As soon as we booked our flights to the Big Island, Hawaii, the FIRST thing out of Aamir’s mouth was “we HAVE to go night snorkeling with Manta Rays”. In my eagerness to get back to exploring, I enthusiastically said yes. Oh man, I had no idea what I had just signed up for. While my partner in crime was floating on cloud nine, I decided to do some much needed background research to ease the growing feeling of dread. While snorkeling in the ocean is one of our favorite island activities, when you add the element of darkness, some mental preparation must be done. When all is said and done, fears aside, we HIGHLY recommend that you take this opportunity and immerse yourself (literally) in this once in a lifetime opportunity.
What is a Manta Ray?
This first part of my background research was to find out what marine life we would be “visiting” in the middle of the ocean. When you Google Manta Ray you will see a massive animal in the water and you will think, “oh crap, THAT is a sting ray” well friends, rest easy a Manta Ray is NOT a Sting Ray. They do not have the tails that Sting Rays have to hurt you. They are COMPLETEY harmless. They don’t even eat fish, they eat plankton and in fact, it’s the lure of plankton that entices them to come all the way up to our bodies. Even though they are harmless, they are MASSIVE. They can grow up to 18 feet in terms of wingspan. That’s a king side bed. The only way they are able to eat is by filtering the plankton with their mouths open. Picture this, a 12+ feet massive animal with its mouth open (you can see the bones in their mouth) gliding towards you. Even if you tell yourself that you are not on their food chain, trust me, it’s daunting.
What's Special about this Location?
And trust us, getting into a dark ocean is not as easy as it seems and, in the moment, any little bit of light helps ease the nerves. Manta Village is located South of Kona and is right off the coast where the Sheraton Keauhou Resort is located. Since we were staying at the Westin Hapuna, we ended up driving around 20 minutes to the harbor to meet our boat and then the boat ride was about 25 minutes one way. While the Kohala Coast snorkel site is MUCH closer to where we were staying, you may see one or two mantas on a good day at this site, so for us, we decided the drive and process of getting to the site was well worth it to really get the full Manta Experience. If you are choosing your snorkel site, please don’t let the commute time get in the way of booking your excursion for Manta Village.
There are about 10 places around the world where you can snorkel with this stunning butterfly of the sea, BUT this is the only site in the WORLD where you are able to experience theses giants at night. National Geographic named the Kona coast the best site. There are over 300 known Manta’s in this area, in fact it is known as Manta Village. There are a few different locations around the Big Island but this location is known to have the highest percentage of sightings. So why is this important? Manta sightings and up-close experiences are totally based on how “social” they are feeling. There are days when they want nothing to do with the plankton offerings and they don’t come into sight or around the snorkelers. Then are nights (like ours) where they were EXTREMLY social, I mean we had 5-6 Mantas around us the entire time we were in the water. It is also nice to know you can see the lights off the shore so you don’t feel too isolated in the ocean.
Finding the Right Tour:
What is more important that making sure you get to the right location? Going with the right tour provider is so so important. Your safety as well as the tour providers ability to scope out and guide you through the experience and keeping both you AND the Manta’s safe. There is a special skill set and temperament that we honestly feel is needed by your captain and guide. We fell in LOVE with our in-water guide Jacob. He was so so patient and took the time to ask if we had any questions or concerns. The sheer SIZE of these beautiful animals had me all kinds of nervous and Jacob took the time to really talk me through how gentle and safe they are. He was also extremely helpful on the boat, our tour offered drinks and light snacks in route as well as snorkel gear if you needed it. We purchased our own gear here in Los Angeles because we knew we wanted to snorkel around our hotel so for us, it was a great investment. We ended up booking our excursion with Coral Reef Snorkel Adventures and we were 1000% satisfied. We appreciated that our group was small (6 people) so it allowed Jacob and Captain Jeff to give individual attention to everyone. We paid $125 per person for this excursion and we also strongly recommend giving a cash tip as a show of appreciation on your way off the boat. If you are interested in booking with the same company (highly recommended) you can go to their direct website here.
What to Bring
While most tours will offer use of their snorkel gear, we already had our personal equipment and because of Covid we felt more comfortable using our own gear. Here is what we feel you should pack for this excursion:
- Large Dry Towel
- Bathing Suit
- Underwater Camera – we used a GoPro 9 (SUCH a good investment for anyone who travels)
- Set of Dry Clothing – while there wasn’t space on the boat, EVERYONE on our tour got off the boat and changed into dry clothing. The island gets chilly at night and when you don’t have the benefit of the sun, you will appreciate having some warm dry clothing to get into.
- Sea sickness medicine – if you are prone to motion sickness or if it is your first time on the boat keep some one hand just to be safe.
Most important: bring a good attitude and your adventurous excitement!!
Getting to the Snorkel Site
As we mentioned earlier, the better sites for actual Manta sightings are off the Kona coast. We chose to take the earliest tour offered, so we could enjoy the sunset on the boat while speeding along to get to the site. The boat goes fast, so if you are prone to getting chilly keep a windbreaker. We really enjoyed the ride going to the site. The sunset was absolutely magical and being in the ocean added another element of magic to the entire experience. We HIGHLY recommend getting the first tour option. You are getting more bang for your buck in our opinion since you are getting a sunset cruise before your actual snorkel. Another benefit is you are back on land with AMPLE time to get to dinner. Most restaurants and eateries close early and there is NOTHING worse than being amped up after an experience and not finding something satisfying to eat. We booked our tour with a 6:00 pm departure and we were back at the harbor around 8:00pm. We were able to drive straight to dinner and celebrate our bravery by gorging on carbs and chocolate. Get the earliest tour, your tummy will thank you.
Getting in the Water with the Manta Rays
The moment of truth, holy crap, we could see the Mantas around the boat even before we got in the water. There was a mixture of childlike excitement and real adult fear. Jacob was great and coaxing all of us to just slid in. So, I kept telling myself “They are more scared of you, and you are not on their food chain” and in I went. Aamir followed and we had a short swim away from the boat to the rigged out surf board that we were going to latch on to. The most common misconception is that you will be swimming or moving once you get into the water. FALSE. You are laying flat almost in superman position with your head in the water. Laying with your legs floating flat behind you allows the Mantas to swim all around you and underneath you. If your legs are dangling in the water, the Mantas natural radar will not allow them to get as close or do their world-famous flips. Since some people find it harder to float and lay flat, the boat provides everyone with floaties, no matter what your skill level is with swimming, you will be getting a floatie to roll under your hips to help keep you flat. This is also for the protection of the Manta’s. You are NOT allowed to touch them; they have a very sensitive and delicate membrane that coats their body and human touch can damage this layer.
If you are found reaching out to touch them, the tour operators will take you out of the water and escort you back to the boat. Not gonna lie, it was supper tempting to just give a tiny tap to feel their beautiful skin. Resist the urge. That doesn’t mean they wont accidentally graze you. Trust me, I was the most nervous, and the irony was, all the Manta were swimming directly AT me. Mouths open, I got bumped and rubbed against more than once by these beauties. Aamir was actually a little jealous that I got all the action. Lol. You will be in the water for around 30-45 minutes and as soon as the Manta’s see the lights shining on the plankton in the ocean it’s go time. You will see them gliding below and think “aww how cutee!!” and then they get more comfortable and yup you will see a massive shadow gliding and twirling towards you. Then, if they are REALLY in the mood to play, you will have them gliding right by your face and body. Repeatedly. Just remember to relax your body as much as possible and just enjoy. We kept telling ourselves this is a once in a lifetime experience and there are thousands of people who would love to have this opportunity. The water was pleasant temperature wise, even though it was night time and we were there in late October.
Our Takeaway
There are very few moments in life when the hype around an activity or experience is justified. THIS was one of those experiences. We will always remember overcoming our natural anxiety and getting into the ocean at night and think back to the sheer wonder we experienced while having enjoying these gentle giants. It really puts us in our place when we think of how LARGE the ocean is and how, in the big scheme of things, we are soo small. There is nothing like swimming with massive sea creatures to put things in perspective. Not to mention the bragging rights and bravery badges we now have. We sincerely hope everyone has a chance to experience this once in a lifetime activity.
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18 Comments
What an incredible and unforgettable experience! I would love the opportunity to see these impressive creatures, especially at night! They are so much bigger than I thought they were though! I imagine I would have that initial fear too if I was getting in the water with something so huge! Thanks for the great guide!
Yes ma’am imagine a king sized mattress, they really are massive in real life. Also the element of night time really was the kicker. If a Manta come from behind you from pitch black ocean.. .yup.. happened to Aamir (it’s a jolt) Glad you enjoyed the guide. 🙂
This seems like such an awesome experience! I think I would have that “adult fear” as well. I’m glad your guide was good at convincing you all into the water. I probably would have taken a few minutes, ha!
LOL would you believe even as we re-watch footage I STILL get tingles when I see the Manta’s coming at me? The guide was saying the animals are attracted to me because I seem gentle (the word was S**t scared but I’m glad my fear wasnt projecting onto them lol) He told us there were plenty of people who get to the water site and refuse to go in.
All I could think when I read this post was “wow, wow, wow”. Snorkelling with manta rays at night sounds just like the kind of adventure we would want to do. I can just imagine how exciting it would be to lie still and have the manta rays come to you. Great that there are strict policies in place to protect the mantas!
Trust me, till this day, when we look at the videos and think back, even WE can’t believe we did that. It really was almost an out of body experience.
What an incredible experience for you! I love mantas and I also love that the guides are so strict about touching them. Sounds like an excellent tour!
The manta’s were spectacular. I am so so so glad I got in and experienced them first hand. We feel that overall in Hawaii the locals are soo respectful of the marine life (as we all should be) and it really helps the marine life thrive and also feel as though we are not there to hurt them, making these types of experiences possible 🙂
Wow, this sounds like an unforgettable experience! I think my husband would love to do this. He loves marine animals, and so I think this would be so fun for him. Thanks for putting this cool experience on my radar! 🙂
NICE! looks like we have like-minded husbands. Aamir’s next bucket list is cage diving with sharks (highly doubt it will happen, and a big no thanks for me) Im sure your husband will LOVE this experience (great surprise gift idea 😉 )
That would take a lot of bravery on my part but I do agree that having some type of water proof camera is a must.
It took bravery and a WHOLE lotta bribery from Aamir to get me to agree. The in water guide was really an asset because he spent a lot of time de briefing us and answering questions. It also helped that the rest of our group was made of pro divers so they were super sweet.
We have been planning a trip to Hawaii forever (keeps getting pushed back because of the pandemic). We had snorkel trips booked too… but I never thought to do one like this! Thanks for the awesome idea!
Fingers crossed you get to visit the Islands first hand. They really are stunning. Honestly, even if you are just hanging out by the beach you will have a GREAT time. That being said, we really hope you get to do a lot of fun excursions. 🙂
Well, I guess I’m one of those people that might mistake Manta Rays for a sting ray. It definitely sounds like you had an experience of a lifetime.
You are not alone, it took TONS of backend research for me to feel somewhat ok with being in the water with them at NIGHT. They really are gentle graceful giants though so it was all worth it 🙂
This looks like such an amazing tour! I do regret not doing this when we were on the Big Island as we ran out of time. I’ll have to put it on my list for next time.
It really is a once in a lifetime excursion. Next time 🙂