Monday, September 20, 2010

Klepto Manta Mugs Cameraman



What began as another exhilarating manta ray night dive off Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on an August evening in 2010, quickly turned into the theft of the century. Cameraman Travis Matteson was capturing footage for the scuba diving travel television show "Into the Drink" aboard the Kona Aggressor II. Suddenly, one of the manta's giant wings hooked his light system, and darted off with the nearly $10,000 worth of photo gear. Underwater videographer Johnny Reidt caught the entire theft on camera, and the manta, carrying the stolen photo rig, captured some amazing footage of the nighttime reef. Remarkably, the camera rig was found completely intact after an eight-minute run by the manta, just yards from the dive boat. Case closed.

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