Drawn by the swift currents and upwellings of chilly, nutrient-rich water, the experience of diving with mantas in Komodo was a huge highlight of our Seven Seas trip in July / August 2017.

Known by scientists as the most intelligent of the elasmobranch species, mantas will often swim up close to check you out - a great opportunity for photos.

During our trip to Komodo, we were lucky to find many mantas in shallow water - perfect for shooting with natural light because the light from electronic strobes is bad for them.

In a place like Komodo, you really never know when one of these graceful animals is just going to appear out of the blue, so I was always scanning the entire undersea environment to catch a glimpse of one.

All the manta photos from our Komodo trip were shot with my Canon 5D Mark III inside a waterproof Liquid Eye Water Housing Systems camera housing.

Check out the gallery below to see the photo highlights, or see the all the photo galleries from our Komodo liveaboard dive trip - from scuba diving, to aerial photos, to freediving, to the incredible wildlife in this amazing place. You can also see galleries from other Seven Seas liveaboard dive trips - my absolute favorite way to explore the awesome natural beauty and unique cultures of Indonesia.