
Two travellers captured amazing pictures of a stingray migration after spotting the animals while returning from a morning on the water for lunch during a Mexico holiday.

Joost van Uffelen and his partner Sandy van de Water, spied the school of rays when taking a break after a morning photographing dolphins close to Isla Espiritu Santo in the Sea of Cortez, off the coast of Mexico's Baja California Sur.

The underwater photographers were so amazed by the scene, they jumped straight back in the water to capture the stingrays, who numbered around 400.

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The spectacular display was spotted by the holidaying photographers while they were strolling to lunch in Mexico

The stingray migration involved around 400 of the animals all swimming very close to the surface of the water

Joost van Uffelen and his partner Sandy van de Water grabbed their cameras when they saw the disturbance in the sea

Joost photographed his partner Sandy swimming among the placid creatures as they made their way through the water

Joost, 30, said: 'It was a truly awesome spectacle to see!

'Having had our fill of dolphins we made our way to the other side of the island and cruised towards a place to have our well-deserved lunch.

'Before we reached the beach we noticed new movement on the surface.

The clear images were taken in the warm seas of Isla Espirito Santo, which sits in the Sea of Cortez, in Mexico

After first noticing the disturbance just below the surface of the water, the pair dived in for the 'awesome experience' of swimming with the animals and photographing them

The couple asked to be dropped off by the captain and grabbed their fins so they could swim with the majestic animals

They had first spotted the stingrays as their white tips broke the surface of the water

'Little white tips broke the surface over a large surface area and now and then a mobula jumped high into the air to splash back into the water soon thereafter.

'It turned out to be a huge school of mobulas and was exactly what we had been hoping for!

'Quickly I grabbed fins and masks then I urged the captain to drop us close to the school of fish.

Joost and Sandy are both photographers and had spent the morning snapping pictures of dolphins

The couple managed to keep up with the stingrays for about five minutes before they disappeared into the distance

'Entering the greenish water made me realise that the visibility was not that great until the school came in sight.

'It was magnificent and well worth delaying lunch!'

There were hundreds of stingrays schooling together close to the surface.

Stingrays are well known for their ability to swoop above the surface of the sea

The animals can leap into the air like dolphins and move by flapping their pectoral fins

The school of stingrays was first spotted due to a disturbance right below the surface of the sea

Joost spent his time capturing pictures of the animals and his partner Sandy freediving with them

Sandy entered the water to swim amongst the rays while Joost took photographs of her freediving with the majestic fish.

'We could keep close to the rays for about five minutes and then they were off into the deep.'