Manta Ridge

Manta Ridge is a submerged seamount rising from 50 metres to a peak at 18 metres, positioned at the outer edge of the continental shelf where Atlantic and Caribbean water masses converge. Between April and June, whale sharks aggregate in the surface waters above the mount — drawn by the dense zooplankton blooms that the upwelling generates — and sightings on any given drift dive are reported by local operators at better than one in three dives during peak weeks. Atlantic giant mantas (Mobula birostris) are present from March through July, barrel-rolling through the plankton columns in the blue water above the peak. The deeper flanks carry large sea fans, black coral, and schools of silky sharks and hammerheads during the January to March cold-water intrusion.