manta dives in dec

[jjgibo]

I know this has probably been discussed many times on the board, and so i apologize to lisa for this if it has, but i was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on who to do the night manta dive in december. I will be coming home in december, and taking a little vacay to the big island after christmas, before i have to hunker down and start killing myself studying for the Hawaii state bar. Anyways so me and a couple buddies want to do the manta ray dive, so any suggestions would be great, and any suggestions with shooting the mantas (with a camera not a weapon). Any help would be greatly appreciated and for those who care, I land in Hawaii on Dec 19, will probably drop into dive oahu shop to say hey to those i know there.

 

[Wildcard]

Welcome home! Most of the operators do the manta dive and it's all in the same spot, for the most part. If your doing the manta dive, think about the blackwater dive after that. Manta are awsome but the blackwater is better. Matt at Big Isle divers is the local expert on night critters and Konaquatica is doing black water too.
It'e pricey but you can get a video of the mantas from some of the operators, well worth it. There is usualy enough light to get the cameras to focus and shoot but a strobe is a huge help.
Enjoy your vacation and again, welcome home.

 

[jeffrey-c]

I'm sure the locals have better and more recent information, but for what it's worth my wife and I did the manta dive a few years ago with Jack's Diving Locker and were quite pleased. One thing that stuck out to us was that the crew at Jack's (particularly Keller) seemed very knowledgeable on the mantas, had pictures of dozens over the years that they had come to know by their distinguishing marks, and were almost quasi-marine biologists in the whole endeavour. It was the first and only time we actually bought a vacation video, and I'm really glad we did.

My wife's the attorney in the family - she'd say it was a whole lot more fun than studying for the bar!

 

[jjgibo]

thank you very much for the info guys. I can't wait to get back into the warm waters of Hawaii, San Diego is nice, but man it is freakin cold. I even hate surfing in the cold water, actually thats not true, I enjoy it but man I look forward to being back in warm water where I don't have to wear a stupid wetsuit. Hopefully I will be able to dive with ya'all after February when the bar is over, or who knows maybe I'll take a study break and do some dives with ya'all.

 

[DiverBAS]

Big Island Divers were our favorite when we went. Jack's is good, too but BID pushed it over the top!