Manta Ray Dive, Kona, HI

Adventure dive with Jack's

Heidi and the Manta

Bowriding dolphins on the way to the Manta spot

  Nearly a year ago Heidi and I first went on the famous Manta Ray night dive in Kona, HI. We were blown away by how close and how many mantas we saw. It is like no other big animal experience I'd ever seen before. You are with them for the entire time. This time we went out with Jack's Diving Locker which turned out to be the best choice for the day. The conditions were pretty wild with Kona winds from the South and surf in the 4-5ft range which is as big as Kona has seen all year. On the way out we came across a very large pod of spinner dolphins who bowrode the fast moving boat and were surfing our wake behind us. It looked like the bad weather was not affecting their playful mood at all.

Once we got to the spot I could see the looks between our divemasters and captain were not ones of joy. The conditions in the usually protected bay were pretty wild to say the least. But our divemaster Alexia faithfully jumped in to get us all tied up. While she did this we all donned our wetsuits and dive gear for our first dive. When I dropped down I knew it would not be quite as good as last time. The surge could be felt 40ft down and you could watch the fish getting pushed back and forth by it. The sand was also stirred up which caused a decrease in visibility. But we made the rounds and still managed to spot garden eels, a purple leaf scorpionfish, and a couple of eager manta rays arriving a bit early for the feast.

like a scene from Star Wars

 After an hour of waiting on the boat and enjoying some delicious snacks we filled our wetsuits up with warm water and jumped back in for the big finale, the manta ray night dive! Underwater lights had already been placed in a circle which attracts the plankton which in turn attracts the manta rays. The rays have learned that the most plankton will be in the light beams so they open their huge mouths and glide in and out of the lights, feeding. Sometimes we could see 6 or 7 rays at a time until one would come so close overhead that our vision would be totally blocked. I saw Heidi get bumped in the head by a manta several times. It is amazing how agile and graceful they are and even being bumped by a 12ft manta is still a harmless touch.

Underwater photo shoot

Looking into the maw of the huge ray

 I had been waiting to go back to Kona for this dive to try my hand at picture taking again. It is one of the most difficult scenarios for photography. It is dark, underwater, the mantas never stop moving, the lights are sporadic, and there is tons of plankton and suspended sediment in the water column. I tried my best with several different settings to capture the moment and this is what I came up with. I was quite happy.


For prints for sale from this dive visit www.daimarsphotos.com