It has always seemed to us that our best giant manta ray interactions tend to be on the second and third scuba dives. This has been reinforced by our experience here on the Boiler on this trip. Although we have been seeing giant mantas earlier in the day they do not seem to wish to stay around and play until about 11am, at which point they are happy to play with us until around 3:30pm. Luckily, this is also the best time for the photography as the light is at its best.
Read MoreOur first priority was to remove the fishing net that was caught on the Boiler and had been found on our last trip. The crew of the Solmar V had done a good job of removing a large part of the net which made our job a lot easier. As we were finishing up a pod of dolphin and two mantas showed up. We like to think that they were thanking us for our work. The first day of the photo shoot was auspicious. Two giant mantas chose to interact with us, one kept coming back to the camera and the divers, turning and swimming loops around us as the film team and freedivers got used to the conditions and the interaction.
Read MoreAND THEN WE SAW OUR FIRST SHARK! Yeah!!! I was so happy for Charlie. I pointed it out to him and he stayed amazingly cool and just intently watched it swim past. He then spotted the next shark 10 minutes later and calmly walked over to the other side of the cage to watch it swim away. And then the next one and next one. I think we had 10 shark sightings with Charlie spotting 9 of them.
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