Manta Ray night dive.

[pfirejack]

Planning to travel to Hawaii February of 2020. Would like to do the Manta night dive. Any tips or suggestions on where to stay & who to book dives with would be much appreciated.
Thank - you in advance.

 

[diversteve]

Many of the shops do1 it - often at the same place/time so they aggregate lights to draw them in. My personal rec. is Kona Diving Co but Jacks Diving and several others also do it. A few of the shops have offices in a strip mall east of downtown, you check in there then meet at the boat, http://www.konadivingcompany.com/

Almost all the boats leave from Honokahau harbor just north of Kona. It's in some lind of preserve so there;s no nearby accommodations, I'd look for a condo/resort on South Alii Dr. south of town. Feb is high season so you'll pay a little more. If you're going with non-divers there's a trolley that runs from about Keahou (sp) to the south and into Kona. Prebook a car, walk-up rates are atrocious,
We rented a house so I can't offer specifics.

The King Kamehameha resort downtown is an older Courtyard by Marriott and adjacent to the Kona per dive site but IIRC the nearest tanks are at Jack's around the bay south - too far to walk with gear.

If you pick a Kohala Coast or Waikoloa resort like the Hilton, that's about a 30-40 min. drive south to the harbor. 2-3 boats work that area but will shuttle you south for the Manta dive.

my buddy has a 5K lumen video light - several Mantas were his new friends since bright lights bring in the Plankton. Even the DM noticed.

 

[grantwiscour]

+1 to what diversteve has said. We like to dive with Big Island Divers. Book directly with the shop. Best to book the Manta Dive early in your trip in case is gets moved or you get skunked.

 

[RogueClimber]

We really liked our Manta experience with Kona Diving Company.

 

[Bernhelm]

+1 to what diversteve has said. We like to dive with Big Island Divers. Book directly with the shop. Best to book the Manta Dive early in your trip in case is gets moved or you get skunked.

This is good advice. We've been skunked 2 out of 3 dives.

If you're not a beginner, I'd also recommend doing the manta + black water dive combo with Big Island divers. It's more expensive, but the black water dive is awesome and totally makes up for it when mantas don't show, and if they do, you get two amazing dives in one night!

 

[DeputyDan]

We did the dive more than once - it was that good!

I would say that all the operators will be good.

We used Kona Honu Divers - I am confident the others would be fine as well.

 

[tarponchik]

Though Kona Honu Divers are terrific, we actually liked night snorkeling with mantas more than similar diving. It is a shallow site, so there's not much difference. And Sea Paradise runs boats from Keauhou Bay, so it's just a 2 min boat ride.

 

[Barryattle]

I've also done it twice with Jack's as a snorkel to keep my non-diving wife company. Both times, mantas chose to do loop-the-loops right beneath us (as in keeping our arms/cameras up so as not to scrape them), so great views. My impression was they hung out more around the "campfire" so that, overall, divers probably had a better view. But snorkeling was awesome and Jack's is a great operation.

 

[scuBecca]

@diversteve covered most of it- I'd echo staying in Kona (definitely don't stay at the Holiday Inn Express- fine hotel, but no lanai, so my gear took FOREVER to dry). If you don't have a car, I'd recommend Jack's, as they have a shuttle that will take you to the boat.

I've done the Manta dive with both Jack's and Kona Honu, and would dive with both again. Got skunked on the dive with Jack's- they have a guarantee that if you don't see mantas, you can go out again for free (provided there's room on the boat). I'm heading back to Kona next week and plan to test that guarantee out