Patrik, meet Patrik

Went for my first dive this morning, in Goofnuw channel.

Goofnuw is one the dive sites in Yap where you regularly encounter manta rays. They come here to get "cleaned" by small fish that remove parasites from the skin and gills of the mantas.

We got lucky today - 10 minutes into the dive the first one joined us, and during the following hour an additional 4 kept circling the "cleaning station".


To me, it was extra special, as one of the mantas was "Patrik", a manta that I named almost 8 years ago which has since then kept showing up on my first dives in Yap.

My underwater camera isn't really that good for these kind of big animals, but as it's at least possible to tell that it *is* mantas in the shots, I post a few anyway.

Note to self: I need 6 *kilos* of weights, not 6 *pounds*... diving with the mantas is much easier if you don't float like a cork. Some extra weights from the dive guide Chomed saved this dive. Kammagar Chomed!