Monday 7th October 2013 - Drawaqa Island; Manta Ray Territory - or not
17:10.30S 177:11.18E Monday
7th October 2013 – Sadly,
although manta rays were around at high tide during the first couple of days
that we spent anchored off The current through Manta Ray pass is significant enough for you not to want to have to swim against it. Whilst the snorkelling is quite good you really need to have a boat to drop you off upstream and pick you up once you’ve drifted though the pass. And then, perhaps, take you back upstream for a repeat performance. Obviously, resort guests have no problem with that. Probably the best way for yotties to do it is drive the dinghy upstream, slip into the water whilst keeping hold of the dinghy painter and drift along with the dinghy until through the pass. Then clamber back aboard and repeat the performance until either you’ve had enough or the manta rays have. Manta rays or not there are patches of quite interesting coral and plenty of fish over the reef in the pass. However, quite a lot of coral appears to have suffered as a result of Hurricane Evan last year.
Anchored near the Manta Ray pass – the entrance can just be seen centre ground, far right The
Manta Ray Resort doesn’t actually overlook the Manta Ray Pass although it is not
far away. It is a very
pleasant, low key, backpacker sort of place; nothing like the 5 star resorts (in
terms of price and hubris anyhow) at
The very laid back Manta Ray Resort
Carol took advantage of the on site dive shop to do a couple of dives. The first, known as the Caves of Babylon – no-one knows why – was like an under water obstacle course going through narrow alleys, up and down gulleys and into a couple of caves. The second dive was far less energetic and boasted lots of coral and fish. The highlight was a turtle swimming only a few feet away but unfortunately, the photos didn’t come out. |