Kona Coast dives and Manta Night Dive.

[mholmes]

Just got back from eleven days on the Big Island. Did three days diving with BottomTime Hawaii. Had a great time and enjoyed all the diving. This was the second set of dives with my new Reefmaster 300 and the first with the external flash. The guys at BottomTime did a good job of showing us the life on the reef, we were somewhat limited due to the high seas for much of the visit. The night manta dive was the highlight of the diving. This was the first time for several works they had run the Manta dive. Didn't see any garden eels and we were not certain that there would be any Mantas, fortunately one did show up. One was enough.

 

[KidK9]

That's awesome. I did that dive with Jack's Diving Locker, we got one fly by by a manta. I couldnt get it on film tho.

I'm dieing to do the dive again...but...I'm not convinced that the Manta Dive produces as much as people are led to believe.

 

[sprange]

My wife and I were in Hawaii (Kauai and the Big Island) and managed to get one manta ray dive in. I compared your photo with some video taken during our dive (Dec 21st) and he's the same manta...Timbuktu. The surge was brutal (holding onto rocks didn't provide any help) but we had a great time. No garden eels either, but I did have the pleasure of having a moray glide into my mask and perch himself on my head for a moment--of course it wasn't captured on the video. Most of our time was spent shore diving in some fierce surf and reduced visibility. My wife caught a glimpse of a dolphin so she was thrilled. With luck we'll be back sometime this summer...

Sean

 

[friscuba]

That's awesome. I did that dive with Jack's Diving Locker, we got one fly by by a manta. I couldnt get it on film tho.

I'm dieing to do the dive again...but...I'm not convinced that the Manta Dive produces as much as people are led to believe.

In regards to the manta dive producing...

For those who are skeptic, they can go to mantapacific.org and sign up for the report. Almost every night that there are operators at the manta site, one or more of them will report.

Last night there were no mantas, Christmas night there was one. Except for last night and Christmas night, in the last 8-9 days or so the surf's been up- and nobody's been going.

There was a two or three week span around july/august where there were no mantas up at the primary site by the airport, with one or two showing at the old site down off the Sheraton. Since then it's been extremely consistant off the airport (I'd have to look at all the reports, but I suspect that until this recent set of swells we've had maybe 5-6 nights since the summer slow down where the mantas haven't shown.

This has been a particularly good fall/early winter as far as mantas coming to the site. They could be fairly conditioned to check the site for food. We'll see if this continues now that the larger swells are hitting and the dive ops aren't necessarily there every night. This traditionally has been the slowest time of the year for mantas at the site.

Most of the operators WILL give you the straight scoop on whether the mantas are showing or not.

later,

 

[mholmes]

Sounds like the same night who were you diving with. I was fighting with camera in one hand, light in the other, and trying to hang onto a rock with ... well you get the ida..

 

[sprange]

Sounds like the same night who were you diving with. I was fighting with camera in one hand, light in the other, and trying to hang onto a rock with ... well you get the ida..

We were with Big Island Divers (the only shop brave enough to venture out that night). The only guy with a camera in our group managed to tumble across the bottom and crush my fingers between his tank and a rock--wasn't you, right? Nice photos, BTW.

Sean

 

[mholmes]

Sean,
You are correct we went out on the 22nd and everyone was there. I was in the back and kept a bit away from the other. Not enough hands thank goodness for D-Rings and clips wish I had had one for the light. (Clip that is. ) At one point my buddy called the DM over to help me with a rock. That only lasted for a short time. The wave surge was impressive and even worse on the surface where my wife was waiting. Don't think I will invite her along next time. She really HATES to sit in the boat waiting for me and her asthma precludes diving. I was really pleased with the results.

Mike

 

[Mantasscareme]

I'm dieing to do the dive again...but...I'm not convinced that the Manta Dive produces as much as people are led to believe.

I heard that the manta sightings come and go in cycles. The one time I was there (early July 2004) there were seven mantas one night and six the other. A week before, Jack's Diving Locker recorded an all-time record of 21.

 

[ItsBruce]

I did the dive on July 5, 2005. More mantas than you could shake a stick at. They actually seemed to be competing for attention and they came in very close. Sorry to hear there weren't more for your dive.

 

[KidK9]

I heard that the manta sightings come and go in cycles. The one time I was there (early July 2004) there were seven mantas one night and six the other. A week before, Jack's Diving Locker recorded an all-time record of 21.

See that's weird, because I did the dive in early August 2004. But it's so intriguing I wanna go back.