For some tourists, scuba diving is a fun activity mostly reserved for their vacations. Dedicated divers, however, would tell us it’s a lifestyle – and a pretty rewarding one at that.

Just take it from scuba diver Sarah Richard of Hastings, East Sussex in England, who recently had the rare experience of encountering a huge school of Mobula rays during one of her dives.

Fortunately for the rest of us, we get to take a closer look as she captured everything on film.

An exciting yet unexpected underwater experience!

Understandably, Sarah couldn’t help but be extremely enthusiastic about her close encounter with the rays.

In an interview, she shared:

“I have been a diver for 10-years and except for witnessing it on TV, I have never seen such a large school of rays before.”

“To be in arms distance of such a large amount of rays was humbling and emotional,” she added.

The incident happened at Baja California Sur, a state in northwest Mexico.

The footage has since gone viral over the internet.

Watch the video here and see for yourself:

According to Sarah, she’ll always be grateful for the amazing encounter.

She said about it:

“As divers and ocean advocates, we are constantly fighting to make our oceans better – every now and then you encounter moments like this that remind us truly how great the ocean and life that live in it are.”

Mobula rays are great swimmers – and jumpers!

As a NationalGeographic article tells us:

“Mobula rays live in warm oceans throughout the world. These fish have a pair of winglike fins that can extend up to 17 feet. The fins help the rays rocket from the sea when they leap. Scientists aren’t exactly sure why all nine species of mobula rays do these jumps. But they think it may be to show off for a potential mate, get rid of parasites, or communicate.

“Mobula rays are as good at swimming as they are at jumping. As they travel, they move their fins up and down to steer through the water.”