UK-based tour operator Scuba Tours Worldwide are running a ‘Name the Manta’ competition at DIVE 2014 … and the lucky winner will receive a fabulous AP Diving ‘Commando Escape’ BCD worth over £300. All you need to do is visit Stand No.615 and fill in an entry form.  

This handsome male manta ray has been seen in the Maldives five times over the past two years. He is a young adult and even last year he was chasing the large females and clearly taking an interest in looking for a mate. He has been spotted a couple of times recently in Addu Atoll in the Far South of the Maldives. Currently known as 1983-Q60, Scuba Tours Worldwide would like to give him a proper name – so they are running a Competition at the Dive 2014 show over the weekend of 25th and 26th October at the Birmingham NEC.

Scuba Tours Worldwide are celebrating in October – they will have been operating liveaboards in the Maldives for 25 years. Over this time they have built up extensive knowledge about the behaviour and migration patterns of manta rays.  “The manta population in the Maldives migrates from one side of the atolls to the other, according to the season, so that they can feed in plankton rich water. We normally see manta on ‘cleaning stations’ and we know many dive sites where this cleaning behaviour takes place,” said Rob Bryning, owner of Scuba Tours Worldwide. “Anne-Marie, Cruise Director on our liveaboard the MV Sea Spirit, has a PhD in Manta Behaviour and Ecology in the Maldives and the manta to be named in our Competition is one of hundreds that she has logged in her extensive database.”

If you want to hear more about mantas in the Maldives, Rob will be at DIVE 2014 giving a talk on “The Maldives and it’s Amazing Underwater Life!” – catch him in Ocean Theatre 1 at 12:15pm on both days.

To purchase tickets for DIVE 2014 click here.