M A N T A R A Y S I N M A S B A T E
Manta rays, those glorious and gentle
gliders in the deep, are putting Ticao
Island — an often-overlooked province
of Masbate — on every diver
,
s must-visit
map. Kristine Grace takes the plunge
to witness how the winged ones thrive
underwater
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THE YOUNG SWEDE
was panicking.
His bright blue eyes were wide-eyed
with fear as he struggled mightily
against the current, his gangly arms
and legs flailing to no avail. He had,
as we all did, a tether and a hook
attached to his body, but couldn’t find
a rock to anchor into.
Underwater, everything is different.
Because we were a good 30m deep,
battling a strong current, everything
was happening in slow motion. The
stronger the current you have to fight,
the slower your movements are; and
here I was watching the kid perform
a heroic ballet. His legs in a huge,
valiant attempt to propel himself
forward, his arms alternately moving
in big, sweeping strokes and reaching
out for an anchor.
I waved at him and drew his
attention to the rock he had just
missed, and after a few more seconds’
worth of struggle, he finally managed
to hook on. All of us safely tethered
along the rocky sea floor, we finally
let our eyes scan the murky distance
for the dark shadows that would tell us
whether we were near the creatures
we were seeking out.
Our bodies were like flags in a
stiff wind, and while the water was
so swift that we had to keep one
anxious hand on the ropes and the
other on our faces to keep masks and
mouthpieces in place, this was not
even the strongest it can get around
these parts — this was, after all, Ticao
Pass. This passage of water reaches
depths of about 700 fathoms (1.28km),
and the current was part of what helps
along the world’s largest fish, the
whale shark, on a migratory route that
brings them to Donsol. But we were
here to look for another Goliath of the
sea: the manta ray. Ticao Pass is home
to a number of dive sites collectively
nicknamed the Manta Bowl, owing to
plentiful sightings of the gentle giant.
And quite a giant it is. Most people
think of smaller stingrays or marble
rays — it does not help that the
Filipino word
pagi
doesn’t distinguish
between species — but mantas are
a different thing altogether. With
“
wings” that can span up to 30ft from
tip to tip, the manta looks like a sleek,
dark, birdlike dinosaur more than a
fish. Like the whale shark, though, it
is a filter feeder and a bottom feeder
that thrives on plankton. There is
absolutely no menace in this giant. As
manta rays are typically found in deep
waters, places like the Manta Bowl
—
a shoal that levels off at about 15m
in the middle of the Ticao Pass — are
prized by divers. Here, the animals
can be sighted fairly reliably.
This is still the wild, of course,
not an aquarium, and mantas are
even more shy than whale sharks.
While Donsol has built an entire
tourist industry around whale shark
encounters, Ticao can only attract
divers who are willing to take the
chance that they might not see any
manta rays at all. Just the possibility
of an encounter has to be enough.
