Breaching Rays

Two pictures I took in the Bay of Panama -- jumping rays.  I had the camera set on rapid shutter so you´ll see the first ray airborne, with the following ray just coming out of the water.  The second picture shows the second ray airborne, and the first just having entered the water.  These rays were all around us, jumping out of the water.  There are a number of reports of these rays breaching and striking humans in boats, including one recent report of a ray actually killing a woman -- likely by the force of impact and resulting head injuries, and not the poisonous barb. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/20/eagleray/index.html

Some speculate that the breaches are an effort to evade predators or clean parasites.  Whichever, they were a welcome sight on an otherwise flat calm, windless day as we motored out of Panama toward the Galapagos.