Misool - Mantas??

[Polpessa]

Darnold9999, no, the manta sites in the south of Raja Ampat, near Misool, aren't a "deep dark secret" nonetheless some of the liveaboards operating in the area don't know where they are. That's why some cruise/dive directors tell their guests they won't see mantas near Misool, like with Highdesert.

Darnold9999, when you said you saw mantas at three different sites, were all 3 sites in south Raja Ampat, near Misool? Or were you including the north and Manta Sandy as well?

In north Raja Ampat, Manta Sandy is of course well known, but that's a different story.

Highdesert, which liveaboard were you on?

 

[highdesert]

Highdesert, which liveaboard were you on?

Putri Papua, Grand Komodo boat, November/December 2008.

 

[Polpessa]

I'm pretty sure that in Nov/Dec '08 Putri Papua hadn't been doing trips around the south Raja Ampat area for very long. 3 years ago you could count the number of liveaboards in the area on one hand.
Most likely they are now more familiar with the south RA sites and know where to find the mantas.

If you want further confirmation of the existence of mantas in south RA just email Pindito or Seahorse or Paradise Dancer or Misool Eco Resort or Shakti...

 

[frogfish]

I was on Tambora in December and we had a fantastic 90' dive with about 10 mantas in Southern Misool (about two hour cruise from Whale rock if I recall) - Viz was about 30 m and there were also schooling barracudas on the wall below .

The dive crew told us the site was a bit hit and miss, but if the mantas are around they would stay for the whole dive, and sure they did !

 

[nwflyboy]

We were at Misool Eco Resort for 12 days in late October 2010. I did not see any mantas, but others in our group did see some on a few of our dives (my wife was one of those who saw them, and she wouldn't BS me - at least not about that! - so I know it's true).

We did see lots of mobula rays - dozens of them at a time, in fact - on one dive site. It was amazing.

It was a great trip - we really loved the diving and the resort was wonderful. We'd go back again in a heartbeat (if we could afford it).

Hope that helps.

PS: phil_g, I sent you a PM with a link. Follow the link and you'll see some rays.

 

[Darnold9999]

Was back to Raj Ampat late December. Mantas at both north and south. Manta Sandy in the north - six mantas at one time and we got to see a manta breaching. Very cool. The manta left the cleaning station at 50 feet, went vertical and with two or three pumps rocketed to the surface. Completely out of the water. Gave our boat drivers something to be excited about when we came up.

The site in the south was near the Misool Eco Resort. Three mantas shallow and another four deep that I didn't get to as the current was just too strong to get from the shallow cleaning station to the deep one for the fins that I was wearing. The other site we did as a manta dive in the north we got skunked, Arinui was there a couple of hours before we were and had mantas but we didn't see any.

Now that I have been back, and paid more attention to where I was; the sites where I saw mantas on my last trip were also in both north and south. The southern location on the first trip was not a manta dive - I had my 60mm lens on and the two mantas just made a couple of passes so all I have is a manta shaped blob. The other two locations were in the North. One Manta Sandy the other I can't remember the name but was a mangro dive not a manta dive and we had mantas feeding in the channel nearby.

We had a group of beginner divers on the first trip so I suspect that they kept us away from the south location near the lodge on the first trip. They would not have been able to handle that particular dive.

 

[kkfok]

I was also on MV Tambora this January and we saw one manta in Karang bayangan. I was told that it is a manta point in Misool area.

 

[Mike Veitch]

ooo Doug! don't tell them about the secret spot!

 

[mkruidenier]

Hi there, there are Manta's in South Raja Ampat. I dived with Misool Eco Resort and saw Manta's on three different dive sites. One was a new divesite, i don't know if the manta's are regular visitors, on another divesite it was a coincidence, and the third one is a manta cleaning station where i have seen manta's almost every time i have been there, both oceanic and reefmanta's