Diving with the Manta Rays

The next day after all that hiking and driving around we decided to just hang out near the hotel and relax. We walked over to a nearby beach and went swimming and snorkeling, had a leisurely lunch at a nearby restaurant, shopped a little, etc.

We also knew that we had exciting plans for that night, which were to go scuba diving with the manta rays! The video above was taken a year ago by someone I don't know, but it is almost exactly what it was like down there.

We went out on a boat with a place called Neptune Charlie's that was full of snorkelers. James and I were the only ones diving from our boat, but there were lots of other boats going out and they all had a mix of divers and snorkelers. Basically, you head out right before sunset to a place where there are some lights set up every night under the water. The lights attract the plankton, which attracts the manta rays. (The rays eat the plankton.)

We were given a wetsuit, scuba gear and a flashlight and jumped out of the boat. We only went down about 30 feet, then swam about 10 feet to where the lights were set up. We dropped to the bottom and kneeled in a big circle with about 40 other divers. Then we aimed our flashlights up above us with our arms stretched out straight. The snorkelers were all floating on top of the water right above us.

The manta rays were swimming in giant circles between the snorkelers and the divers. Our dive master later told us he counted about 15 of them down there. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen diving! In that video, near the beginning, you can see a manta ray come right at the camera with its big mouth open wide - that happened to me so many times!! They would come up from behind you directly over your head and you would have to duck. Their giant wings hit me on the head more than once!

We stayed down about 45 minutes. Towards the end the rays seemed to be getting more and more eager to get their food. Keep in mind, manta rays can weigh over a ton!James was knocked down by the disturbance they made in the water and had to hold on to a rock to keep himself in one place. I also lost my balance a bit later and was very glad to be wearing a wetsuit when I realized I had put my leg down on a sea urchin! A man in front of us kneeling down had a spotted moray eel slithering over his calves while he looked up at the manta rays - I don't think he even realized it! The dive master told us that might happen, but we would be fine as long as we didn't wag our fingers in front of their mouths or anything like that. He needn't have worried - I know not to stick my finger out in front of an eel!!

Well, this is more than I EVER write about anything on here! It was just so amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone who is in the Kailua-Kona area and dives. I'm sure it was amazing for the snorkelers too!