I've been told a few times about the manta rays near here but I hadn't actually managed to see them until yesterday - not knowing exactly where they hang out but also perhaps due to season; I don't know. Anyway, yesterday I ran across possibly as many as 50 manta rays frolicking in the sand and reef.
Unfortunately I didn't have a camera and my GoPro isn't charging now, so here's an image that is representative of the ones I saw, shamelessly stolen from https://coralbaytours.rezdy.com/200275/manta-ray-interaction - check them out if you're going to Ningaloo Bay :-)
I'll try to get some photos soon - now that they are here (and now I know where they are) I understand they should be round for a while.
In case anyone wants to find them, I've included a map below. The red route shows the pass between the western islands and the eastern islands, and the red polygon indicates the location of the manta rays (-18°43.87' -173°58.75'). It was about 1 pm, a bit before half way through the incoming tide on August 1 in case any of that matters.
It's only about 2 km from Tapana Island so I'll be checking back there regularly and will hopefully get to go snorkeling with them. With luck it's just the charging cable for my GoPro and not the camera itself that is broken otherwise any photos I get might be a bit stink. These are not your tame Ningaloo rays so fingers crossed they'll play nice with me.
Yesterday the wind was a bit gnarly and I ran across them at the end of a 9 km kayak trip so I didn't hang around very long, but it was pretty amazing anyway. They didn't much like me paddling toward them but didn't mind so much if I went upwind and drifted over them. One of them slapped the kayak as I went past.
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