Manta Rays
After breakfast, we set out on another diving trip amid rather strong winds. The waves were quite high with a strong enough current following the night-to-dawn downpour in the area.
We arrived at Manta Point after more than an hour to start the third day. Two speedboats had arrived earlier, one of which carried Miss Universe 2006 runner-up Kurara Chibana.
As we shifted our gaze from the beauty queen of Japanese origin to the ripples left on the surface of the water by tiny jumping fish, a small dark fin was seen emerging and moving around, followed by several other fins.
"Manta... Manta!" yelled Saka. I also hurried to the water with my snorkel along with the other divers to approach the manta rays.
I got overexcited seizing the opportunity for a close glance. Five mantas were swimming down there, tussling for plankton with numerous gold-banded fusiliers.
The mantas were scattered all over, which made it difficult for us to swim closer to them. So we had to find out where they were heading and screamed at each other when any of us noticed their positions.
My great desire to snap mantas at close quarters separated me from my peers. I kept praying while trying to find the right strategy to approach them and photograph them safely. All I could think about was how to avoid what had befallen Steve Irwin -- "The Crocodile Hunter" of a TV program -- some time earlier.
As I was preoccupied with the search for the fish, a manta was moving toward me. My heart was pounding and I was overwhelmed with admiration, fear and the urge to take pictures. There was no way of withdrawing as the moment would mark my first underwater photos.
"It's the right time!," I thought, pressing the shutter release. The manta was drawing closer to me ...
lowered the camera as it was even closer, with our eyes meeting and holding.
Moments later I saw its mouth open wide to suck in plankton. When it was only about 3 meters from me, it turned away.
"Alhamdulillah," were my words in praise of God while again photographing the manta before it swam even farther.
Night snorkeling
In fact, the area around the jetty was teeming with the fish the locals call Bobara (giant trevally), weighing 1-3 kg. "If only the Seribu Islands that could be like this," I thought, an impossible wish given Jakarta Bay is now virtually the septic tank of the capital city.
By starlight, I followed my three friends diving from the jetty to start a bamboo shark hunt. Though I previously thought that sharks were mostly ferocious, further tips indicated that this species was not aggressive, which encouraged me to join the search.
As I shone the flashlight around, my eyes got fixed on a light brown fish in desert soldiers' camouflage pattern. "It's a shark!"
It was unbelievable to have found this shark in such shallow waters.
Sadly, though, the fish began to move to the left and right quickly in a frightened manner. I kept calm so as not to make it panic even more. Yet the shark was now going farther away from me, which spurred me to chase it but it dodged very fast and disappeared into darkness as I got closer.
The sight of the bamboo shark failed to quench my desire to observe blue spotted rays. Earlier in the day, several of these rays were frequently seen roaming around the jetty. This was the ray species that had reportedly killed Steve Irwin.
And my Raja Ampat trip proved to be rewarding.
The one I was looking for moved toward me, perhaps attracted by my flashlight. But the ray finally paused at a distance of about 3 meters from me, leading to another two-way stare.
Despite my composure to avoid any disturbances that might cause panic, the ray withdrew after a while. So the shark and ray wound up my night snorkeling.
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