On our last night on the Big Island, we went on a night time Manta Ray snorkeling excursion with. The trip back can be freezing, so put on extra layers to keep yourself warm. On our night dive with the manta rays, we were given a show by one of the Dive Masters and the. After the mantas are gone, you will come back to the harbor. The average time of staying in the water is 30 minutes. During the dive, you will spend most of your time chilling on the ocean floor while the manta rays flipping above you. They come very close to the water surface while feeding. Once you arrive at the feeding grounds, you will douse and wait for the manta rays to appear. Before the boarding, the crew usually teaches you a couple of things about the manta rays and how to behave while in the water. The boat takes you to one of the manta ray feeding areas. Manta ray night dive usually starts at the harbor from which the boat departs. So if you are a certified scuba diver, come to Big Island during a diving season between May and September to make swimming with mantas more comfortable. Our experienced In-water swim guide, Captain & Lifeguard are stationed at the viewing site, with light board, underwater dive lights, & Manta Rays anticipating. The reef manta rays in Hawaii are not migratory creatures and spend their lives in the islands' coastal waters year-round. These beautiful animals gracefully swim, turn, and flip through the light beams, touching their spectators all the way. As soon as everyone was aboard (they did a roll call to be sure), we headed back to the harbor.Manta rays are attracted by plankton, which they filter out of the water by swimming with their enormous mouths wide open. When we got back on, the guides had fresh towels and hot chocolates for us. I was pretty cold at this point - my wetsuit is only a 2.5 thickness and too big for me, and we weren’t moving around at all. Book a manta ray snorkel tour and swim with wild manta rays at night This amazing experience was labeled one of the top ten things to do in your lifetime. I could have stayed in the water forever, but it was time to get back on the boat. We were in the water for almost an hour, just watching their acrobatic dance. Mantas are incredibly smart - they recognize themselves in mirrors, which not even dogs can do! Some have even learned that humans can help them and will go up to diver to get fishing hooks removed. Explore and experience the magic of the mantas in Kona. While those oceanic mantas are even bigger than the Hawaiian ones and it was one of the coolest things I have ever done, this snorkel was just as cool. Witness the mesmerizing manta ray night dive in Kona, Hawaii with Kona Diving Company. In Indonesia, we saw oceanic mantas while diving. ![]() They corkscrew through the water, feeding on the plankton. ![]() As soon as we were in the water and situated, the mantas showed up. It’s a lot of just holding on and floating, you only kick when your guide directs you to move somewhere. There is also a ton of cute merchandise and gear and the shop, and if you show up before noon, there's a discount! I had thought that the snorkel was near the downtown of Kailua-Kona, but it was actually a 20 minute boat ride from the marina - and you end up right by the airport.įinally, it was our turn to jump in! How it works is that Big Island Divers have a surfboard with a light on the bottom and a PVC pipe rack around the outside, which the snorkelers held on to. ![]() We checked in at the dive shop ahead of the excursion - we were a little confused by this, but you just need to check in ahead of time to get sized for your wetsuit and get directions to the boat. ![]() We had brought our own snorkel gear that we used, but the cost of the excursion includes mask, snorkel, and fins and you can rent a wetsuit for $10. Manta Village (south of Kona) This is the original manta ray night dive location. They were a reasonable price (only $105), just down the street from our vacation rental, and had great reviews. I did a little research, and I ended up booking the same company, Big Island Divers. We'd planned on doing a night SCUBA dive with mantas, and I stumbled on this post by Simply Taralynn about a night snorkel with manta rays, and I knew that we had to do it. We had hoped to do a SCUBA dive while in Hawaii, but I had a sinus infection that made diving impossible, so I got to work looking for something to do instead.
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