Our first day in the water after too long a stretch afforded us an immediate closeup encounter with our old friends, the mantas of coastal ecuador. No sooner had we arrived at the anchor and our dive companion Stacy Bierwegen was approached up close and personal by the familiar ghostly shape of my long time manta friends. As if in recognition of our long friendship, the manta circled us for over ten minutes, hovering around in our bubble streams and examining us as closely as we were examining it.
Sadly, some fishing line was caught around its torso, and reminded us starkly why we are here, to learn more about them and hopefully raise awareness as to their vulnerability.
We sighted four mantas in total on our first day and positively ID´d two of them, which looked very similar to ones from our records from 2007. We will try to confirm if this is a definite repeat sighting in the next few days.
Sadly, some fishing line was caught around its torso, and reminded us starkly why we are here, to learn more about them and hopefully raise awareness as to their vulnerability.
We sighted four mantas in total on our first day and positively ID´d two of them, which looked very similar to ones from our records from 2007. We will try to confirm if this is a definite repeat sighting in the next few days.
1 comment:
Fantastic!!!
I am so much into sharks that I sometimes forget these true angels of the deep blue!
Now the Chinese are going after these most gentle creatures, too. Not for theis wing tips as a subsitute for shark fins, but for their gills. How much more perverted can Chinese "gourmets" become?
And - how can that be stopped or at least drastically be reduced to save the mantas from extinction?
Mark - use all your energies and resources to let the world know what is in store for the mantas. There are too few manta lovers and activists like you!
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