New documentary explores an unlikely friendship between a man and a manta ray

S1: Welcome in San Diego. I'm Andrew Bowen in for Jade Hindman. On today's show , what will it take for California to build enough housing? Data show cities are still falling short of their goals. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. An unlikely friendship between a veteran and a manta ray is the subject of a new documentary. It's called The Last Dive. Here's a snippet from the trailer.

S2: This calmness overtook me instantly. I got up the nerve to crawl up his back and rub his shoulders. He offered no resistance , and that's when I got a chance to look into his eye. It's like an ultraviolet light with an unending depth. Gorgeous. And you know there's somebody in there. I guess at that point , we kind of clicked. Because I cut my hands over his upper lip , and then he slowly took his wings and moved off with me on his back.

S1: That was an excerpt from The Last Dive. The film will be showing in San Diego on August 19th and 20th , and I'm joined now by the director , Cody Sheehy. Cody , welcome to Midday Edition. Hi.

S3: Hi. I'm happy to be here. Thank you.

S1: So the last dive follows Terry as he goes on this one last journey to try and reunite with Willie the Manta Ray , who he formed a friendship with. Who is Terry and what is his story?

S3: So Terry is is an interesting person. He's got an incredible backstory. Um , some of it isn't all good. So he was a former Hells Angel , uh , spent time in prison. Um , but really , it's when he went down to Mexico and started cruising on a sailboat and going out to this remote island out on the Pacific Ocean. That's when he met Willy. And the story of his transformation really , uh , takes place , which we document in the film.

S1: You knew Terry for a while before deciding to make this film about him. How did you two first meet?

S3: Yeah , well , I mean , my history is that I live on a sailboat down in Mexico for half the year. Also , um , I lived there with my wife , and I have a four year old son , and they come down every year. And I met Terry about ten years ago. He sailed into this Anchorage next to me on a boat named Manta. And he's an incredible diver. So Terry has dove and the Sea of Cortez documented , I think , over 14,000 times , which could be the most of any living person today or ever. And so we just started diving together and our friendship really developed around diving first. But over the years , he always would talk about Willie , this giant manta ray. And at first I didn't know what to make of these stories. But then one day he pulled out a box of old footage. You know , this encrusted with things from being on this boat. And we started watching the tapes , and that's when I realized he had documented this incredible 19 year relationship that he had with this animal.

S1: So , yeah , this film does include a lot of that old underwater footage that you got from Terry. What was it like combing through all of that video and seeing what Terry had captured over the years?

S3: Well , it was a big job. There was hundreds of hours of footage in there , and the first step was to just , you know , repair the tapes and transfer it all to high quality digital. And I think the kind of the guiding ethos that we had was really just look for footage and prioritize footage of Terry and Willie together , and anything that would help the audience really understand the depth of their friendship.

S1: And tell us about Willie. He's the manta ray at the heart of this film. What does he look like? What's you know? Can we can we see a personality in him?

S3: Well , Willie is an incredible animal. He's 22ft wide from wingtip to wingtip. Um , he's one of the larger giant mantas that we know of. They can get a little bit bigger than him. Uh , he's a huge but yet graceful animal. Underwater. These animals are just so gracefully loop and swoop around , and they have an eye on each side of their head. And so , you know , personifying a manta ray on film is a little difficult because they don't really have the facial expressions that humans like to see. But what's incredible about Willie is how curious he is and how much he loved interacting with Terry. And then I think the important thing to know about manta rays that I learned in the process of filming this documentary is their intelligence. Um , mantas are in the shark families. They're cold blooded , yet they funnel warm blood that they generate from the wing action to their brain to make it run faster. And they're really intelligent. On the scale of of intelligence , they're they're right in there with , uh , you know , other large animals like whales and dolphins and that kind of thing. So. Hmm.

S1: Hmm. And giant mantas are currently considered an endangered species. Is that right? What are some of the threats that they face in in nature?

S3: Yeah , we were lucky to document a population in Mexico. That's one of the last stable populations. Uh , globally , they're endangered , um , for many reasons. Over the years , the fishing industry has put out a lot of nets in the water , and there they get tangled in that , and that is a huge source of mortality. And then in more recent years , some of the Asian traditional medicine markets. As the numbers dwindle , they like to select animals that are , that are , um , that are falling. And so the gills of mantas are targeted as some kind of special healing property. And it's an unfortunate cycle to be in , because the more mantas that are taken illegally for their gills , the less there are and the more the price goes up. And so they're just kind of caught in that doom loop.

S1: And another part of this film , an important part is ocean conservation. And , you know , ways that we can protect these animals. That's something that Terry has played a role in as well. How do we see that theme of conservation in the film?

S3: Well , I think Terry is one of the most unlikely conservationists , and that's one of the things I love about the film is , you know , you can see someone who might not normally become a conservationist go through that transformation on screen. He knew all the mantas out there , a lot of them , not just Willy and. Over the years , he witnessed firsthand some of these threats I just described happening to his friends. And that's when he really took action in a way that he knew how to do. And if not for Terry , those mantas might not be protected at this island today.

S1: You know , some of the themes you cover in this film are redemption and healing. How did you want to portray those themes in the film?

S3: Well , I think it's an important , um , thing that I learned , which is , you know , if you give somebody a second chance , it's amazing what they might do with that. And we follow Terry on his journey as he takes his second chance and turns his life into something that's incredibly important to all of us , who I mean myself , for example , you know , I've got this four year old son , and it's my hope that someday when he's old enough to scuba dive , that he can dive with those mantas out there and experience what it's like. And so , you know , we document that. And I think the other thing I'd say is just that , um , Terry , you know , until the process of making this film was almost like a therapy for him in that he got to see his whole life kind of come together and help us draw the connections that made it seem like it had a lot of meaning. And when he watches this film , uh , it really affects him. You can just see it. Hmm.

S1: Hmm. Are there any memories from the making of the film that stand out to you?

S3: Well , there's one story in particular which we could not capture in the film , unfortunately. But in the first time we're out there diving , Terry sees a manta ray named Chevy that he knew from the old days. Um , and on that first dive , Chevy didn't recognize him. They didn't get very close together. But on the second dive , when the cameraman wasn't there , I witnessed , uh , Terry getting close to to Chevy , and then all of a sudden , Chevy just stopping and then presenting his huge wings and then doing loops all around Terry. And then they just went off and played together. And then every dive after that , almost every dive within 20 , 30 minutes , Chevy would somehow know where we were and would show up and swim directly to Terry and then , you know , started leaping around him. And just to me , it just showed that not only did he remember Terry from more than ten years earlier , but that he missed them and he was really happy to see him and and how much fun he has with with Terry.

S1: So wow. That's remarkable. Tell me about the film tour and why you wanted to bring the last dive to San Diego.

S3: Yeah , we're really excited. So we're going to be doing a series of super events across the country , starting in San Diego. And then all of this is building towards greater awareness of Mantas and the High Seas Treaty that we're going to be supporting in January and around that time. Eventually , the film will go to a limited theatrical release across the country and then also into virtual screenings , and then eventually on to , um , digital streaming sites. And the reason why we picked San Diego is it's just , well. I mean , first off , it's one of the most wonderful cities in the US and we love it. But beyond that , there's a lot of veterans and senior citizens and environmentalists and ocean lovers and divers that are in San Diego. And it just seemed like a really a great place for it to launch.

S1: You've built some partnerships with local community and environmental organizations through this film. Why was that important to you?

S3: Well , I think so many of these groups are doing great work , like we have a strong relationship with the NRDC , which is working hard to protect the Gulf of California. And we've done a series of screenings in Patagonia stores all across the country. Um , the , uh , and many others , uh , you know , Warfighter Scuba , uh , which is involved with Blue Therapy , where they take veterans and teach them to scuba dive. And that has huge effects for PTSD and many other groups. And I think it's important for audiences to to be able to watch a story like Terry and Willie and then have that emotional connection to the issue , and then those groups can help all of us organize around the things that need to be done that we all want to do , but can come together around a film like this.

S1: You touched a bit on how Terry reacted when he first saw this film. Can you tell me more about that? What was his emotional journey like for him seeing this documentary in full?

S3: Well , we didn't let him watch it until we were at the premiere and Tribeca , New York , the Tribeca Film Festival. And so he came in , you know , red carpet experience and then sat down and the theater gets dark. And I was sitting behind him , and the whole film , he was just sobbing the whole time. It really affected him , and we just wanted him to have that experience surrounded by people that would understand the story and give him that standing ovation afterwards. And it was important because , you know , he really went out on a limb in terms of of telling his full life story , both good and bad. And I just wanted him to have that validation of a big crowd all around him when he finally saw it.

S1: What do you hope the audiences take away from the last dive?

S3: Well , I hope that they take away what I what my experience was , which is this sensation of diving with the mantas. I mean , we have beautiful 5.1 surround sound and gorgeous imagery to try to just make make that experience as real as it possibly can be in a movie theater. It's just a magical thing. These are really special animals and very few people know about them. So I think just awareness of manta rays is number one. Uh , number two is is just understanding our veterans and some of the stories that that they have in their lives and , and the amazing contributions that people like Terry can make. And then I think all of us getting organized around protecting the oceans and manta rays that live there.

S1: And where , again , is this film headed next after San Diego?

S3: We haven't confirmed our next date , but it'll be in a series of , uh , kind of major cities across the United States. So , uh , one likely candidate , probably next one's going to be in Portland , Oregon.

S1: And ultimately on streaming , you said. But I have to assume most folks who see this film will want to see it in a theater on the big screen , right?

S3: I mean , this film was designed for the large screen and for community experience. And it's it's really exciting for me as a filmmaker to see our audiences now wanting to do things in person again and make those connections and get involved with with things that are real. And so we're just , um , part of that , that new wave , and we're just excited that everybody's getting off their phones and back out to the theaters again.

S1: All right. Well , I've been speaking with Cody Sheehy. He is the director of the documentary The Last Dive. The film will be showing at the Balboa Theater in downtown San Diego on August 19th , and then at the Paloma in Encinitas on August 20th. We'll have details at KPBS. Cody , thanks for sharing your filmmaking with us. And congratulations on the film.

S3: Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here.

S1: Still to come. How one man in San Jose dresses up like Batman to help the city's homeless population. KPBS Midday Edition is back after the break.