419 Dive Log Australasia AUGUST 2026

On my first dive a single manta appeared almost immediately. Then another. By the end of the week I had watched six glide past at one time. They never seemed hurried. There was an effortless confidence in the way they moved, each slow beat of those enormous pectoral fins carrying them silently along the ridge before they banked into graceful turns and returned for another pass over the cleaning stations. I found myself becoming less interested in chasing photographs and more interested in simply watching. Eventually I settled on a different strategy. Rather

than following the mantas, I chose a likely section of reef, planted myself against the current, and waited. Patience has always been one of the most valuable tools an underwater photographer owns. The mantas rewarded it. Several times one materialized from the blue with no warning, growing larger with astonishing speed before passing directly overhead. At those moments the reef seemed to disappear. There was only the manta. Its broad white belly filled my viewfinder before slowly eclipsing the sunlight itself. Even after photographing

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Dive Log Australasia #419 August’26

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