Posted on 03/17/2021 12:25:50 PM PDT by Red Badger
March 17 (UPI) -- A photographer taking pictures of a surfer at a Florida beach captured a rare shot when the man was photobombed by a wave-jumping manta ray.
Rusty Escandell said he was visiting the beach near Patrick Space Force Base in Satellite Beach with his son when he decided to take some photos of a surfer out on the water.
"To be frank with you, I was actually focusing on the surfer. I was doing a burst, catching several frames, and it wasn't until I got home and I was reviewing the pictures that I actually saw what was happening in the background," Escandell told WKMG-TV.
The photo captured a manta ray jumping out of a wave behind the surfer.
Escandell told WTXF-TV he estimated the ray was at least 8-feet long, "but probably bigger."
VIDEO AT LINK......................
https://youtu.be/xPpVcxU6LIk
When wading in bays in Texas it is wise to do the “stingray shuffle” and slide your feet along with out picking them up. Nudge a stingray with your foot and it will scurry away. Step on one and you will wind up in the ER.
It’s ‘’hysterectomy’’.
They are beautiful harmless creatures....................
A stinger.
Also, manta rays are huge. When I was a kid out in the water near Tampa, a pair of manta rays came in among all the folks swimming and began playing with people on floaties/mats. One even came up under mine and very gently and slowly pushed mine around in an arc, then submerged, then did it to someone else, before coming back. I remember the dark shape coming up from below and its ‘wingtips’ emerging on both sides of me, with maybe 10 feet between them. I don’t know if they were friendly or just trying to scratch their backs, but clearly they enjoyed doing it.
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