Manta Ray video

[scubacalifornia]

I had the great pleasure of night diving with the Manta Rays in Kona Hawaii early last week. The experience was truly surreal. 9 mantas showed up, ranging in size from 9' to 16' wingspans. I shot video with my Olympus 5060 digital still camera (not a video camera) using only the divers lights for illumination. It's been edited into a 4 minute movie, which can be viewed at the following link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-UW-MkaUnU

In the segments of the video where the giant mantas appear to be buzzing the camera, they really are. The camera is zoomed out to a wide shot, and those big guys are literally 2" from my noggin' - what I'd call a real head trip.

Enjoy,
Kevin

 

[Ann Marie]

Very nice video Kevin!! Aren't they just magnificant??? I loved diving with them, went back and snorkeled with my hubby. Very different perspecitive compared to diving a couple days before. Can't wait to return and dive with them again.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mantasscareme]

Great video! It's amazing that it came out that well with just a dive torch for illumination. The manta ray dive remains my number one favorite dive. The mantas are awsome, what's also awsome is watching the six foot morays get real friendly with other divers, which also makes for great video. I look forward to seeing more great underwater footage.

 

[redrover]

Pretty cool huh? Club dive tomorrow is the Manta, hope as good of a show as you had. Excellent footage
Where were you? How many boats? And what day of the week?

 

[scubacalifornia]

Pretty cool huh? Club dive tomorrow is the Manta, hope as good of a show as you had. Where were you? How many boats? And what day of the week?

The location was Garden Eel Cove. I was diving with Kona Honu Divers....nice operation. I think there were about four other boats there...lots of divers, lots of light to attract the mantas. We were tied to the mooring quite aways away from the main manta spot, but still had three of them gathering at the stern of our boat as we dove in and had to be careful not to jump on top of them. This was on Monday, 7/31. I feel really lucky, because the Weds and Thurs night manta dives that week were a total bust....none of the big guys showed up.

Loved the diving in Kona as well as the Big Island in general. Great vacation.

Kevin

 

[redrover]

I’m glad you had a good visit. I’ve had mixed experience with the Manta dive. Given a choice I’d pick a mid week vs the weekend, but I don’t like crowds – of people that is. Your video was really good, hard to believe it was with a still. And funny, I think you managed to capture the experience better than some of the pro ones I’ve seen. Thank you again for sharing, the Mantas are extraordinary.

 

[orangelion03]

Outstanding Kevin!! What a wonderful experience! Makes me wish we hadnt changed our plans from Kona to Maui...

 

[xSandman3]

KonaHonu Divers rocks...we dove with them in February. We also had a great Manta dive at Garden Eel Cove, as well as some awesome whale breaches during surface intervals.

 

[KimCA]

Hey - many thanks for that video. By a strange coincidence, I happened to be doing the manta ray dive with jacks locker that same night at the same place. So one of those divers is me

Came out really great - do you have much other footage?

 

[scubacalifornia]

Hey - many thanks for that video. By a strange coincidence, I happened to be doing the manta ray dive with jacks locker that same night at the same place. So one of those divers is me

Came out really great - do you have much other footage?

Small world it is! I do have more footage, but it all begins to look the same after awhile. So I just cut together the best parts. I could have stayed down there another half hour, but unfortunately the commercial dive operators severely limit your bottom time on the manta dive (ours was about 30 minutes with the mantas). Not sure why.