Manta Sandy

Manta Sandy is Raja Ampat's best-known manta ray site, a cleaning station on a sandy slope near Arborek Island where oceanic mantas aggregate year-round. Unlike many manta sites, sightings here are reliable in any month — the combination of the cleaning station and nutrient-rich currents means the animals are regularly present. On a good dive, four or five mantas circle slowly overhead while divers hover below on the sandy bottom.

The dive is straightforward and suitable for intermediate divers. The depth of the cleaning station is about 16 metres; waiting time before the mantas arrive varies. Early morning dives are recommended. Arborek village, whose community manages this section of the reef, receives a small contribution from visiting divers.

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Manta Sandy takes its name from the sandy patch at 16 metres where oceanic mantas — larger than the reef mantas found elsewhere — come to be cleaned. Some individuals have been identified visiting this site repeatedly for over a decade. The cleaning station relationship between mantas and the small wrasse that pick parasites from their gill slits was only scientifically described in the 1970s; at Manta Sandy you can watch it at close range.

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