Eye of the Manta

Here is a photo to augment the story I posted yesterday about the manta ray that made a strange noise, then turned and swam directly into me...a picture I took when the manta slammed into my left elbow.

I took this photo with my right hand when my left arm got hit by the manta
I took this photo with my right hand when my left arm got hit by the manta

This photo is not cropped. The framing is a little off due to the impact, but I captured this image with the 10mm end of a Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lens on a Canon 7D, so you can see that the manta's eye was basically right on top of my dome port.

The manta had been swimming in front of me, facing the other direction. After it made the strange sound, it turned around, swam directly at me, then rammed right into me.

For clarity, I was stopped in the water, not moving at all. In fact, I had balled up to brace for possible impact, which turned out to be a good idea, since, well...there was impact!

For everyone who's expressed doubt, I know how implausible this sounds, but, well...it happened.