We headed to Tumbes on the 19th of November; we were joined by our allies of Manta Trust, who accompanied us on our activities. First we had a meeting with Antonio Miranda from the Tourism Direction; he told us that next year they are focusing their efforts on marine activities. This is a great opportunity to coordinate with them so that they include our project on their plans.

On Saturday 22nd we had a First Aid Training for the fishermen. The firefighters from Tumbes gave a great theoretical and practical training of what to do in different circumstances. After the training we had a meeting with the fishermen, where we discussed how to proceed with the implementation of the vessels. We discussed costs of seating, shade, life vests, equipment, etc. We also had a chance to define the costs of each tour and what they were going to charge. We took into consideration the previous market analysis in which we interviewed tourists and ask how much they wanted to pay to have the experience of swimming with manta rays. We also took into consideration prices charged by tourism agencies for other snorkeling and sighting tours.

On Sunday 23rd we had the pilot expedition. We invited a volunteer agency to get some feedback. We went on an artisanal boat to look for Manta Rays! We saw around 10 of them, some even jumped off the water. We got to swim with 4 of them, and took pictures and recorded data that is going to help us with our research. The experience was amazing and definitely something tourist will be willing to pay for.

Our next step will be to equip the vessels and be sure we have all the security measures to have safe trips. We will keep the updates next month!