bluewater photography
Joe Tobin’ s great shot of the author filming a marlin.
Bluewater photography
WHALE SHARK and MANTA RAYS
The manta rays of San Benedicto love freedivers. Wild and magnificent, they become tame once you touch them. One lucky day, when the tuna were scarce, these giants came to play. I yell to my friend and fellow bluewater hunter, Bob Caruso, to get his camera, as I temporarily drop my buoyed gun to the bottom.
A manta ray rises under me, its jet-black body and white wingtips contrasting sharply with the brilliant blue water below. I take a deep breath and swim toward it. Two large remora fish make perfect reins with their ugly heads firmly suctioned to the ray’ s back on either side of its flat mouth. Sensing the increased drag as I grasp the remoras’ tails, this winged stallion of the sea surges forward and down, starting a giant outside loop. We’ re flying! Now upside down, 40 feet under, its massive body shields me from the sun. Water rushes by my ears as the ray’ s great beating wings return me to the surface, where I dismount for air.
Suddenly a shark-like form appears in the indigo distance, light rays playing off its speckled back. Recognizing it as a whale shark, I wonder,‘ They don’ t bite, or do they?’ As it turns toward me, I’ m relieved to see that its bearded mouth has no teeth. The‘ beard’ is really dozens of foot-long hitchhiking remora fish lined up under its jaw. It passes close enough for
Left, When I saw this image in DAN’ s magazine, I thought SNAP! That’ s the iconic image of a kelp paddy. I had always wanted to capture an image as compelling. I collaborated photographer Richard Herrmann
who provided this image. We now dive together and collaborate. He offers great advice later in the chapter. 227