Night diving with Manta Rays

Kona, Big Island

This activity brings light to the nighttime ocean illuminating a world few ever see. As you float on the waters surface as a group, the undersea world yields mantas out of the shadows on the hunt for plankton gathered in the light shining down beneath your floodlight float. Filter feeders, the mantas harmlessly sweep in circles ever so close bringing a close encounter of a lifetime with these gentle ocean creatures.Highlights: Once in a lifetime opportunity to float in the darkness as manta rays swirl beneath you in the glow of underwater floodlights. Close encounters of the ocean kind!Options: Many companies offer this trip, but Big Island Divers are leaders in safety, quality, and innovators as part of the green list of providers working for sustainable standards for manta interaction. They have been operating this activity since 1972.Restrictions: 10 years of age or older, minors must be by parents at all times.Fees: $99 plus tax for snorkelers,$120 plus tax for scuba diversGear rental: included in snorkel trip is snorkel, fins, and 3 mm wet suit. $25 gear fee for scuba, for tanks and weights and gearAs amazing as this nighttime ocean activity sounds, when you slide off the back of the boat into the darkness and illuminated blue water it gets even more real as emerging out of the dark like swimming sea angels the mantas attracted to plankton swirling under the floating lights glide by your mask and fill you with goose bumps.Where to Start:Check in is adjusted seasonally and is 5:30 at the shop in the summer, but the boat departs at 6:45 from nearby marina. In the winter the check in time can be as early as 4 pm with a departure around 5:15 pm. After checking in at the central Kona Big Island Divers' Shop, you are given a map for a short 1.6 mile drive north on Highway 19 to the Honokohau Harbor where there is parking near the boat slip and a short walk.Out on the boat:Leaving the harbor you enjoy sunset into twilight on the water, followed by a slow approach to the mooring area where the boat ties off and you get a few lessons.The Big Island Divers manta tour gets you educated before you hit the water.The excursions have about 18 to 20 participants to 4 staff on board. Once tied off at the mooring site for the night dive a marine naturalist explains the mantas, their behaviors and ways to sensitively interact with the gentle sea creatures.The quantity of mantas fluctuates between the seasons, lunar cycles and the choice of dive spots. But whether you see one manta or forty, the effect is sublime pushing even the most avid snorkelers and divers into an excitement level akin to be…