Manta & Lava Tunnel Tour - Fri, 22 Mar

My Manta Ray Quest

my alarm didn't go off ... i mis-read the clock, jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, etc., then finally realized i had another hour ... whew !       i arrived at 8:30 as instructed.   we got in the boat, and Fabian was our Guide, who spoke very good English   :)     ...there were only 7 of us on the boat, so it wasn't so crowded, it was nice.     and the Captain was Roberto, the guy i talked with last night at the Tour Company ...... so he knew what i wanted..... no guarantees, of course ...

nice smooth ride out there ... that's a good sign ... if it's too rough, you can't see the Mantas ...  we did see 40-50 of turtles ... either mating or just floating.    Fabian confirmed my thoughts about the exhausting activity involved in laying eggs .... he said that many of these turtles we see floating here, are females who have just laid eggs and are literally too exhausted to do anything but float   :(    .....

first stop was Union Rock .... with Blue and Nazca Bobbies ....

it is impossible to show you know just how HUGE the waves are out here ...  here is a photo of the rock, normally ....

this gives you some idea of the size of the waves that hit it ... only the top part of the rock visible ...

and the waves cascading off it ... incredible ! ....

after this rock ... is where you might see the Mantas ... both the Capt and the Guide were actively looking .....

then ... they saw the Manta Ray!!  .... only one ....  this is what you usually see, ... it's white 'wing-tips' just breaking the surface of the water ...... (unless you are lucky enough to see them jump/fly completely out of the water; i'll have to save that for another day) ....

i took a few photos from the boat ...

more thrilling than i thought ...

it was AWESOME ! ....

the Captain said i could get in the water with it ....  i quickly grabbed my mask, snorkel, camera ... the Capt said you better get your fins on if you want to keep up with it .... yes !    ..and in the water i went .....   couldn't find it at first ... they were in the boat yelling at me and pointing ....  i finally saw it ...   i didn't know it had white undersides ....

i took some video ... but it was a very quick encounter ...

before i knew it,  it was gone ... and i knew they were waiting for me in the boat, so i didn't want to continue any further ..... i was SO GRATEFUL !!!!!!!!

what is a Manta Ray anyway?    they are the same species as the Stingrays, Spotted Eagle Rays, and Golden CowRays, all of which i've seen ... but these are the largest ... a max of 22'  ... that's huge !   ... the 'scoop-like fins' are movable, which i didn't know, until i saw them for myself.   (i thought they were fixed in place)  ...  my photos aren't that good, so i borrowed this one from the internet   .....

we proceeded to run the waves to get into the Lava Tunnel area .... i am still amazed that they are able to navigate through those huge rollers.     you can see the waves still roaring on the horizon ...

but we were safely inside ....

this time, we got to walk around ON the lava tunnels ..... (i think that other trip i paid for was a major rip-off, we never got to got a walking tour!)    ...interesting topography ...  lava with cactus growing on it ....

the Guide took this photo .... still 'high' about seeing the Manta

 .... and the Captain took this one .... i'm a cactus ... :)

we saw 2 Blue Footed Boobie 'couples' ... they are known for their 'courting dance' ... but they weren't up to it today.   but they were making strange sounds .... ...

notice that they have different color feet .... the one is turquoise like the one i saw in Santa Cruz  ... the other blue ...

then we snorkeled the tunnels ... it was WAY more fun today, and we went through more and longer tunnels ... further evidence that we got ripped-off on Sunday.

we traveled to another area ... calmer .. and without the cactus ...

we watched lots of White Tipped Sharks for 20min ... video, but only this one photo  ... again, on Sunday, we briefly saw 2 sharks  :(

also saw several turtles ...

and this Chocolate Chip Cushion Sea Star ...

this was a MUCH better tour ... it does matter who you go with ... but the Tour Operator has different Captains ... so, you just never know until it's too late ....


not much of a sunset tonight, but i took this one out my bedroom window ....

i started to organize to pack (my still wet clothes), and ran some last minute errands.    while i was working on my blog, the Guide that i met on my first bike ride stopped by and asked me to join him for a 'farewell drink'  .... we had Coco Loco's ..... sugar cane rum in coconut water, .... in the coconut ...

need to get up at 4am tomorrow and head to Santa Cruz

i'm so happy, i saw a Manta Ray   :)