Where am I going to dive with Mantas?

[Jonathan]

Ishigaki here I come - well in October anyway........

 

[caymaniac]

A big thank you for the info for those who responded. It sounds like Jack's Dive Loker would be a great start to dive with the Mantas.

Dive Safe,
Caymaniac:mean:

 

[UcHammerheads1]

mantas mantas mantas,
ECOADVENTURES 800-949-3483.
If you want to see Mantas go with Mick at Eco-Adventures in KONA HI they seem to love this guy, he has never not been able to show them to us, 4 inches above your head...IM not kidding

 

[jsmith8817]

I have over 80% of the time ran into at least one here in Kona on a night dive. If you have a time of year for travel email me and I will tell you the frequency of Mantas on the daily night dives. All the dive shops here offer that night dive. Here is my web site with more info. Jay.
http://www.pacificwatersportofhawaii.com/

 

[chepar]

I'm all for providing as much information as possible, but it seems like a couple of shop owners/tour operators/instructors in Kona recently heard about this Board, did a search for every thread asking for information about Kona and decided to get some advertising in.

If those posts were not meant strictly as blatant plugs for their businesses, I apologize. It just kind of irked me that this is the second time in 2 months that I've seen this.

 

[Bidouhs]

The only place in the world where it is almost guaranteed that you will dive with Mantas is Yap, Micronesia.

I had the chance to dive there for a three days 2 yrs ago and we dived with Mantas on every single dives....There was not one Manta but two or three circling around cleaning stations....awesome!!!

I dived with "Beyond the Reef" dive shop which I thought was very professional. On the same trip, I went to Palau which is also a must...I nicknamed the place"the mecca of diving"!! There I dived with Sam's Tour.

I cannot wait to go back...

 

[psinyc]

I've heard Sting Ray City is great

 

[astrofunk]

Another vote for Jack's Diving Locker in Kona. I had an AMAZING manta dive about a year ago. The mantas first showed up when we switched the boat lights on at sunset during a surface interval after an afternoon dive. Of course, we immediately hopped in with our snorkels! About four mantas were hanging by the boat, and for some reason they like to flip somersaults right beneath you if you're snorkeling on the surface. After about 1/2 an hour of swimming around, we got back on the boat, donned our scuba gear, and headed over to where a French documentary team had rigged up an incredible light system. Eight big mantas were spiraling about in the cone of light; we sat on the bottom and just stared up in amazement. When the French team left, we turned on our flashlights, and the mantas swooped down and did pivot turns practically on our heads. It was unforgettable.

I went back about 6 months later to try again, and not one manta appeared. But don't get me wrong -- a night dive in Kona is NEVER a waste! That was a spectacular dive in its own right...

 

[Zeina]

We were there in March (of too many years ago ), and got to snorkel with 6 or 7 mantas. AWESOME
It was NOT manta season (fall is the best time to go for mantas, but then visibility is not so great).
+ There is so much to see in the Maldives, underwater (grey reef sharks, white tips, hammerheads, eagle rays, turtles, etc.) ...

 

[David D]

I've done Yap, and its good though I thought the mantas were quite small on the whole... but having just returned from French Polynesia would have to say that Manihi's the place to go...

Bloody great things all over the place !