Kona Manta ray night dive

I saw a couple of clips of the Manta ray night dives in Kona Hawaii and am thinking of taking the family there to do this dive. Our home base for diving is Sydney, Australia. I would appreciate any information and recommendations on what operator to dive with, best time of year to dive (better visibility and any time of year that is better suited to seeing more mantas). Also, we will do about a weeks diving so any other recommended dive sites. thank you in advance for any assistance. Best Regards.

I just got back from Kona. Tried the Manta dive and got skunked. We hung out on the floor for 10 min, then just proceeded with a night dive. Was kinda cool in that we followed an eel around as it hunted.

I am told that about 15% of time the dive ops get skunked. I am going to give a nod to Jacks Diving Locker even though we got skunked. They offered a "rain check" for all of the skunked divers. What this meant was that on any other night, we could join the dive if the boat was not full. I asked how long this offer lasted and they told me for as long as our name stays in their computer. So on a return trip we may take them up on the offer.

I still enjoyed the night dive and had a good time. Im not sure why some people were upset. I understand disappointed, but I am not sure how the dive ops can guarantee the wild fish will show up every night.

Do a shore dive off of "Two Step" and check out some of these places Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: The Big Island, Hawaiian Islands

Jacks diving locker had photocopy maps of some of the sites and had swell reports on hand. (the internet works too)

Have Fun

I can't help with dive info but we did a kayak/snorkel with Manta Rays in Kona in 2011. We got lucky that our "group" trip was just me, a buddy, and the guide. If you don'thave to dive, I advise doing the snorkel. It does get a bit interesting while waiting to see if they will show up while you are out there...but when they do it's a rush. The rays would come right up to us snorkelling and then peel off. There was only one diver out there during our trip, and he seemed to be from a company taking pictures of the other snorkelling group. If you are only there for the rays, I don't see a need to dive over snorkel.

We went with Kona Diving Company.

My wife and I were quite happy with them.
We were the last group of divers out of the water...so had the Manta's too ourselves for 10 minutes or so.

You sit on rocks at 30' for the dive.
My wife found it a little uncomfortable, she says that she probably will not do it again with scuba, instead she'll try the snorkel viewing instead.

We had three Manta's that evening. It seemed like a lot more, they were constantly swooping over our heads.

Lots of boat dives and shore dives on Kona side and a few sites on Hilo side as well.

I'll second Kona Dive Company. Great outfit; especially if you want to dive all week. I've met several of their instructors (one of whom certified my partner) and IMO they have the patience and attention to detail you'll want if you group has members with differing levels of ability/comfort. I did the Manta dive and there were only 3-4 mantas...but it was still awesome. The night before they had 18.

One thing to note, KDC does not do the Black Water Dive. Just FYI, but if that dive is on your agenda while in Kona, you'll need to use another provider (Big Island Divers or Jacks Diving Locker I think).

This is an excellent dive.
We did twice in 2005 had had four mantas each night.

Was recently in Cozumel and a couple on our boat said that when they did this dive there were 37 mantas.... damn!!!

Last went in August of 2012. We went with Kona Honu divers on 2 separate trips, around 25-30 Mantas swarming both nights and it felt like a lot more. Great outfit, nice gear. Also did some dives with Jacks. It seemed like all the outfits were pretty much the same price. Kona Honu had a nice boat, nice gear, good staff ratio. Jacks also had good gear but felt overcrowded on the boat, but the shore dives I did with them were 1 on 1 so it was like rent a buddy. Also, Jacks has photocopy maps of a lot of the dive sites and up to date info on the conditions so they are very helpful to shore divers.
For the Mantas pretty much every dive boat swarms to the cove when the Mantas feed so there with be a ton of boats in the water.
The pelagic dive is cool, as long as you are comfortable being dangled on a line off the side of the boat like a piece of bait in deep water. It's like the missile silo dives you can do, you do it once for the experience and to check it off your list.

I am an instructor and dive guide for the manta night dives (as well as any day diving) here in Kona. Feel free to PM me if you'd like more details or have any questions.
They mantas really do show up about 85% of the time, regularly. More numbers up at Garden Eel Cove (Airport site) and less numbers, but more regularity down south by the Sheraton.

Diving - specifically up at Garden Eel Cove - is a better experience, in my opinion. The mantas get a bit closer, and tend to stay below, more than they stay in the upper water column. Swell has been high the last 30 days or so - pretty crazy winter storms, but we saw 30+ mantas just a couple nights ago! Hope that helps!

Thank you everyone for your replies. they are most helpful.

Aerosol:

I am an instructor and dive guide for the manta night dives (as well as any day diving) here in Kona. Feel free to PM me if you'd like more details or have any questions.
They mantas really do show up about 85% of the time, regularly. More numbers up at Garden Eel Cove (Airport site) and less numbers, but more regularity down south by the Sheraton.

Diving - specifically up at Garden Eel Cove - is a better experience, in my opinion. The mantas get a bit closer, and tend to stay below, more than they stay in the upper water column. Swell has been high the last 30 days or so - pretty crazy winter storms, but we saw 30+ mantas just a couple nights ago! Hope that helps!

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We will be staying at the Sheraton, so would love to do the Sheraton dive. What dive op does this site?