Scuba divers love to share their favorite tips and tales from dive trips. This column highlights some of those. Ocean conservationist and sanctuary superintendent Sarah Fangman recalls a close encounter with a giant manta ray that seemed as engaged with her as she was with it.

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, often described as the “Galapagos of North America,” is home to incredible marine wildlife, kelp forests, and maritime heritage artifacts, and contains waters that sustained Chumash people since time immemorial.

We as a dive community are stewards of this coming ocean, and how we tend to these rebounding resources now will dictate what version of the ocean we will be leaving for the next generation of divers.