Manta rays are a fairly common sight on Raja Ampat liveaboard safaris but Manta Ridge is one of the most reliable places to see them, and see them in large numbers.
Manta Ridge is located between Mansuar Island and Airborei Island. The dive site is a popular manta ray cleaning station that attracts groups of mantas. Thirty have been counted on one dive but five or six is more common. Some have wing spans of four metres across and are accompanied by cobias. All are accompanied by remoras and golden trevallies.
The mantas glide into the cleaning stations effortlessly despite the very strong currents that are usually present. Divers may have to hang on or use a reef hook to remain in one place and observe them.
One thing that you may notice about the manta rays of Raja Ampat is that some of them are all black. This is unusual as most manta rays have a black upperside and a white underside.
Although the dive site drops below 40 metres manta sightings are in shallow water from 10 metres and above. Further down the reef you can find armies of bumphead parrotfish crashing over the coral. Turtles are also seen on the reef and blacktip reef sharks can be seen in deeper water. |
