The Ocean's Gentle Giants

The main reason I wanted to dive the Revillagigedos Islands was to see giant manta rays. Although we saw them in each of our dives, they were aplenty at the various sites of Socorro Island including Cabo Pierce and Punta Tosca.

We dove Punta Tosca four times and had manta sightings on every one of the dives.

The giant oceanic manta ray can grow up to 30 feet in length and to a disc size of 23 feet across. They have triangular pectoral fins which serve as their "wings" and a pair of cephalic fins at the front of their heads. Mantas hold their cephalic fins in an "O" shape to create a funnel that pushes water and their prey through their mouths.

Mantas have one of the largest brains where it can heat the blood going to its brain and pass the "mirror test" where it exhibits self-awareness.

It was so cool to swim up to one and look at it straight in the eye. It seemed to acknowledge my presence. What I saw was a very majestic and gentle giant whose movements were so graceful and beautiful to watch.

Did you know that every manta has a unique belly spot pattern, similar to a human fingerprint, helping to identify them?

Mantas also come in two distinct color types: chevron which have a mostly black back and a white belly as seen in the photo below.

There is also a black manta where it is completely black on both sides. The photo below shows quite the contrast between the black manta and the white remora.

Check out more pictures of various mantas from my dive at Punta Tosca.

Watch a video of our encounter with two mantas at Punta Tosca.

Finally, here are my favorite manta photos from the entire Revillagigedos trip.