Night Manta Ray Dives on Kona?

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scuba_drum

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
118
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4
Location
Makakilo, HI
# of dives
200 - 499
I'm looking for anyone with experience doing this. I moved to Oahu about a year ago, have a week trip planned to go to Kona next week. I've had several friends tell me that I *have* to do the night manta dive, which I booked thru a place I found on the 'net. No one remembers who they booked thru and all were over 5 years ago. However, since talking to a local friend, rumor has it that some places do not take you where the mantas are, but where their lights are setup (convenient for them, in other words). No mantas were seen, or so I was told.
I cannot imagine that this something in practice, but thought I would ask. Are there operators that get away with something like this? Keeping in mind I've been diving a loooong time, I know you cannot guarantee that any ocean creatures will show up at any given time/place. When I heard this I kinda said "huh?" but thought I would ask. Are there any better places to book this night manta dive with? Is this a touristy thing that might have been good at one time but not so good now? I plan to post a report nonetheless!
 
The mantas are attracted to lights, because that's where the plankton (their food) is. I think there are two sites where all operators go: near the airport and near the Sheraton.

I've only done this dive once - this winter, with Wannadive Kona, and there were 14 mantas looping around and above us. The DM told us that they had seen lots of them on previous nights as well. You won't regret this dive!
 
I'm pretty sure all of the dive ops go to one of two places: Garden Eel Cove or the Sheraton. The Sheraton is the original spot where mantas started showing up, but I've heard that Garden Eel Cove is slightly more consistent. I can't imagine why a dive op would choose to go anywhere else. They do get skunked and I suspect your friends were just victims of a bum night.

There are a lot of good dive ops on the Kona Coast. I usually recommend Bottom Time because they really exhaust themselves to make sure you have a good time. As a result they have consistently good reviews.
 
Mrs. DivingPanda and I just did this dive in December with Jack's Diving Locker. Haven't had a chance to post a report here, but it was really a spectacular dive and well worth it!

My impression was that the night dives are set up at the same place every night (Garden Eel Cove for us), because we did a 2-tank charter and there was already one manta waiting for us at our first dive around dusk. During that first dive, some of the divemasters set up the light crates on the bottom while the others take their group touring around the nearby reef. These lights are pointed toward the surface and attract the plankton which, in turn, attracts the mantas.

For the second dive, we proceeded down to the light crates and laid on the bottom for about 20 minutes. We had 4 mantas swooping around us and it was really amazing. The largest was about 12-ft across. Between the light crates and the individual divers' lights pointing up, and the snorkelers' lights pointing down from the surface, it's quite surreal. They tell you to hold your light well above your head so the mantas don't get too close to you...so of course what everyone does is hold their light lower and lower so the mantas come right at your head! :cool2:

After that, we did another tour of the reef, where we saw a reef squid and a small octopus, both out swimming, along with some eels and crabs.

I'll post more about the Jack's operation when I have time to put a full report up. It's definitely a cattle boat, but we are used to that from our regular trips to Key Largo. The operation has pros and cons, but overall is very good.
 
Did Garden Eel cove twice in August and there were 25-30 Mantas first night and 8 second night. First night there was so much plankton in the water it was like diving in snow, second night the water was crystal clear. This dive is an absolute riot. We were on a week Kona Aggressor charter.
 
I did this on the day after Thanksgiving 2 years ago with Jack's. We did a two dive pkg, and saw Mantas above Garden Eel in the afternoon, then 18-20 that night. Because we were there in the afternoon, we were the first boat at the mooring.

It is a "commercial" dive and there are a lot of divers in the water from several outfits- they all end up in the same place. But when you see that many mantas all that goes away. The trip 4 days before saw zero mantas, so sometimes you can get skunked.

I'll see if I can find a friend of mine's video of the dive. It will give you an idea of what it is like.

Also- see if you can book it during a full moon.
 
Here's the video (Shot by Teamcasa- another member here):
 
I'm pretty sure all of the dive ops go to one of two places: Garden Eel Cove or the Sheraton. The Sheraton is the original spot where mantas started showing up, but I've heard that Garden Eel Cove is slightly more consistent. I can't imagine why a dive op would choose to go anywhere else. They do get skunked and I suspect your friends were just victims of a bum night.

There are a lot of good dive ops on the Kona Coast. I usually recommend Bottom Time because they really exhaust themselves to make sure you have a good time. As a result they have consistently good reviews.

+1 For Kona Dving Company, formally know as Bottom time. I did the dive with them in December and it was great. They do go out of their way to make sure you have a great time diving. Kerry and her staff are great.
 
I dove this with Kona Honu divers. We went to Garden Eel cove and it was spectacular. Buy there DVD of the you dive when finished you'll love it.
 
Wow, forgot to look yesterday at this post, SB never ceases to amaze me! Thank you all for the posts, I feel much better about it. I am booked with Big Island Divers, I could not imagine an outfit like that not being legit. I will post a trip report when I get back, I'm also taking a helicopter tour of the volcanoes. I thought about the boat ride but that might have to wait for another trip over to Kona....
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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