On a recent snorkeling outing, my wife and I hadn’t gone far when we saw these three spotted eagle rays cruising around. The one was bigger than the other two and I wondered if this was a family group.
The three went back and forth before disappearing in the direction we’d come from. Or rather two of them did. The third, the smallest of the three, looped around a few times and seemed keen to demonstrate just how quickly it could turn and swoop and soar. Eventually, it followed the others.
We swam a little farther, then turned and headed back. It wasn’t long before we ran into the two juvenile rays again. Both were zipping around, carving turns, dipping down and rocketing up. Again, the smallest one was the most demonstrative and I got the feeling it was just having a ripping good time, practicing its acrobatics.
But it was also clearly quite curious. A couple of times it came straight up to me and I could see it looking at me, probably wondering what this cumbersome creature was in the water. I like to think I helped confirm its own superior swimming skills as I splashed my way back to the shore.
Graham's Island 
Interesting pictures of the Manta fish! I like them all.
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That is so good Graham, what an experience.
I just saw an article asking people to stay away from Hawaii as there isn’t enough ICU beds and Covid is getting out of control. Hope your island is doing OK
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Yes, the governor was the one putting that out. The delta variant has exposed the weak link in Hawaii’s Covid response, that being locals who aren’t vaccinated and still mingle freely. Currently, our infection rates are the worst they’ve been during this whole time. If things carry on this way for much longer, we’ll be closing the state down again, but without federal assistance this time!
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That is so bad. We are out of lock down at midnight tonight 😁
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Good for you. I hope this time it’s for good!
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Probably not unless everyone does the right thing
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And the chances of that …
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🤪😂
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WOW! What an amazing experience!
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Thanks. I was thrilled to have a good long swim with them.
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A true pinch-yourself moment.
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Yes, indeed.
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How cute! The last photo is my favourite, like a happy family riding off to the sunset
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Yes, I like that one too. It was such an enjoyable encounter. The little ones were more curious than eagle rays usually are.
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