It was always my dream to organise a dedicated manta expedition, so there was much squealing when Arden Divers scuba friends, and buddies from further afield (16 intrepid adventurers), ventured on the diving trip of a lifetime on the MV Conte Max.
Our mission: to see as many mantas as possible.
Our destinations: Baa and Raa atolls, accompanied by and under the guidance of not one, but two experts from the Manta Trust, the wonderful Frankie and Sophie.
We were not disappointed. There were many sightings of the majestic mantas, as well as other amazing encounters with reef and nurse sharks, turtles, eagle rays, morays (one naughty biter !!), not to mention the amazing schooling fish, too many to mention. The Batfish crowd were also happy!
The currents were “interesting” and the reef hooks were definitely very helpful (especially as some well-camouflaged Stonefish were lurking). Many of the sites had beautiful overhangs, with glass fish in abundance—always a favourite for photographers. A couple of nice swim-throughs, and a very critter-filled night dive with eels and turtle—what’s not to love?
Notable was the Anemone Reef, the like of which none of us had ever seen, literally thousands upon thousands of beautiful, colourful anemones catching the nutrients brought in by the current. The resident clownfish were even visiting their neighbours—interesting!
Then there was the headline act—mantas, everywhere, beyond our wildest dreams!
We marvelled at the manta feeding station action, with fly pasts of 7 or more mantas and witnessed barrel rolling, piggybacking, and all the manta behaviour our dedicated Manta Trust experts had briefed us on.
The zenith was THE VORTEX, a Blue Planet moment, where all divers, in blue water, were immersed slap bang in the middle of a frenzy of over 50 cyclone feeding mantas doing, well, everything! Truly the best dive of my, and possibly everyone’s life—I think we all experienced our own moment, with memories to last forever.
Not only were we given a dazzling display of nature at its best, there were other “bests” too—the marvellous crew and guides, who were superb. And speaking of guides, here’s some video of the vortex shot by our wonderful guide Ali:
After dark we shared stories and celebrated successes like Sophie’s 700th and Chris’s 1000th dive. We enjoyed some great presentations, a fancy dress evening, traditional Maldivian cooking and the desert island BBQ, probably rated as the world’s best (sorry Alastair) 😊
It was a marvellous trip in every way: a delightful, happy, fun filled action packed expedition—it lived entirely up to its name, with an abundance of manta sightings and lots of fun 😊. Thanks everyone for making it so special – who’s up for the next adventure?
Angie (the one and only madaboutmantas 😊)
