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
Satellite Beach is great!
That’s 12 feet wide if it’s an inch
That's not a manta ray ... that's Batman!
“I’m BATMAN!”
HA! 2 minutes and 3 seconds!!!
I caught a small one once. Maybe two-feet?
Took me an hour to bring it in. I had no idea what it was. Brought him up and let him go.
I’ve seen them on the Gulf Coast near Destin!...................
Yes, they are occasionally caught by fishermen...............
by a Manta Ray?
So whatever photobombed means I take it the Manta Ray knows about it.
What’s the difference between a stingray and a manta ray?
I wonder if they’re in Crystal River! I’ve seen dolphin swimming in the wakes of boats and jet skis out there maybe a half mile off the end of the pier (west).
Is it on the Atlantic side of Florida or the Gulf side?
I saw about 40 of them off the Saint Lucie FPL Nuclear Plant while fishing about three miles off shore there.
I think they were mating.
Coming out of the sea right side up as well as upside down.
10 or 12 feet wide.
Massive.
A manta ray didn't kill Steve Irwin.
not many surfers on the gulf side ... Satellite Beach is near Cape Canaveral ...
Back in the day when I was heavily into sailboat racing up and down the FL.Atlantic Coast we would see these things on a relatively regular basis. They can easily clear probably 5 or more feet and make a hell of a splat when they land. Never got any pics though. Always busy with sailing the boat.
Saw one while I was on the pier at Okaloosa Island, just calmly moving along about twenty feet off the shore. It never broke the surface, but it’s outline in the water was incredible. They do get big.
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