Looking up

I experienced the mantas looking up this time - not down. I did my first night dive, which was quite the experience with mantas all around me and the other divers. I was a bit uneasy about where to place myself at the bottom, especially getting a warning beforehand about the scorpion fish. "People who have gotten the venom claim the pain is so bad they want their hand amputated." But hey, ended the night with no venom and no pain, so in my opinion, it was quite the success. Not gonna lie though, it was hard to manage the excess weight, the light, the camera, and keeping my eyes open at where to place myself at the bottom. I had so much weight on me I even had trouble surfacing, but I made it. Oh yea - and when I went to initially make my first leap into the darkness, my regulator wasn't giving me any air. Strange. My air wasn't on. Oops. At least I caught before I got in the water...

Seeing the mantas from the bottom was definitely a different experience than watching them from the surface. It's really like some type of show with all the lights and bubbles from the divers - the mantas are obviously the show, putting on their amazing performances, and we, the divers, are the audience. Eyes wide open shining through the masks amazed of what's unfolding in front of us.






This last one is my boss doing his job - filming the manta. From down below, it gives a good perspective of the size ratio between the two. Honestly - so cool. Yea, the ocean's pretty dark at night...

Now some more space invasions. Don't know how one could ever think this is not the coolest thing ever.




























Just as we were getting ready to leave for the night shift, I had to run back into my room to grab my camera. The rays were hitting the ocean in such a dramatic way, but of course, the picture does little justice to seeing it in person..