Ningaloo Reef Dive - Manta Rays

The waters of Coral Bay on the Ningaloo Reef provide a year round home to a population of manta rays. At Ningaloo Reef Dive we have the pleasure of offering you the opportunity to swim with wild manta rays in their natural environment. Another filter feeding or pelagic fish, the manta ray is related to sharks and rays, harmless and safe to swim with. Their tails do not have barbs, so they do not sting. The manta ray is one of the most graceful creatures in the water. Watching them will leave you spellbound.

Oceanic manta rays have been known to grow up to 7 metres across – wing tip to wing tip. The manta rays that we see in Coral Bay inside the reef system are generally between 2 to 4 metres across… still a big fish . We often visit a manta ray cleaning station on our tours where you can see groups of manta rays hovering over a large coral bombie where they allow small wrasse fish to swim in and out of their wide open mouths and gills to remove parasites and food scraps. It is an awesome sight and something you won’t soon forget.

Our Manta Ray Interaction Tour is perfect for divers and snorkellers. The manta ray swim part of this tour is a snorkelling experience only. We do not SCUBA dive with manta rays in Coral Bay so as to minimize the disturbance to their natural behaviour, also we normally find them in shallow water where the best way to see them is still with a snorkel and pair of fins. We then move on to another beautiful dive and snorkel site inside the reef where divers on the tour participate in a fifty minute dive and snorkellers are encouraged to explore the site from above.

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