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Large manta ray photobombs surfer at Florida beach
UPI ^ | MARCH 17, 2021 / 1:37 PM | By Ben Hooper

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


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Sports; Travel; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: florida; mantaray
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I've seen these rays do these things, they are awesome!...................
1 posted on 03/17/2021 12:25:50 PM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Satellite Beach is great!


2 posted on 03/17/2021 12:27:20 PM PDT by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: Red Badger

That’s 12 feet wide if it’s an inch


3 posted on 03/17/2021 12:28:55 PM PDT by subterfuge (RIP T.P.)
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To: Red Badger
Large manta ray photobombs surfer at Florida beach

That's not a manta ray ... that's Batman!


4 posted on 03/17/2021 12:30:49 PM PDT by gw-ington (The Office of the President-Elect gw-ington and Vice President-Elect Loch Ness Monster)
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To: Red Badger

“I’m BATMAN!”


5 posted on 03/17/2021 12:32:52 PM PDT by time4good
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To: gw-ington

HA! 2 minutes and 3 seconds!!!


6 posted on 03/17/2021 12:33:32 PM PDT by time4good
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To: Red Badger

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.


7 posted on 03/17/2021 12:36:16 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Biden's favorite word: What?)
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To: equaviator

I’ve seen them on the Gulf Coast near Destin!...................


8 posted on 03/17/2021 12:36:48 PM PDT by Red Badger ("We've always been at war with Climate Change, Winston."..............................)
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To: VeniVidiVici

Yes, they are occasionally caught by fishermen...............


9 posted on 03/17/2021 12:37:40 PM PDT by Red Badger ("We've always been at war with Climate Change, Winston."..............................)
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To: Red Badger
Love at First Bite (1979) - chicken.mpg
10 posted on 03/17/2021 12:39:20 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Red Badger
Photobombed?

by a Manta Ray?

So whatever photobombed means I take it the Manta Ray knows about it.

11 posted on 03/17/2021 12:40:20 PM PDT by precisionshootist
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To: Red Badger

What’s the difference between a stingray and a manta ray?


12 posted on 03/17/2021 12:42:03 PM PDT by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: Red Badger

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).


13 posted on 03/17/2021 12:42:41 PM PDT by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
14 posted on 03/17/2021 12:44:10 PM PDT by SJackson (A city for sale and doomed to quick destruction, if it should find a buyer, Gaius Sallustius Crispu)
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To: equaviator

Is it on the Atlantic side of Florida or the Gulf side?


15 posted on 03/17/2021 12:45:53 PM PDT by MissEdie (Be the Light in Someone's Darkness.)
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To: Red Badger

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.


16 posted on 03/17/2021 12:47:58 PM PDT by Joe Boucher (Molon Labe')
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To: monkeyshine
What’s the difference between a stingray and a manta ray?

A manta ray didn't kill Steve Irwin.

17 posted on 03/17/2021 12:48:00 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: MissEdie

not many surfers on the gulf side ... Satellite Beach is near Cape Canaveral ...


18 posted on 03/17/2021 12:48:32 PM PDT by bankwalker (groupthink kills ...)
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To: Red Badger

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.


19 posted on 03/17/2021 12:48:52 PM PDT by Afterguard (Deplorable me! )
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To: Red Badger

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.


20 posted on 03/17/2021 12:51:11 PM PDT by Repealthe17thAmendment
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