YD Scuba Diving Forums banner

Mantas?????

1K views 14 replies 12 participants last post by  andydivebum 
#1 ·
Unfortunately it is my 40th birthday next year.

The good news is that the missus says to celebrate I can go anywhere in the world as a dive trip to see anything I want.
Now, as she is coming, Truk Lagoon is out, so I need to think of something else, and that is MANTAS!!

So then, can anyone come up with a destination next year which can guarantee (as far as is possible) Manta sightings.

Ideally Sept or October, but anytime will do if I can get to see these magnificent animals.


Help me please!!!!!!

Stu!
 
#4 ·
Unfortunately it is my 40th birthday next year.
Ah, 40 eh? :rolleyes:
The good news is that the missus says to celebrate I can go anywhere in the world as a dive trip to see anything I want.
Now, as she is coming, Truk Lagoon is out, so I need to think of something else, and that is MANTAS!!
:thumbsup: nice one Mrs Stu!
So then, can anyone come up with a destination next year which can guarantee (as far as is possible) Manta sightings.
Yup, rays/Thailand - that's on my to do sooner rather than later list :D
Ideally Sept or October, but anytime will do if I can get to see these magnificent animals.
Choosey eh? ;)
Help me please!!!!!!
Well, I'll help you carry your suitcases if you want :teeth:
 
#5 ·
Mantas, we did this as part of our Honeymoon. In 9 days on the island we saw them on 8 days. The other day because we deliberately went where they weren't.

So the place you need to go to is Manihi.

Blue Nui - Dive Centers - Manihi - Home

Stay here Manihi hotel - Manihi Pearl Beach Resort - French Polynesia but go for a Superior Beach Bungalow, you actually get a lot more for your money that way. The over water ones are cool but bl**dy expensive.

Without a doubt the best diving I've ever done, in the best company I've ever had. But that might have been something to do with it being our Honeymoon.

If you want to make a real trip of it, I can recommend some other islands to go to as well, depends on what you want to do / see.

HTH

.
 
#6 ·
Kona

We did the manta night dive in Kona (big island, Hawaii). Awesome! It's actually what got us into scuba. We'd been the previous year as snorkellers and looked down at all the divers on the bottom and thought that's where we want to be - the next year we were!

The DM’s take down crates of lights to attract plankton, which in turn attracts the mantas. You settle down in a ring and watch the mantas perform graceful somersaults above you as they scoop up the plankton. They come really close (you're not allowed to wear snorkels in case they scrape themselves).

Numbers do vary - we had five turn up on our dive, but another guy who did the previous nights only saw one. I think it's rare for none to turn up.
Here's a video I took: Manta ray night dive - Google Video

We also saw one do a flypast the reef during our day dives, though I think that's quite rare.

--
Neil.

 
#10 · (Edited)
How about the maldives ? Was there on a liveaboard in August last year and back again in September. Lankanfinolhu Faru (Manta Point) is the place to go, a cleaning station at North Male Atol. We dived it four or five times and never saw less than seven or eight Mantas on each dive and if you are lucky you may see a whale shark.



 
#11 ·
Try the Maldives. I was there in the first week on April this year and saw them on six out of sixteen dives. That was on the northern atolls. If you go on the feeding stations of the mid atolls you'll get much closer to them. Fantastic.
 
#13 ·
For me it has to be the Maldives every time...been 5 times and going back this year...can't wait!

We've been lucky enough to have dives where the Mantas seemed to come in and put on a truly spectacular performance; they came in with true grace and put on a 'show' for over 60 minutes...14 of them...wow! You did'nt know where to look; if it was a West End Show you would pay ££££ and it would be worth every £££.

On this one trip and the last day we could dive the weather was s@$t and all the divers decided to have a 'chill' day but a Maldivian Instructor who we've good friends with said that if we wanted to go out that would be cool and if so which dive site would we like to do? Let me think? Sunrise Thilla please, so we went and...

This time the dive lasted 70+ minutes, consisted of 3 divers; 1 Lion Fish and 16+ Mantas....fantastic!! When we got back to the island and other divers asked how the dive went you can imagine how blue the air went...oh dear :0(...big time!

So as you can see I have good reason to say the Maldives...
Hope you get some ifor that might help with the final choice...
Kasha
 
G
#14 ·
Watched a fab programme the other evening called Shark Mountain and it was filmed in the Cocos Islands off Costa Rica.... Mantas, Whale Sharks, Hammerheads galore and various other sharks. Next on my to visit list after Truk! :teeth:

Corinne
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top