Manta Spa
ENManta Sandy is the most famous dive site in Raja Ampat. It's a real manta ray "spa"! Proof in photos and video.
Manta addict
I'm a spoiled rotten diver. I have already met the mantas of Koh Bon (Thailand), the mantas of Nusa Penida (Bali), the mantas of Sangalaki (Borneo), the mantas of Komodo (Flores) ... Progressive and inexorable rise in power.
Manta rays are like that: the more you see, the more you want... Better not to start. After that, it is impossible to stop! And on top of that, you have to increase the doses.
As a result, I am now completely addicted to manta rays of Raja Ampat!
Despite the lack of light that afternoon in March 2012 (gray skies and late day), my Canon 7D did pretty well.
It's a good thing we did two dives on the site... My battery ran out on the first! For once, I was "forced" to fully enjoy the spectacle with my eyes alone, with no lens in front of me.
😉
Manta ray cleaning station
Why such a concentration of manta rays at this place? In fact, the beautiful giants of the sea come here to get rid of their parasites and dirt by small cleaning fish.
It is a spa, I tell you! A much more elegant term than "cleaning station"... The manta rays also take advantage of it to gobble up plankton, when the current is there.
Read more ➜ All my dives with manta rays
Anyway, anyway. The site of Manta Sandy is a joy for divers!
You just have to land quietly on the sandy bottom, between 15 and 20 meters deep, at a respectful distance, and admire the show.
Above the coral potatoes, dozens and dozens of mantas keep spinning ...
They never stop coming out of the blue, turning over the coral, disappearing, to reappear without warning, on all sides. They seem to be always more numerous. They pass and pass again, rubbing themselves against our bubbles, not at all frightened.
Some of them, more curious, even come to leer at me from very very close. They slow down, graze me, hover for a moment above my head, then move away in a graceful flapping of fins. It is incredible!!!
Once the initial excitement is over, the fascination remains. One never tires of contemplating this endless and splendid underwater carousel.
😲
But the clock is ticking, the bars in the bottles are spinning, the decorations are coming...
So we have to resign ourselves to go back up. Slowly, quietly, by accomplishing in our turn slow circles towards the surface, to continue to enjoy, until the end, this fabulous view on the spiral of the mantas.
Of course, everybody "dries" his tank on dives like these...
To my eyes as a diver, there is no more beautiful sight than a manta ray swimming... The manta surpasses all other underwater creatures in grace. The combination of elegance and power is irresistible.
I measure my luck, to have been able, there again, to attend such a ballet. And I'm not the only one... Everyone has stars in their eyes when they get back on the boat!
Manta Sandy is a really exceptional site. Mantas are guaranteed at 95%. It also has the advantage of being easier to dive than the neighboring site, Manta Ridge, as it is a little less exposed to the current.
But what is extraordinary in Raja Ampat is that even on sites that are not "manta points", it is not uncommon to come across one or two mantas, at random, especially on dives on the well named Blue Magic... Think of raising your nose when you are stuck to a nudibranch or a pygmy seahorse!
→ To see all the articles about my dives at Raja Ampat : one click here !
Nice parade 😉
The view looks pretty good for a manta spot, especially if the weather was gray. Unless you've really reworked your photos and video?
@Valentin: the visi was more than correct during the first dive, a little worse in the second when I made these photos and videos (more current loaded with plankton and sky more and more gray). We still see that there are a lot of particles in the water.
No editing on the video (white balance made on the sand). Minor retouching on the pictures (framing, contrast, etc.), except for those taken without a flash in natural light (white balance made on the computer).
By bright sun, this site must be even more fabulous!
🙂
So mesmerizing these rays ... Thanks for the nice video =)
Thanks Romain! I too had great pleasure in rediscovering these images, more than a month after my trip and dives in Raja Ampat, while preparing this post.
🙂
I'm not a diver, but reading you makes me even more eager to see manta rays in Rangiroa in a few months! 8)
@Marie: mantas, but also sharks and dolphins ... I'm willing to bet you could even dive to better enjoy it so you will be amazed !!!
😉
Superb! I've only come across them once, in Komodo, and not from this close!
@Xtinette: I'm lucky then, in Komodo, I'd come across them several times and up close!!! 🙂 But in Raja Ampat, it was even more spectacular....
Too much the mantas!
I had the opportunity to see them three times in Bora-Bora about ten years ago but since then none 🙁
I'm in withdrawal 😥 ❗ ❗
@Laurence: Bora Bora!!! 😮 Wow...
Will you have to go back, then, or else you test Raja Ampat ... 8)
In fact I keep a great memory of Bora for:
- mantas
-the Sharks
-the beautiful landscapes
But, I stay on my end for the rest at the dives level
it's true that at the time I was just starting out in organic farming, so I may have missed a few things, but despite everything I feel I've seen more in terms of diversity in the Philippines.....
😯 Don't you think we're getting a little picky.... 😉
@Laurence: totally... 😆
Rotten-spoiled, girls !!!
I'll change my nickname when I've seen some. No But !!!
@Ray Manta / Block 18: 😆 Don't drool too much though (compared to your 2nd comment below)...
ah, I forgot ... I drooled over the video!
Oh la la ... what a fabulous date!
@LadyMilonguera: Oh, boy, yes !!!! 😀
Thank you for this beautiful and fantastic video! It makes me want to go there...
@Coralie: I love to make others want more... 😈
On the other hand, you have to save up for Raja Ampat. I'd been dreaming of going there for years, and you can't imagine how happy I am to have finally managed to dive there. The problem is, I want to do it again now...
🙄
PS. Are you finally going on a cruise with the Photo-sub Forum? It's coming, right?
I've never had much luck diving, even though I've seen a lot of beautiful things. Stingrays, whale sharks, turtles were always hiding...
@Julien: tss-tss, that's not normal... You'll have to go back underwater to tame them... 😉
I've admired the mantas at rajah ampat 3 times in their spas as you say, and I saw a solitary one, coming up at the end of a dive, there was barely 10 m of water and I was glued, face to face, with my hook. The manta was huge and I could have caressed it over and over again. The guide told me it was an oceanic manta, much bigger than the others. ? ? ? Do you know this detail?
I'm doing everything I can to get back to rajah ampat, seeing how full the shakti is, I wonder if you' re talking too much about it.
@ Gerard: the same, on Blue Magic, each time, a huge manta at the end of the dive ... No doubt this "ocean manta" which you speak? I'm not very rigorous in marine biology on the mantas chapter, I'm going to study this ...
Otherwise, I doubt to succeed to fill all the cruisers of the corner with my few posts. But if you really can not find a place, I will stop praising Raja Ampat's charms, so ...
😆
There are indeed 2 species of manta rays: reefs (called Alfredi, maximum size 4.50 meters) and oceanic (called Birostris, maximum size 6.80 meters).
Occasionally I'll be able to give you more info and some links to visit ... now I'm off diving again ... with the mantas of Nusa Penida
@Valentin: ah, Nusa Penida ... What good memories !!! 8)
https://petitesbullesdailleurs.fr/voyage-bali-indonesie-2008/
Enjoy !!!!
Ah, the manta rays of "Manta Point" (or "Manta Reef" or "Arborek Manta"), depending on the guidebook. We, too, were lucky enough to see other mantas several times, at Blue Magic and on Sardines, which ki is particularly rare, it seems. I don't remember their size, but we also came across "mobulas", small black mantas often in schools of 6 or 7. Funny (and sublime, of course). I have the impression from your photos and video that they were quite numerous. The maximum for us was 7 (not bad). Your video makes me drool, as does your post: it's like being there! This place is also particularly mythical for us, as it was here, underwater, that we met our mutual acquaintance "Valérie Mantaleau". What a laugh and what a memory! http://www.ontheploufagain.com/?p=1753 😆
PS - Your photos are really beautiful because I know the conditions of the area. So still bravo (what settings?)
@IsaM: yes, I remember about the meeting with Valerie, I had read this post!!! 😉
For my part, all my dives at Blue Magic have ended each time with the arrival of one or two large mantas!!!!
Finally, thanks for the compliment on the photos! It would be tedious to list the settings here, since I adjust everything manually depending on the conditions, and it also depends on the lens used, from one camera to another. In short, there isn't ONE setting to recommend... Here, it wasn't particularly easy, because on top of that, I was switching from photo mode to video mode all the time... 😡
Fantastic... Thank you for these superb images, the music is very well chosen! These animals are so graceful and an encounter with these giants of the sea changes every diver for life. I remember my first Manta, it was in Komodo, she had come out of the blue and was heading towards us quietly like a spaceship. It was magical.
@Julien: I'm glad you like the video... But it's true that with a subject like this, when you're a diver, it's hard not to appreciate it...
🙄
On the subject of Indonesian manta rays, a rather unsatisfying report from 2 specialists based on Nusa Lembongan to study the behavior of Nusa Penida manta rays. The couple left a few days ago for Lombok, more precisely for the port of Tanjung Luar.
Some pictures of their journey in Hell:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.327731873965576.74032.244643352274429&type=1
You can find out more about this nightmare and Manta in general by liking their "Aquatic Alliance" page on Facebook.
In the meantime, please feel free to pass on this link so that fishing is finally regulated in the waters around Lombok ...
Wow, wow, wow!!!! The only time I saw manta was in Sangalaki. It was magical, breathtaking, fabulous. But there weren't as many as in your video! Thanks for sharing all this, and congratulations on the great video.
@Marion: Ah, Sangalaki... (sigh) I talked about it here:
https://petitesbullesdailleurs.fr/les-raies-mantas-de-sangalaki-20090726/
and there:
https://petitesbullesdailleurs.fr/excursion-a-sangalaki-20091025/
🙄
It's incredible, what can I say?
Nothing, I imagine, no words can describe it...
@Fabrice: But yes, we can find some words... 😉
Now that you have discovered the pleasures of diving (and that you intend to continue), you will see: underwater encounters will be more and more extraordinary, I guarantee you ...
Brings back good memories 😀
By the way, the site you call "Manta sandy", isn't it that sandbar to the north-west of Palua Mansuar?
I think I recognized the coral potatoes and 2 manta seen in 2009:
- the black with its white spot below the mouth
- the white with its 3 W-shaped black marks at the bottom
At the time, I made a video with a small APN, which has nothing to do with your superb 7/9 film...
In any case, I can see that you're taking a liking to the "manta hammam", an expression I think is more appropriate given the ambient humidity 😈
@Alimata: yes, that's right, that's the site... 😀 And you know what? I'm going back there in a few days.
Maybe I'll call it Manta Jacuzzi. Mantas love to rub their belly in the bubbles of the divers.
I can't believe you can recognize manta rays by their markings... Impressive. Thanks for your little video, very nice !!!! (I can confirm, after watching it, that it's the same site).
🙄
Well !! I'm at Kri Eco Resort from October 4th to 11th on Pulau Mansuar !! a week after the earthquake of mag 6.6 we'll see if the manta will still be at the spa, I'm ready to give them a double Californian massage if needed! we'll see if October is the right time!
Beautiful and informative.
A question about RA: they talk about mantas, sharks, tuna, and in the same sentence about nudibranchs. Are we seeing mostly 'big' ones, micro ones, or both? 😉
#komodorangiroafakaravalebonheur
@ Jean-Fab: both ! Big and small in Raja Ampat, with coral farting health, a profusion, and a hallucinatory biodiversity ...
1TP3Monseigneur's sympathetic references 😉
Magnifique, ça donne envie de faire de la plongée