UPY 2025

UPY  Wide Angle - Third
'New Moon Madness'
Joost van Uffelen

Hanifaru Bay is a famed site for manta aggregations which occur around lunar events. The changing currents trap and concentrate plankton in the bay allowing mantas to cyclone feed. Although, in nature, nothing is guaranteed. When I arrived in the area during new Moon, operators mentioned the season seemed to have ended early; schooling mantas had not been seen for weeks. Fortunately, area just two days after our arrival we were rewarded with the biggest feeding event of the year with 80 mantas train-feeding on the plankton.
Keeping calm and finding order in the madness was the hardest part in creating this image. While the mantas happily filled their bellies, surrounded by schools of mackerel, a small window opened to shoot them stacked upon each other in a beautiful feeding train. Lesson learned: nature always has a surprise in store and even when you have planned to be at the right place at the right time, you still need a dose of luck!

Judge's comment: Such a nice composition of mantas that just says Hanifaru Bay! The schooling fish on both sides create a frame to the Mantas swimming perfectly in the middle of the image. Very nice visibility and good post production as well!

Tobias Friedrich