There’s a dive site just off the north coast of Sumbawa well known for it’s benthic critters like the wonderpus, ghost pipefish, and and a rainbow of nudies, called Sumbawa Surprise.
This week however, the surprise wasn’t the beautiful little bottom dwellers, it was the giant oceanic manta that was almost entirely white that spent the better part of half an hour circling the boat. Just to put things into perspective for you of how much of a surprise this animal was to us… I’ve been doing back to back Bali-Komodo-Bali trips for over three years now, with around 2,000 dives in this particular area, and this was the first time I have ever seen an oceanic manta in these waters. The other shocking characteristic about the manta was how white it was! Seventy-five percent of it’s back was completely white, which is highly unusual as most have a bit of white on the fin tips and just behind the mouth. No one, from dive guides to our guests had ever seen one such as this. I felt like Captain Ahab as I climbed into the dinghy so it could put me in position to be closer with it, only instead of a harpoon I had my trusty camera!
Mermaid II Bali-Komodo-Bali Diving Cruise
Sep 24-Oct 1, 2016
Alex Lindbloom
Videographer
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