31 October 2016
This is it. This is the place.
Nusa Lembongan is an island known for its resident manta ray population. Correction, Nusa Pedina is an island known for manta rays, Nusa Lembongan is the adjacent island that most of the local dive shops base off of. Diving with manta rays, that’s what I’m here for. Bucket list item number one.
I only have three full days on the island, so I set straight out to find a dive shop. I start by checking with the company I went out with in Bali. “Sorry, we’re not going to Manta Point or Manta Bay any of those days due to weather.” Excuse me? Unacceptable. On to the next shop. “We went to those sites today, so we won’t be going again until the day after next.” Are you kidding me!? That’s cutting it too close to my departure date for my liking. Third times the charm? “Yes, we will be going to Manta Bay tomorrow and have space left, but I will need a confirmation in the next half hour.” THANK GOD. But wait, I need to confirm with my friend who is halfway across the island within the next half hour?! Crap. I start running.
PAULINE!!! After racing back to the homestay and confirming with her that tomorrow does indeed work for both of us, I manage to get back in touch with the dive shop just in time to secure spots on tomorrow’s boat. WE’RE GOING TO FIND MANTAS!
We wake up bright and early, greeted by a stunning view of a rainbow arcing over the bay. A good omen to start the day. One beautiful and bumpy boat ride later we arrive at the famed Manta Bay. I balk at the number of dive boats already moored in the bay, but quickly recover when our captain takes us to the adjacent cove that is completely devoid of divers. Part of me is grateful to avoid the crowds, but another part notes that if there’s that many boats over there surely there are manta. My doubts are quickly dispelled when we get in the water.
Pauline and I luck out, and get the small dive group. By small I mean just the two of us and our dive master. We descend into the blue, a variety of large coral heads in clusters below us, broken up by swaths of white sand. Clown fish guard giant anemones, pairing butterfly fish glide around sea fans, ribbon eels poke out of their dens… I’m so easily distracted. I remind myself to focus, this dive is about the megafauna. I look up and start scanning the blue for activity when I hear tapping from our dive master. My head snaps around to look where he’s pointing. Nothing…wait, is that… IT IS! A lithe shadow seems to materialize out of the endless blue before us. It’s a massive black manta ray, and its gliding straight towards us. I think my heart stopped.
Like so many times before, I question how anyone can think we are the only intelligent beings on this planet. This manta ray could have swam anywhere in that vast blue, but it swam to us, and circled around us before continuing onward. I’m pretty sure I forgot to breath until our dive master brought me back to attention by motioning that it was ok to follow the ray. So follow we did, gliding along behind it as we watched in awe at how skillfully it maneuvered through the water. Maybe it was all in my head, but I swear, it kept looking back at us as we followed it, and slowed down when we fell behind. I felt like we were playing follow the leader with a fish, a fish with a 4 meter wingspan. I would have happily followed it until my air ran out, but our dive master was more sensible, and called us back in the other direction. Fine then.
I wasn’t sulking for long, because soon enough we happened upon a school of six mantas (I may have shed a tear or two), and not long after that encounter, a lone and curious juvenile manta came to check us out. This is the interaction that left me most in awe. It came so close I could have reached out and touched it, looking at us as it circled our group. Yes, I’m sure it wasn’t in my head this time, it was watching us just as we were watching it. I was absolutely in awe.
So, diving with manta rays: check. I felt so blessed to have been able to be with such remarkable creatures in their natural environment. There was no man manipulation to lure them to that site; Manta Bay is a natural feeding zone for the manta rays in the region. What’s really cool is that the dive company we went out with partners with the Marine Megafauna Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to researching manta rays around the world, and to increasing public awareness of the threats the species face.
We surfaced with smiles plastered to our faces, and they remained for the remainder of the day. Ok, the week if we’re being honest.
