Epic Travel → North America → Hawaii → The Big Island → Manta Ray Night Dive

♦ Intrepid Top Pick!

Location: Kailua-Kona Area, Hawaii

Time Required: 4 hours

Red Tape/Notes: A number of dive outfits offer this dive; we used Big Island Divers and were very happy. You’ll want to go heavy on your weight so you stay firmly rooted to the ocean floor for the show. I was too light and ended up being the idiot with a giant rock in my lap. Not cool.

What’s Nearby?: Kealakekua Bay, Kona Diving

Night dives are a pretty cool little adventure on their own, but it’s hard to get better than this. And this is one of the few experiences that actually gets better with more people! The reason is twofold – long term, the light attracts the rays’ food source (tiny brine shrimp), so more people with more light means more food source which in turn keeps the rays coming back, and short term, more light means…well, more light: more spotlights pointed up illuminating the magical show happening in front of you, as massive rays make giant loops over your head, gobbling up the shrimp. They’ll swoop so close to your head that you think they’re going to hit you. And it. Is. Amazing. There’s no guarantee that the rays will be there, but they’re fairly consistent so your chances of seeing at least one or two are pretty good. We were extremely lucky – I don’t know how many we had but there were several. I was too awestruck to really pay that much attention. Apologies for the lousy quality of my photos, but it was hard to do much with my waterproof point and shoot in the dark. The video does a better job conveying the experience.

Epic Travel → North America → Hawaii → The Big Island → Manta Ray Night Dive