The Philippines - Ticao Island, Manta Bowl 2

Today we said good bye to the Canadian couple in the morning. Ticao Island Resort had become our private paradise, literally, as we were the only guests. We went back to dive to the Manta Bowl. It was strange sitting on a boat with 6 people taking care of you. We had an instructor and a dive master all to ourselves! There was a big storm last night so we were worried about the visibility underwater but we were told that the current is so strong that it will clear the water for us.

The weather was cloudy all day with a tiny bit of sunshine. Our first dive was at the exact same spot as yesterday’s last dive. We saw three white tip reef sharks under some rocks, I think they were baby ones. Paul took a video of us drifting. Look how fast the ground moves while we ourselves hardly make any movements.

The second dive was at a different place. The current was so strong, that when I turned my head, it almost pushed the regulator out of my mouth. Here we are all hooked up.

At the end of the dive there was a lot of excitement. We quickly all hooked up and Paul just had time to get the camera ready when this beautiful huge manta appeared. You saw on the previous video how fast the current was. This manta just slowly ‘flew’ in front of us, like it was showing off. I hope that this video can help you to understand why we want to see mantas so much. This manta is a pure beauty. We are so lucky to have encountered it!

We saw another one on our last dive but only briefly and from far away. I was really cold by that point so was ready to go home. With this our Ticao diving stint has ended. Tomorrow we will try to see the whale sharks again in Donsol.

Special thanks to Peter and Sue for giving us the chance to see a manta again and to take this amazing video.