Guest post by Jane Lurie.

Yesterday Sharon and I decided to go out on our kayaks even earlier then usual. We were on the water by 6am. We just paddled straight out past the rock and sat. The water was like glass.

We began to see what looked like tiny fins moving about the surface of the water…were they miniature sharks or dolphins or???….we soon found out when the first manta ray jumped straight up totally out of the water and then crashed down. We must have been seeing the tips of their folded “wings”. They weren’t the huge rays, probably more like 3 or 4 feet across. Soon there were tons of them..some jumping and then flapping their “wings” and then crashing down. It was an amazing sight.

At one point we saw a school of flying fish making speedy tracks  away from the mantas. I don’t know what manta rays eat…Wiki has 2 conflicting answers…maybe you know…but the fish seemed interested in leaving that area in a hurry. It made for a great scene.

You never know what you’ll find in the early morning on the Sea of Cortez.

Ariel, Peter and Charlie in silhouette at sunrise
Ariel, Peter and Charlie in Silhouette at Sunrise

Today we went out with Ariel, Peter and Charlie. The water was totally still and meditative, which was another kind of wonderful. Ariel and I stayed out a half hour longer and we did get to see a manta ray jump before we came in. Then, when we were very close to shore, a school of small flying fish skimmed across the water right in front of our kayaks. Another wonderful kayak moment on the Sea of Cortez.