Video captured by @puntaallenmx on Instagram.

Video captured by @michael_seigal1 on Instagram.

Nurse sharks feeding behind our liveaboard boat in the Maldives

Video credited to @schmidtocean on Instagram.

After swimming with Mantas in Nusa Penida and Mawan Island in the Komodo National Park (different years), I can truly check that item off my bucket list of wonders to see. It was the first time we actually got a little bored after watching them for so so long, because the water was calm and we didn't have to keep swimming in all directions to see them.

Even the GoPro footage came out so much better and stable, that I didn't even have to slow the videos down, as the mantas moved so slow it already looked like slow-mo shots.

I've also been to Manta Point in Komodo National Park, but it's much deeper there, similar to Nusa Penida, and there weren't as many mantas hanging around in one spot like we saw in Mawan Island.

Since we only snorkel and don't scuba dive, the shallow waters of Mawan Island combined with the conditions and proximity to the mantas made it one of our best and most memorable experience in the ocean.