An Exciting Swim

I decided to go for a swim after work tonight in Kailua Bay. I got past the end of the pier and as I neared the milk carton buouy, a white triangle popped out of the water about 20 feet in front of me. Uh-oh. I scanned the water and after a minute I could see the shadow of a large creature rising to the surface. Two black fins emerged from the ocean and I was immediatly releaved to see it was only a manta ray. What looked like a shark fin must have been the white bottom of the manta's wing. So I watched the manta for a few minutes, and I continued my swim when I discovered another larger manta. His wingspan was probably about 8 feet, though I have read their wingspan can get up to 25 feet across! These alien-like but graceful creatures are filter feeders that use "arms" to push plankten into their huge mouths. Sorry I didn't have my camera with but you can see some manta pics here.