I Want Water Wings!

Manta ray ballet!

Feeling a bit blue, I dinghy slowly back towards Swell. Apparently the internet on the island is down…So much for the skype date with Mom.

The water is a mystic green, full and soupy with plankton and little jellyfish. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot something flick the surface up ahead. There’s more than one…What is it…?

I slowly approach as not to scare them, and cut the engine…

Manta rays!!! A whole family of them!?

I watch them lift their wing tips at the surface, before descending again. I search the boat, yes…my mask and fins are here!

I slide in slowly, but my arrival doesn’t seem to phase the mantas. The water is thick with micro-life! I feel mini jellyfish bounce off my limbs as I join the ‘stew’. The mantas are marvelous! They fly by in slow, smooth loops—arcing back and forth through the plankton bloom.

I’m euphoric. It’s the beauty cross oceans for…

The giant rays move with unmatched grace. Like they’ve never hurried in all of time…effortless, now and forever.

I begin to recognize a few of them. The white markings of their undersides are all a little different. The biggest come very, very close. One has a long battle scar across his back. I run my fingers over it. He seems to like it, circling around to see me again.

For nearly an hour I stay with them. I finally climb back into the dinghy chilly and pruned, but all smiles. These peaceful water angels have restored my peace. I thanked them for reminding me that if we relax and flow, there are often great things that come out of apparent misfortune…

**Later that day, the internet was miraculously repaired, and I got to tell Mom all about my date with the mantas!