Chasing mantas
After spending a few days on Bali and drinking too many Bintangs, Dana and I headed to Nusa Penida for a bit of a quieter time. We reached our accommodation mid-morning after taking a few boats and short ride on the back of a scooter taxi when we got to the island's port. We waited for two hours to check in to find out that the dorm was out of commission due to bed bugs the night before, so we could get an upgrade to a bungalow or find somewhere else to stay. We had had a hard enough time booking this place, so we elected to take the discounted bungalow. We paranoiacally checked our own beds for the nasty little roaches, thankfully finding none.
We explored the island on a scooter. Lucky for me, Dana was well experienced with one, so I could ride on the back of hers. Our first day there, we tried to go to Atuh beach. We failed to find it, instead hiking to a nice viewpoint and then down to a rocky beach, where I stupidly tried to swim and cut my hand on some coral. The coastal ride there was breathtaking, and we got to do the same ride back at sunset and low tide, which was very rewarding. The next day, we went to Kelingking (or, colloquially, T-rex) beach. This was one of the highlights of the island for me. I did the arduous but fun 200m hike down to the beach from the top, navigating sketchy bamboo and rock "stairs", while Dana stayed up top and went to a temple. The beach at the bottom was soft, deep, pristine sand, and not very busy, most people electing to skip the trek down. I could have stayed there all day, but instead only hung around for less than an hour, since I had to meet Dana back up top to head out. However, I was there long enough to get pummeled by the strong waves and relax in the calmer waters beyond them, and enjoy a brief rest on the beach before I headed back up.
The whole island was beautiful and exploring it was fun, but the main draw for me was the chance to swim with manta rays, something that's been on my far-fetched bucket list for years. We had seen the gentle giants from our vantage point on several cliffs, the crystal clear water below making easy to spot them even from hundreds of metres up. Seeing them swim around like that was cool enough, but I was hoping to get in the water with them. There were a few snorkeling excursions organized by the dive shops in the area and our accommodation, but they were expensive and didn't have an explicit goal of finding mantas, so they weren't very attractive to us. We had read that we could charter a small boat from Crystal Bay, so we took our scooter over there midday and were happy to find several shacks that did custom snorkeling trips. We asked to go find some mantas, and 10 minutes later we were on a private boat on the hunt. We drove around Manta Bay for a few minutes before the captain shouted "Manta! Manta!" and we hurriedly jumped in after it.
We saw the one he referenced, but it was gone in a flash. We spent the next ten minutes swimming around having a look for more, which was a challenge as it was high tide and the water was really choppy. Our captain would shout to us every few minutes when he saw more from the boat, and we would clumsily swim toward him, trying to catch a glimpse before they disappeared again. I lingered in a small area for a few minutes, going back and forth between looking underwater and coming up to see if the captain or Dana had spotted anything. I was starting to lose hope that we would get any up close and personal time with them when I dipped my head in for another look and couldn't believe my eyes.
I could have reached out and touched the manta, it was so close. It had its white, spotted belly to me as it swam by. And then another. And another. A train of at least five of them, right next to me. I came up and yelled to Dana, but she was too far away. I later learned that the same train had swum right by her, and she got some spectacular pictures with her underwater camera. In the moment, though, I realized she wouldn't be able to catch up, so I started to chase them.
Despite moving gracefully and languidly, they were damn fast. Although I was sprinting and wore fins, I was barely able to keep up with the slowest one in the train. It only lasted for a few minutes, but it seemed like hours to me. Every so often, I would have to slam on the brakes as they had stopped dead in their tracks. They would swim around each other when they stopped - it almost seemed like they were playing, or the largest one was taking a head count and making sure everybody was still there. Once, he started to swim right at me. Whether he thought I was a member of the family or he was trying to intimidate me, I'm not sure, but he soon turned sharply away from me and continued his game or head count.
After about three iterations of this, I was exhausted and I knew we were nearing the edge of the bay. I couldn't keep up any longer, so I had to let them go. The captain called us back in, and we headed back to the bay. On the way back, Dana and I compared notes and we got our first look at her amazing photos. I'm glad we have some photos so we can share what we saw, but definitely won't need them for to help my memory: the experience was one of the most exhilarating of my life, and not something I'm likely to forget anytime soon.
We explored the island on a scooter. Lucky for me, Dana was well experienced with one, so I could ride on the back of hers. Our first day there, we tried to go to Atuh beach. We failed to find it, instead hiking to a nice viewpoint and then down to a rocky beach, where I stupidly tried to swim and cut my hand on some coral. The coastal ride there was breathtaking, and we got to do the same ride back at sunset and low tide, which was very rewarding. The next day, we went to Kelingking (or, colloquially, T-rex) beach. This was one of the highlights of the island for me. I did the arduous but fun 200m hike down to the beach from the top, navigating sketchy bamboo and rock "stairs", while Dana stayed up top and went to a temple. The beach at the bottom was soft, deep, pristine sand, and not very busy, most people electing to skip the trek down. I could have stayed there all day, but instead only hung around for less than an hour, since I had to meet Dana back up top to head out. However, I was there long enough to get pummeled by the strong waves and relax in the calmer waters beyond them, and enjoy a brief rest on the beach before I headed back up.
The whole island was beautiful and exploring it was fun, but the main draw for me was the chance to swim with manta rays, something that's been on my far-fetched bucket list for years. We had seen the gentle giants from our vantage point on several cliffs, the crystal clear water below making easy to spot them even from hundreds of metres up. Seeing them swim around like that was cool enough, but I was hoping to get in the water with them. There were a few snorkeling excursions organized by the dive shops in the area and our accommodation, but they were expensive and didn't have an explicit goal of finding mantas, so they weren't very attractive to us. We had read that we could charter a small boat from Crystal Bay, so we took our scooter over there midday and were happy to find several shacks that did custom snorkeling trips. We asked to go find some mantas, and 10 minutes later we were on a private boat on the hunt. We drove around Manta Bay for a few minutes before the captain shouted "Manta! Manta!" and we hurriedly jumped in after it.
We saw the one he referenced, but it was gone in a flash. We spent the next ten minutes swimming around having a look for more, which was a challenge as it was high tide and the water was really choppy. Our captain would shout to us every few minutes when he saw more from the boat, and we would clumsily swim toward him, trying to catch a glimpse before they disappeared again. I lingered in a small area for a few minutes, going back and forth between looking underwater and coming up to see if the captain or Dana had spotted anything. I was starting to lose hope that we would get any up close and personal time with them when I dipped my head in for another look and couldn't believe my eyes.
I could have reached out and touched the manta, it was so close. It had its white, spotted belly to me as it swam by. And then another. And another. A train of at least five of them, right next to me. I came up and yelled to Dana, but she was too far away. I later learned that the same train had swum right by her, and she got some spectacular pictures with her underwater camera. In the moment, though, I realized she wouldn't be able to catch up, so I started to chase them.
Despite moving gracefully and languidly, they were damn fast. Although I was sprinting and wore fins, I was barely able to keep up with the slowest one in the train. It only lasted for a few minutes, but it seemed like hours to me. Every so often, I would have to slam on the brakes as they had stopped dead in their tracks. They would swim around each other when they stopped - it almost seemed like they were playing, or the largest one was taking a head count and making sure everybody was still there. Once, he started to swim right at me. Whether he thought I was a member of the family or he was trying to intimidate me, I'm not sure, but he soon turned sharply away from me and continued his game or head count.
After about three iterations of this, I was exhausted and I knew we were nearing the edge of the bay. I couldn't keep up any longer, so I had to let them go. The captain called us back in, and we headed back to the bay. On the way back, Dana and I compared notes and we got our first look at her amazing photos. I'm glad we have some photos so we can share what we saw, but definitely won't need them for to help my memory: the experience was one of the most exhilarating of my life, and not something I'm likely to forget anytime soon.
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