about 100 feet from the manta pathway until we approached them at a safe distance. It was one of the most exciting times for me. But sometimes we get caught up in these beautiful moments that we forget how to interact with marine life responsibly. This is why I am sharing with you 5 ways to interact responsibly with these sea creatures.

1. Keep Noise to a Minimum
When you encounter manta rays, don’t be that person screaming at them to come over to you and then doing cannon balls right next to them. Not that I think you are, but there’s always that “one person.” Keep noise to a minimum and avoid jumping in abruptly if you’re on a boat. Keep your fins underwater to avoid creating big kicking splashes.

2. Allow the Mantas to Swim Around You. Not the Opposite 
When you’re snorkeling, try staying in one area allowing the mantas to swim around you. Don’t swim over to them. Keep calm and avoid disrupting them if they’re feeding close to the surface of the water.

3. DO NOT TOUCH!
Let me repeat. Do not touch the mantas. Do not touch the mantas! I know it would feel so amazing to touch one of these guys, but this code of conduct is an absolute! The manta rays have a protective mucous coating, and when you touch them, you rub away their protective barrier causing them to get sick or get an infection. We don’t want them to get sick. Let’s preserve their existence in these oceans by keeping your hands off.

4. Keep your distance 
The rule of thumb is to stay at least 10 feet (3 meters) away. If manta comes close to you, remain calm and still and let the manta ray control the interaction with you.

5. Do Not Chase or Harass the Mantas 
You want to avoid restricting their natural behavior by blocking their path. Avoid duck-diving when they’re near. It may startle them and interrupt them while in their natural habitat trying to feed or clean.

That’s it! Stick to these 5 and you’ll be to engage with the mantas in a safe and responsible way, and while I’m not a marine biologist or expert, this is simply a guideline I’ve heard through my training. I hope this helps!

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In Indonesia

Epic Day Swimming with 150 Mantas!

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Diving with mantas is among one of the ultimate bucket lists for divers and why so many passionate divers come to Komodo Island, but how about swimming with 150 of them?

I started my morning with Wicked Diving on their boat, Charlie, with about a half dozen others who signed up for this full-day excursion. We were already off to a good start seeing dolphins playing in the water on our way to our first dive. We don’t always see a lot of dolphins around here so it was a nice surprise to see them from a close distance as they passed our boat.

charlie

We just finished up our second dive at Batu Balong, one of the best dive sites in the world, and were on our way to Makassar Reef (also nicknamed “Manta Point”), a dive site northwest of Komodo, known for finding mantas hence the nickname.

Our captain and some of our boat crew noticed something in the waters about 100 meters in the distance, and we notice there are about a dozen mantas. Our captain decided to turn the boat around, and that’s when we saw a long stretch of about 150 mantas. We watch the mantas from the second level deck of Charlie, and we are ecstatic. Everyone runs to grab their cameras and watch them in awe as they form a line behind each other looking like aquatic birds.

About ten minutes pass and we decide to keep going but continue to keep seeing mantas everywhere. I want to jump in! Everyone wants to jump in, so the captain and our dive instructor make the call to turn around and allow everyone to grab their mask and fins and hop in!

One of the Wicked staff members joined the boat trip today on her day off has never even seen a manta. This is someone grew up on this island, works in a dive shop, and barely snorkels. She escapes through travel books like the works of Paulo Coelho. Can you imagine the joy she felt not only seeing her first manta but hundreds let alone being able to go out and swim with them?? I’m pretty sure I can vouch for her by saying this is one epic moment in her lifetime.

Or could you imagine a couple who traveled from the other side of the world with only one dream to see a manta and then gets to see an entire sea full of them? Hell, even our dive instructor was ecstatic and said the last time he saw something like this was a year ago.

We all jumped in, and the captain was guiding us about the proper direction to go in, and once we found their path, it was craaaazy!! They were in every direction! On either side of me, below me, coming at me! There was one manta ray that was literally swimming 6 inches below me and so close to flapping it’s wings on me if I didn’t move. I remember coming manto y manto (er, I mean, mano y mano. hehe) with one manta ray with its mouth wide open. I’m thinking, “Oh sh#t! What if stay in place? Will we have a head-on collision?” Naturally my instinct was to get the hell out of its way.

snorkel selfie manta (1)

After about twenty minutes of being able to snorkel with these beautiful creatures, we get on the boat and head to our last dive at Manta Point.

We gear up, take a giant stride into the water, and descend into a drift. Sure enough, mantas are passing by in several directions. Not quite as many as our impromptu snorkel session, but still incredible to see and a different experience. You get to study their bellies as they pass you from above in twos, fours, and sixes or lean close to the ocean ground steadily watching them circle around you.

After experiencing an epic day with nature’s playground, it was no surprise that at the end of our trip back to Labuan Bajo that we were gifted with a beautiful sunset and three eagles passing in the distance. Incredible day!

eagle

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In Indonesia

I Got Punked!

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I can’t believe I got punked by one of my Wicked Diving instructors. I have spent over a month with the Wicked Diving Komodo team working on advancing my dive certifications and recently started my Rescue Diver Course.

I wasn’t initially thrilled about getting my EFR (Emergency First Responder) certification required for the Rescue Diver Course. Why? Classroom time means no dive time! Instead of a day out diving keeping cool with the manta rays or discovering camouflaged cuttlefish and scorpion fish underwater, I’d instead be spending a full day in the classroom watching guys in mullets in 80’s generation training videos. But this is a necessary and crucial step, and I knew it would be relatively easy because I’ve kept up with my CPR & First Aid over the last decade.

We go through our DVD material, and the DVD kept restarting. To get back to where were we, we had to manually fast-forward at a 2x fwd rate. I’m feeling like I’m watching a Hawksbill turtle. Slooowww!

It’s about 1/2 way through the day. We decide to take a break, and when I get back, he’s not ready. He calls one of the other dive guides down to help with the TV and I think nothing of it. I’m checking my Facebook and Instagram not paying any attention to what’s going on before I hear a loud POP!

It took me a second to register what was going on. There’s chaos, and I see our dive guide is leaning over the TV unresponsive. I’m thinking, “WTF! Is this a joke?” No way did he just get electrocuted. It would seem too obvious to pull a stunt like that when I’m working on my EFR. What are the odds of something like this happening? I mean, it is Komodo, and I can’t say that the electrical sockets are the safest.

I ask them if this an exercise, but they’re yelling at each other and fingers are being pointed back and forth to do something. I think what if this is a real accident? I immediately switch gears and run up and check the power supply and then lay him down to check for breathing, and then I finally get one of the guys to break a smile, and I’m relieved! What the hell guys!? Okay, you got me.

What I learned was that they popped a balloon from behind the TV. Since I’ve been in Indonesia, I’ve not seen ONE balloon at all in this country – let alone this tiny town of Labuan Bajo. I swear if these guys could get an Oscar, it would be well-deserved. I am happy to say I passed the exam with flying colors, probably because I didn’t want ever to have to deal with that mini heart attack ever again. 🙂

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In Indonesia

6 Simple Steps to Getting Your Dive Refresher

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If you’re thinking about getting a scuba dive refresher course, here are 6 simple steps you’ll learn through the course.

The dive refresher takes about one full day. I’m not a dive instructor (yet), so please always follow the direction of your instructor, but I did recently go through my dive refresher course around Komodo National Park in Indonesia after 15 years since my last dive. I’ll try to explain it in laymen terms without all the technical talk about the simple steps you’ll review when going through your dive refresher.

1. Buddy Check

In the buddy check, your instructor will show you how to safely check your buddy’s gear and essentially being their second set of eyes. This requires checking their BCD (the jacket that keeps you afloat) and seeing that it inflates and deflates properly, making sure the breathing apparatus is functioning on the regulator, and making sure all the harnesses are in place for a quick release, and that their weight belt is on.

2. Giant Step Entry

This is an easy step, literally! If you’re on a dive boat, or I imagine on a pool ledge, you just take one giant stride into the water holding having one hand on your weight belt and the other holding your mask and regulator. Once you fall into the water, you inflate your BCD and make clearance for the next diver after you.

3. Regulator Clearing

There are two methods of doing this. The first one is you take the regulator out of your mouth (pointing the breathing part down, so air doesn’t escape) and then placing the regulator back in your mouth. Once the regulator is back in your mouth, you’ll want to exhale as hard as you can until the regulator is clear.

The second method is following the exact same method, but instead of blowing air into the regulator, you use the purge button on the regulator. The purge button clears this for you.

4. Regulator Recovery

Again, there are two ways to recover your regulator if you happen to lose it. The first is to lean to the right and, then in a sweeping motion, use your right arm to grab it. It’ll likely come over your shoulder making it easy to recover.

The second method is to reach over your head or shoulder with your right arm and recover it that way.

Don’t forget to clear your regulator as needed.

5. Mask Clearing

There are 3 ways to clear your mask. I don’t know why I had such a hard time with this. Maybe it was my new mask and the silicone.

Partial mask clearing is you allow a little water to clear into the mask. Once it’s 1/2 filled, you open the bottom of your mask breathing out until the water clears. Repeat as necessary.

Full mask clearing is pretty much the same as the partial mask clearing but instead of filling your mask with only 1/2 the amount of water, you fill it completely.

Open mask clearing you take the mask completely off remembering to only breath with your mouth and not your nose then putting the mask back on and clearing the mask as above. You’ll want to make sure you always take a deep breath before clearing so that your breath is more powerful clearing out all of the water.

6. Neutral Buoyancy

Buoyancy is one of the most important skills you can learn while diving. If you can master your buoyancy, you can avoid damaging our ecosystem when diving underwater. In this step, you’ll essentially learn the difference between positive buoyancy (too much air in your BCD), negative buoyancy (too many weights or not enough air in your BCD), and then neutral buoyancy, which is what we want to strive for. In this step, you’ll observe your buoyancy and how to control it when inhaling and exhaling under water.

That’s about it! There are YouTube videos to give you a better visual. Just type in one of the 6 simple steps to getting your dive refresher. And, remember, to always follow the instruction of your guide when taking a refresher course.

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In Indonesia

Dive Refresher in Komodo Island

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I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last month with the Wicked Diving Komodo team working on my certifications from Advanced to Divemaster. It was nearly 15 years (yes, that dates me!) since my last dive and now I get to immerse myself fully at one of the greatest dive locations in the world (raise the roof!).

Because it had been so long since I’ve been back in the diver life, I had a lot of questions. What is a BCD and regulator again?? Octo-what?? I hope I don’t have any trouble equalizing. But then one of Labuan Bajo’s finest instructors, Marsel, introduced me to the underwater world again with a few simple steps in a refresher course, and since I put my mask on the right way, I knew I was off to a great start!

Our first dive was in Siaba Basar, also nicknamed Turtle City, and it was pretty easy-peasy for beginners. I’m feeling like a natural. Fins are appropriately placed on both feet, and I remembered how to breathe without using my nose again. We saw a some tropical fish and my confidence is up. In other words, I got this! Like a true champ.

Now that I’m feeling all mermaid status, it was time to step up our skills and visit a more interesting site – one with [drum rolls] MANTAS! I’ve never seen mantas before, so I know this is going to be freaking awesome!

On our way to our second dive, I hear Ilham, one of the other dive guides, screaming, “Whaaaale shark!!!” We all run to the side of the upper deck and see a baby whale shark swimming next to the boat. “Stop the boat!” The guides grabbed their masks and then jumped into the water without hesitation. I’m watching from above and then I see other divers following suit. I don’t want to miss out on this opportunity and jump on the whale shark party train with only my mask being able to see it for the last 10 seconds before it drifted deeper into the sea.

At this point, we’re feeling ecstatic. We get back onto the boat and continue to our second dive site before mantas came flying out of the water from a short distance away. Now I’m even more mindblown. What an incredible thing to witness and we’re not even in the water yet! This is surely a good sign.

Everyone is pumped and eager to get in. Andreas, one of our other dive instructors, was trying to give us a dive briefing, but we couldn’t help but take our attention off of him to see the mantas flying from different directions. But once he said the sooner we get through the briefing, the sooner we can see these mantas underwater, he had our undivided attention.

The second dive was at Makasar Reef that is known for being a cleaning station for Mantas. It started off with a light drift dive. I’m trying to be cool and mimick Marsel’s perfect buoyancy looking ever so relaxed and keeping my arms in place instead of like an amateur doggy paddling under water. I think I did okay!

We passed along some brown bamboo sharks, sweet lips, Little Nemo, and even unicorn fish – but it wasn’t until we saw four mantas between 3-4 meters circling that we decided to lay low and observe these majestic creatures for about 10 minutes.

Nothing compares to the very first time seeing a manta ray – especially when it hovers so close above you that it could touch you. I remember being in awe as we watched these guys get closer and closer to us, one of them even spouting out something from it’s rear in sets! I’ll let your imagination run wild with that one. At that point, aside from nature’s sense of humor, I knew I was exactly where I needed to be. No other world existed but this one at this very moment.

We have one more dive for the day, and we ended it at Tatawa Besar. This was another low-key drift dive with plenty of coral to see. We saw both white tip and black tip sharks, Hawksbill turtles, and many other great marine life. A nice and relaxing way to end the day after being filled with so much excitement as we chase the sunset back to Labuan Bajo.

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