We Swam with Giant Manta Rays:)

We are sitting in an airport lounge in Colombo waiting on our flight.  The inconvenience of these "One World" tickets is that sometimes to stay within the flight network you have a long layover here or there.  Fortunately, some HSBC customers get access to the business lounge.  That is really important in some third world airports. These airports are not like home; carpeting everywhere, restaraunts and bars to lounge in, shopping areas are basically non existent.  If you have a long lay over you could be in real trouble.  Some waiting areas have only 5 or 6 chairs that everyone is fighting over! Some areas have no air conditioner (now I understand why some airline passengers from equatorial countries can smell a bit ripe!). No food on a 6 hour layover can be tough on some folks.  Fortunately we have granola and power bars in our carry ons, as well as a stash of chocalate covered almonds that Carmen told me not to buy, but I fortunately did not listen;)

We just left the Maldives after a week of diving. And yes, I will not keep you in suspense, we saw and swam with Giant Manta Rays (up to 15 foot wingspan) on three different occasions and have pics and video to prove it! Two down (Great White shark and Mantas) and one more to go (Whale Shark).  We didn't find the whale sharks for some reason, not even the divemasters could understand this. We had such a great time, I don't feel that disappointed.  Even if they did see 15 of them last week dammitt!!!!

First things, first.  The Maldives is an Islamic Republic about 100 miles north of the equator in the middle of the Indian Ocean just south of, you guessed it, India.  It consists of about 1200 tiny coral islands with a volcanic base (about 4000 meters below). The major islands stretch north to south about 82 km and 120 km west to east.  202 islands are inhabited and 87 are exclusive resort islands. There are about 300,000 Maldivians and quite a few Sri Lankans and Indians. Maldivians have inhabited the islands for about 3,000 years and are of African, Middle Eastern, Indian, and Sri Lankan descent.  Their skin is darker than either Carmen or I, but their hair is straighter than most of my caucasian friends. A phenotype that is pretty rare, even in the multicultural USA. Below is the picture of our dive instructor "Waloo" who taught us how to dive with "Nitrox", which is an extra certification that allows longer dives.

The native tongue is called Dhivehi, a mix of Arabic and Indoasian, and it sounds beautiful with a lot of "v" and "f" sounds.  Of course, most people speak English and the US greenback is the curency of choice even though they have the Rufiyaa as their national currency.  Like I said, "They love us over here".  Especially after they have to deal with a dose of overweight rich, rude, Russians in Speedos! Here we go again dammitt! Why do they have to stand so close with their legs cocked up on a chair when they speak to you? As if me catching a glimpse of your saggy ball sack is going to help me believe whatever it is your broken english is trying to tell me!!!! Lord please deliver me from these godforsaken speedos!   The literacy rate in the Maldives is 98%.  The diet is mostly fish and vegetables, and curry is the seasoning of choice.  So if you don't like fish and can't handle spicy food, you'd better pick your resort after some research phone calls, because some resorts don't have burgers or steak and definitely no swine! It is illegal for foreigners to bring in alcohol or tobacco, so don't buy any in duty free.  They do serve it on the resorts and dive boats at great expense to your pocket because of the import taxes, etc...  The only way to get here is through India, Sri Lanka, or Bangkok, and it is a 22 hour flight from the states minimum.  So you can see why they rarely see Americans. That may change because Starwood just opened the W ($1200 / night) and the Sheraton ($500 /night), and some other american joint ventures will soon be starting.  This kind of investment usually precedes direct flights.

If you haven't guessed Carmen and I are ocean people.  We love anything that has to do with the ocean. We dive, sail, snorkel, boogie board, attempt to water ski or kite board. We usually try to include a stop at the beach anywhere we go because we live in the dessert, so we have seen some beaches.  I was born in the Phillippines, lived in Hawaii, Panama, and Florida.  Been to the world famous Manley and Bondi beaches in Australia, New Zealand's 100 mile beach, Copa Cabana in Rio, Camps Bay South Africa, beaches all over the Carribean (7 mile beach) and Mexico; there is a point to this list and I am getting to it.... the Maldives has the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen hands down ladies and gentlemen!  Sorry mom, I know the Phillipines has some pristine beaches and sorry Dad, I know you favor Oahu, Hawaii's east coast (Bellows beach, Lanikai).  But the Maldives is pristine and unique.  The water changes color right before your eyes! Different hues of blue and green that frame the sugary, white, soft sand.  The waves are small, with no undertow and the coral reefs are so close to shore you can spit on them from your beach chair!  They fringe every atoll (island) and give the water a dark green tinge, then just past the reef you can see the deep blue as the reef slowly slopes into the abyss, but suddenly the deep blue disappears to reveal a light blue then light green, then dark green, then clear white, then sand again... Another atoll! Not even a stones throw away! Oh my god, it's gorgeous and unique.  The stuff of postcards and screensavers people.  No wonder this is the realm of the rich and famous. You can't help but look good against this backdrop. Speedboat and Sea planes are the only mode of transport; so the paparazzi can't get into the resorts.  It is so quiet and romantic, that it makes you horny everyday! Not that I need any help with that, but I'm just saying...... This is the perfect place for a honeymoon, 10 to 50 year anniversary, a reconciliation vacation, or "I'm gonna make her fall in love vacation"! Look at our pics on Picassa or just do some web browsing to try to get a sense of what I'm saying.. This is off the back of our over water bungalow we splurged on at the Sheraton for one dreamy night!  You can see another atoll off the the right.

The Maldives differs from Hawaii in that it is flat as a pancake. The highest point in the entire country is 8 feet above sea level (not good for them if the seas really are rising)! So if you are looking for hiking or mountain climbing it's not the place for you. The Maldives is about beaches, and water life. Now, you don't necessarily have to be a pop star, or an investment banker to make to the Maldives.  Save up your credit card miles and get to Tokyo or Hong Kong.  Then buy a cheaper ticket on Sri Lankan Airways from there to Male, Maldives' capitol.  You can stay on a dive safari boat for about for about $2000-$3000 per couple per week and that includes meals that are excellent I might add.  They will take you around to some of the other far reaching atolls for great snorkeling and dive sites.  Even to some uninhabited islands where you can lounge all day and have a whole island to yourself!  Try to find that in the carribean for less than $5000 a day! There isn't a place, I've already done the research. Hell, you can't even get a patch of sand to yourself on our side of the world.  They set up a barbecue for us after we lounged and snorkelled with Mantas and Octopi all day:)! Our dive boat had salsa lessons, of which Carmen and I tried to learn, but struggled mightily because of the fatigue of diving 3 times a day (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). Even if you don't dive this is the way to go, cause a decent resort is gonna cost you $500 a night plus about $50 per meal per person, then for watersports it costs extra.  As you can see, it can add up quick!  The way we did it was on par with any nice resort package in the Carribean or Hawaii. Some of you reading this have spent much more on trips to Jamaica or the Bahamas. C'mon yall, get your primary care doc to right you a valium and make the painful flight out here, these folks love Americans! My best friend, Al, told me that we inspire him (thanks bro:), that's exactly why we take the time to write this blog. To inspire you all. It may not be in the next year or even the next five, but make plans; to go somewhere you never thought you would. It will change you for the better, we promise:)

Now, about the diving and the underwater life.  Excellent, excellent, incredible, excellent, superb, excellent:) Overall my favorite dive destination.  We have been blessed to dive Poor Knights Island in New Zealand (Jacques Cousteau's favorite), the Great Barrier Reef, The Cayman Islands, Cancun, Florida Keys, Similan Islands in Thailand as you recently read.  Beats them all by a long ways.  It has something for everyone.  Thousands of fish: Trigger fish, snapper, blue and yellow fin tuna, grouper, jack fish, fusiliers, sharks, octopus, turtles galore, nudie branches, starfish, sea cucumbers, giant clams, flatworms, pipefish, moray eels, lobster, ghost shrimp, etc., etc., etc.  The numbers were amazing! Schools of fish everywhere and they would come so close.  We observed hunting behaviors in the daylight.  Sharks hunting tuna, tuna hunting jacks, and jacks hunting fusilier,etc. The water was clear on most days and it was warm 26-29 degrees celcius (77-85 degrees F). We saw so many fish and critters that I was scared to get in at night because there was no telling what would come out! Hell a sea dragon or something!  I definitely didn't want to have to explain to Carmen's family that she was swallowed whole by a giant sea serpent!  We did deep dives of up to 96 feet and we did shallow dives.  We did strong current dives that changed direction at different depth and at different times during the same dive! Wow it was challenging and exhilarating.  Because the currents flowed in and out between the atolls, they would speed up and slow down accordingly.  The coral was gorgeous, like a five year old child went crazy with a crayola box underwater.  So many different shades of pink, yellow, orange, red, green, blue, and orange.  Soft and hard corals stacked over millions of years. Sheer drops like the Caymans and Coral gardens like the Great Barrier reef.  Swim throughs and arches, and these crazy "overhangs" where the reef fish gathered to hide from the sharks.  I would swim in and just hang in there with them! They were more afraid of the sharks than me, so they just hovered all around me.  The big fish loved our air bubbles, so Carmen always had a few hovering above her head.  There's nothing like doing a belly role and swimming facing the surface to see a 50 pound Wrasse or Trigger fish swimming above you trying to be tickled by your bubbles:) We even witnessed a turtle go after the dive master's BC (dive vest).  he came out of nowhere! We tried to warn him, but he didn't turn around in time.  He must have saw the green in his vest and thought it was a big patch of algae!  This is very rare behavior, turtles are very shy and terrified of divers.  We didn't see any dolphins underwater, but I heard them and we saw giant pods with baby dolphins jumping out of the water from the boat.  I wasn't keen to see them underwater, cause the males have a tendency to get sexually aroused and frisky with divers. No thanks.

There are a few dives I will never forget.  Dive #1 was the check dive.  Meaning the first dive of the trip was to "check" your skill level by the dive masters.  It was as soon as we boarded the boat in late afternoon.  No problem with the entry, or the equipment and the dive was going smooth against the backdrop of a gently sloping reef not to far from the airport.  Towards the end of the 45 minute dive I saw a bright flash.  At first I thought it was another dive group taking pictures which is pretty common.  Then I realized there was no one else in the water but our group of 4 divers and two divemasters. I looked up and there it was again.  Dammit, it is starting to lightning and rain!  The ocean got dark and cold all of a sudden. Our divemaster who is a native saw it and immediately signalled for us to ascend and do our requisite "safety stop" at 15 feet.  While we did this, he pulled out his safety balloon and inflated it so it would bob on the surface for the diveboat to see and come pick us up.  Which is the modus operandi in the Maldives because of the strong currents (you can't swim back against them).  We surfaced after 3 minutes, no dive boat, crap! It was raining so hard and it was darker than a thousand midnights in a cypress swamp (Carmen's saying not mine)! To make matters worse, the ocean began to swell about 5 feet.  I looked over at the Chinese couple who was diving with us (they were about 20 yards away) and they looked worried. I wan't surprised they looked a bit inexperienced underwater, so I knew this might shake them. I looked at Carmen and she was smiling and so was Waloo our divemaster.  He reassured us the boat was on its way.  We waited for about 10 minutes (of course it seemed like an hour!) before I asked Carmen how she was doing.  She was still smiling, but feeling a bit cold.  I felt pretty good but the swells were bothering me cause I don't float so well.  I had to go to the snorkel cause I kept sinking under. It's because of my muscle density and not because of my head dammit! I figured in this situation, Carmen would have to save me, cause she can swim and tread longer than I.  So I made sure I stayed close.  The BCs were inflated and were doing there job (they are like life jackets on steroids, you can fill them with air).  Please don't get a leak now! I looked over at our soon to be Chinese friends and could no longer see them.  Oh, oh...you know what that means?  Strong currents! We are at the 20 minute mark now and I'm starting to look for land or lights or something.  I look at Waloo's face, I see a bit of worry on his face. He catches me looking at him, and he admits the dhoni (small dive boat) is having problems seeing us.  "Don't worry as he points in the distance, the big dive yacht sees us, they are flashing their lights at us, you see!" At that point I knew we were ok, as long as we didn't float into the boating lanes, which was a distinct possibility.  Carmen whispers to me "there is an island over there we can swim to if we have to", with a smile on her pretty face.  What she doesn't know is, we'd have to swim across the boating lanes, I already peeped the marker buoys.  The large dive yacht can't get us because we are too close to the reef.  I was running scenarios as I often do many times a day.  Best case: Back stroke it out away from the reef into the deep blue and risk the current so the big dive yacht could get us before another boat plows us.  Seemed like decent odds.  As I started to make that suggestion, because I was starting to get cold and Carmen's big smile was gone because the rain was trying to reverse drown us, the dhonni appeared out of the rain filled sky! Oh thank you lord.  Our Chinese friends were scooped up after us, looking shell shocked! We couldn't help but laugh out loud! Shout out to Cindy Li Yu and Peter Zhao. That may be why they took to us so quickly.  These two crazy ass americans laugh in the face of death!!!!

The next memorable dive was on day #3 off of Rasdhoo Kandu reef.  I say "off of" because this day was not for reef diving.  We were going to look for hammerhead sharks. These unique creatures do not come all the way to the reef.  They stay in the deep "blue" off of the reef and hunt the large tuna and jackfish and snapper that hang off the reef in the currents.  What made this dive special was that we were going to swim out from the edge of the reef very fast at a depth of about 90 - 95 feet.  We were in my element. I am a deep blue swimmer.  I swim fast and I swim strong,  I can't float and I don't tread or breast stroke.  I cut my teeth swimming with my samoan and tongan friends in Hawaii spear fishing.  Diving is usually relaxed and about conserving energy so you don't suck your tank dry too fast.  Not this one, we were on the hunt and time and distance were of the essence.  I told Carmen to get behind me and draft her way out so she didn't use up her tank (which she tends to do). The divemasters told everyone to stay in formation and keep the correct depth.  Waloo took the lead and Ali and Evo flanked the group of 8 of us from behind, keeping watch for stragglers and strugglers.  I took the left edge of the group and stayed a bit off the pace. I wanted to save something for the middle and end, just in case.  It was a great swim out.  The water was dark blue, and there were fluorescent blue plankton floating everywhere.  It looked like we were in space and the plankton were stars.  It was 6am, so it was still dark, the time hammerheads are out hunting.  What a rush!  No reef to reference and no bottom to see, just deep blue ocean baby!:) I kept looking back to make sure Carmen was ok.  She looked good. I looked at the other divers, most looked ok, but one of the Italians was falling apart.  Up and down, he couldn't keep his depth right.  His stroke was off. C'mon man this is not the time to fall apart! You can get lost out here real easy in the dark. Carmen and I can read our compasses pretty well, and we knew what direction the reef was in.  Any trouble swim like hell to the west baby! Istopped watching the Italian diver struggle to start looking for sharks and whatever else might come out of the abyss? Maybe a whale shark? Maybe a dolphin or an Orca? Maybe a friggin tiger shark!!! I steadily scanned in a 180 degree arc below me while I lengthened my kick and settled in.  I checked my dive computer, at about the 20 minute mark, I saw something down below me in the shadows.  At first I thought it was one of the big tuna that had passed us by.  But it wasn't that shiny. Maybe it was a big wrasse. But it moved to gracefully, not clumsy like a Maori wrasse.  I turned more to the left and descended another three feet or so. Then I saw it clearly.... A large adult hammerhead about 20-25 feet below us! I started to point like a damn beagle, shouting in my head, there it is, there it is!  It came into view then out of view.  It was doing a sort of figure 8 to the left of the group checking us out.  I turned to Carmen and she had already saw me pointing.  She obviously saw it because her eyes were as big as saucers, which is not uncommon for her underwater.  She helped me flagged down Evo, who was in the back.  The rest of the group was oblivious.  They just kept swimming and weren't turning too see me doing my underwater YMCA dance.  Finally, Evo saw us going nuts and he turned and looked right at it.  he shot to the front to try to stop Waloo, but he was already turning to the right to make the wide arc and start the swim back. So Evo used his underwater "jingler" to get his attention.  The shark heard it and made a quick exit to the depths.  It was about 6 foot long, a nice thick, healthy specimen. and it moved gracefully and powerfully. We were the only 3 divers to see her! I've seen hammerheads while deep sea fishing as a kid in Hawaii.  This was quite a bit different as you can imagine. I was proud to be the one to spot her.

Finally, the reason we came to dive in the Indian Ocean.  We came to see God's most graceful creature, the giant Manta Ray.  We were diving a reef called Rasfari Corner, which is a famous "cleaning Station" for manta. They tend to get parasites so they come into the shallows to let the small specialized fish eat the parasites off of their skin.  This group of possibly 75-100 Manta take turns coming to the cleaning reef during this time of year.  We did the first part of the dive looking at the reef and its fish deeper down.  Then we came up to a depth of about 15 feet and swam on the bottom and started looking for manta.  This time I was following behind Carmen when I saw her head snap back.  I looked around her and saw this big black "cloud" coming straight toward her and Waloo. She whipped her head around to look at me.  Her eyes were as big as saucers once again.  Waloo signalled us to get low and grab a rock because the current will thrash you in the shallows.  The last thing you want to do is to get thrashed into one of these things.  You may spook them all and piss off all of the other divers! Cold shoulder for the rest of the trip.  We hunkered down for the show.  And what a show it was! The first large one swooped in about 10 feet away.  She was a pretty white underside with brown "freckles", then the next one swooped in right behind.  They looked smooth and silky and moved unlike any other creature I've ever seen. Smoother than any bird, or snake or anything I've ever seen on television.  Better than computer animation.  Just amazingly effortless! Then there was one we'll call "Stubby" because his tail was gone.  He swooped in really close to us both. Hovered at eye level and just stayed there for a 3 minute span.  Both of us were letting the bubbles fly! We couldn't maintain our breathing or buoyancy or anything. Just too exciting!  Scientists have done experiments that show Manta like certain divers.  They will let you grab on to them and swim with them, but not all divers. The scientists try to see if this was by coincidence; so they covered the divers' eyes on subsequent dives.  The mantas wouldn't go to any of the divers, even if they had on the dive suits they were wearing when the manta let them grab on. They proved the mantas recognized the divers' eyes (and not the dive suit or color) and showed a preference for a specific diver.  They still don't know why they choose, just that they do. So imagine this beautiful creature hovering right next to you, inviting you to swim with them. Stubby came back to us again and again. Hovering at eye level each time. While he did that, the others started to show up.  They were everywhere, all around us, I counted at least 12 within a 50 foot vicinity!!!! Ranged in size from 7 to 15 feet wingspan. It was like having an affirmation from God. A creature so beautiful, chooses you out of 20 divers and snorkelers in the water, and it wants you to swim with him/her!!! As a matter of fact, the next day we were at a different reef a few miles away where were saw Stubby and his companion again. It was super obvious that he preferred us.  Because the two mantas were hovering near another dive group when we appeared.  Waloo had taken Carmen and I over to look at something else, on our way back we saw the mantas hovering over the group as we came over a ridge.  Waloo stopped us where we were.  I was disappointed because I wanted to get closer. Turns out we didn't have to, they came straight over to us!  We immediately recognized Stubby! It was kind of embarassing that they hovered near us away from the group so long.  This time he came even closer. Literally, 2 feet away, it was all I could do not to grab him and ride him into the blue!  Carmen saw me getting revved up to do it; and she shook her head no.  Dammitt! She always spoils my fun:(  We have a saying that we learned in Australia, "Peace on the Reef". It means do not disturb the animals.  This is not our realm and we are merely visitors in their world. We don't know what our contact does to these creatures and as a scientist it goes against my professional ethics. Maybe we are good people after all.:)  The picture below was taken by our friend Peter who was in the group across the ridge.  We also have video taken by Waloo. Can't wait to see it on the big screen!

There is so much more to tell... About the barbecue on the uninhabited island, our new friends from Beijing and Singapore, England, India and Sri Lanka.  Can I just tell you, the Brits have to be some of the funniest people I have ever met!  They have this clever sarcastic humor, that just tickles us to death.  I tend to be hard on Europeans, but it's only fair, they are hard on us Americans.  But the Brits have a way of making you laugh out loud about yourself and everyone else without being offensive. Shout out to Gavin and Jason.  Jean our seasoned diver with the way too young girlfriend from Italy who knew 4 languages fluently and was the resident translator.  He kept telling me how "big" I was and telling me how beautiful my body was in this crazy english with a half french half italian accent. He would even tell Carmen and his girlfriend how beautiful I was;  As most of you know, I am not that big nor am I that fine, but I understand.... Jean has been looking at middle aged, overweight European men in speedos his whole life, his image of fineness is way out of whack!  Our one day in Male, the capital city, was very interesting. How and why we were treated like pop stars at the Sheraton:) We can't put it all in the blog... You have to wait for the book, "Middle Aged Backpacking for Dummies" 

Gotta go. Getting ready to board the plane for Hong Kong. Relaxation time over for now. It's time to take in the sights, and show Hong Kong how the Browns do it!!! Carmen where is my pink, ruffled salsa shirt!!!!

Check out pics from the Maldives by clicking here http://picasaweb.google.com/bruceandcarmen/Maldives?feat=directlink