‘Mantigue Island’

Not knowing what to expect makes a dive always a little bit more exciting. In one way I am super open for new experiences but also prepare myself for possible disappointments. It took us a long travel to reach this new diving destination and I was really hoping it was worth the travel. And oh boy, IT WAS!

The dive started shallow since the boat was parked on top of the sandy plateau. There was again a mild current and gently it drifted us to the sandy slope in the direction of the sandy but rocky drop off where we could start our descent. We did not even finish our way going down, or this HUGE barracuda is greeting us already from the shallows. A few minutes later we found a lot of anemones which were full of little clown fishes and anemone crabs. I found many kinds of moray eels who were hiding themselves in the small holes of the reef. ‘Cool! What’s next?’ I was thinking to myself. Not sure if I had to focus on the small critters between the corals or to scan the other side and focus on the big blue. I decided to do a little bit of both.

Suddenly one of the other divers caught my attention. It was a beautiful black ribbon eel and since this was only the second time for me that I ever saw a Ribbon Eel, I was getting more excited about this dive site by the minute! And it was only getting better! The site was a beautiful combination of steep rocky drop offs with sandy areas in between. Small pinnacles were surrounded by this big group of Trevally which was moving as one fish ball. A giant grouper showed himself swimming slowly out of the reef. In almost every little cave was a green turtle trying to hide himself. I have quit some number of dives under my belt and during my diving career I witnessed many turtles but never, EVER, have I seen a turtle of this size. This unbelievably HUGE green sea turtle was having his nap before we accidentally woke him up and disappeared into the blue.

Time was flying and for the last time that day, I surfaced my marker buoy and ended my dive. This dive was SO Worth it!

The diving part of the trip was done, but we still had a long travel to go. It was now the end of the afternoon and the sun begun already to set. I started to think about the beginning of this day, how beautifully it had begun with the first sun rays and witnessing the sunrise from the water. Now I was witnessing the last sun rays of that day and the explosion of colors during the sunset. It has been an amazing day. A Long day, but most of all, AMAZING!