Manta Point off the West coast of Nusa Penida was the site for our Deep Dive. The site had taken on a grey and foreboding appearance to an inexperienced diver because of the recent sad and tragic event that took place on this very spot.
We listened in solemn silence to the pre-dive briefing, all too aware that Deep Dives can have serious consequences if taken lightly. This is not a negative approach but I saw it as having a positive effect because it sharpened ones situational awareness and placed a very high value and focus on training.
What a thorough training it was. Text-book to the letter and as though we were living the pages of the training manual; pages 79 to 84 to be exact.
What is not in the training manual (and can never be) is what we saw next. We were barely at 28.4 meters for 2 minutes when we witnessed first-hand in the near distance why this site is called Manta Point. I was reminded immediately of Micheline Jenner’s poem – Manta Magic:
Graceful flight
Wing-tips in sight
Underwater dance
Weaves magical trance
These hypnotic but shy creatures, one of them a rare Black Manta, kept us at a distance but remained in view for us to admire and remind ourselves, why we dive, even to these depths.
Almost abruptly, the technology of Deep Diving reminded us that this depth was unsustainable. The instructor’s alarm went off and we had to seek shallower waters or after 18 minutes we would have to spend the rest of the day snorkelling on the surface. After a mandatory safety stop, we surfaced for our next exercise after remaining at our deepest dive to date for only 3 minutes.
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