Manta Festival 2011 — 12th & 13th February 2011

by Lana Simpson

Stradbroke Island is always a very special place for a weekend away with its beautiful beaches and laid back pace. In summer especially it is extraordinarily special as Stradbroke Island is the primary breeding ground for mantas and at this time of the year are plentiful to spot! The Island is one of only two places in Australia where research is undertaken (Lady Elliot is the other), and is home for the Project Manta team from UQ, headed by Dr Kathy Townsend.

Every year Pro Dive Brisbane heads to the Manta Festival to celebrate these majestic creatures and so it was on the weekend of 12 - 13 February. After a restless sleep in anticipation of what was ahead the next day we woke on the Saturday to fantastic sunny conditions with flat seas, water temperatures of 27 degrees and 20 metres visibility! The playground for mantas is Manta Bommie which was our first stop! Mantas are fickle creatures and they were shy to show as we came across turtles, bull rays, stunning blue spotted rays and moray eels. One dive down, another to go which saw us head to the infamous Flat Rock and its beautiful coral gardens for another memorable dive that was sublime! With our diving thirst quenched we spent our downtime in the afternoon ‘at the beach.’ That evening we enjoyed a BBQ and talk from guest speakers from Project Manta who shared their experiences on the breeding habits, manta identification and technologies such as GPS used when working with mantas. Prize night saw some great giveaways – who doesn’t LOVE dive accessories!?!?

There was much expectation for Sunday – will we see these majestic creatures? For most of the summer season the mantas have been spotted and here we were at Stradbroke at Festival time... we were not disappointed. With the same perfect conditions as the day before we plunged into Manta Bommie. We were in heaven... three mantas came by and circumnavigated the group, the leopard sharks came out to play from the sandy bottom and the rest of the ocean joined them – more turtles, moral eels, crays, a shovel nose ray and even a nurse shark! An incredible weekend away that had tongues wagging – did we really have to leave this special place and return to the mainland? (Groan) Yes! Most of us have a job to return to so we can dive some more! (it’s that chicken & egg thing).