We have handed our weekly marine life series over to renowned photographer and journalist, Stefan Beskow.
Stefan has travelled the world and dived just about every corner of it. Having chosen Emperor Divers to do much of his underwater work, we asked him to take us through some of his favourite experiences.
This week he looks at one of the most popular and breathtaking sights for any diver – the manta ray.
If there is one encounter that has been a constant in my travels with Emperor, it is manta rays!
I have seen these fantastic animals in the Maldives, Red Sea and in Indonesia! Perhaps that’s not so surprising since the world’s largest population of reef manta – which is the most common for us divers to see – is in the Maldives and the second largest population is in Raja Ampat!
They are also regularly seen at Daedalus Reef in southern Egypt.
My best memory is probably when we were on the ‘Best of Maldives’ route and did night dives with manta rays, they were everywhere! Very friendly, they swam around in the glow of the lights and ate plankton. An incredible experience.
Or maybe the best moment was when we went with Emperor Raja Laut and five manta rays suddenly “flew” by down in Misool.
Or it could have been at Daedalus…
Whatever way, they are absolutely amazing animals and not only amazing to look at. Fun fact, did you know they have the biggest brain relative to body size of all fish?
Fascinating and spectacular.
Why don’t you grab yourself some manta action on one of our fantastic trips? If you want to see what Stefan saw, you could try one of our ‘Best’ itineraries. Perhaps join us in the Red Sea for Simply the Best, pick Best of the Maldives or explore the Coral Triangle with our Best of Raja Ampat.