Location: Punta Tosca, Socorro Island, Islas Revillagigedos
Comments: “Giant manta ray attacked by a silky shark?!” Yes, it’s really true. And very cool. I wish I had been one of the divers who saw it. We were anchored and diving at Punta Tosca on the west side of Socorro Island. Other than the warmup dive on the first day, this has been a slow trip for seeing mantas. A group of divers were swimming along the outer reef and being followed by a curious 6-foot long silky shark – which is quite common behaviour. The silkies are always very curious about everything around them ie. they always show up first under the ship’s overside lights at night.
Anyways, when a large black manta came in towards our divers, the silky took off towards the manta and hit it really hard in the gill area. Really hard! The giant manta took off and that was the last that anyone saw of it. It’s all very interesting as we’ve always wondered why sharks don’t attack the mantas (it is very rare to see bite marks on a manta). I guess they do!!
–Captain Mike
Weather: High thin broken overcast but still really sunny and hot, 82°F, 20-knot winds from the north, big swell outside but sheltered and calm in our anchorage.
Water: Water temperature of 75°F. Visibility 40 – 80 feet.
