The Manta Fest ended with the judging of the photo contest and Manta Man Bill Acker giving out some pretty great awards. Judges were Andy Sallmon, Tim Rock, Ray Bullion and Peter Schneider and they saw some images sublime and other ridiculous. But one thing was clear by the submissions. Everyone had great diving and a great time.

The grand prize went to four-time Manta Fest attendee Judy of New Orleans with her divers and clownfish image. This garnered her a great new dive computer from Ray, a free week with diving at Manta Ray and lots of other stuff. On the other end of the spectrum was the shot from Doris of Behavior. We didn’t say “men behaving badly” qualified so she entered and got an Honorable Mention for a noble effort to protect beer in a rainstorm in the MRBH pool.

In all, a grand time was had.

I also had a great experience seeing Yap through the eyes of a free diver. I was joined for the fest by Ai Futaki, a record-holding free diver and marine videographer. It was a great new way to look at the reef through her experienced eyes.

So we said a find farewell to Yap. I will be back next year for 2 full Manta Fest 5 weeks. Should be great. Polish your dive gear and get ready to wet your whistles on Mnuw. The dates are August 27 to September 11th. Look forward to seeing you.

Oh yes, and transplanted Irishman Andrew Sweeney, MRBH resident manager, told me a bit about my Irish heritage one night. If you can pronounce it, you can call me Tadhg Carraig. Otherwise, Kamagar to the great staff at the MRBH and Manta Fest from Tim Rock!!!!