If you’re even remotely interested in snorkeling with manta rays (yes, do it!!!), you’ve come to the right place. PADI has even included it on their marine life bucket list. In fact, this world-famous experience has been covered by renowned outlets such as National Geographic and the Travel Channel. I would even argue it’s one of the best things to do in Hawaii in general. Snorkeling with manta rays and seeing these majestic creatures up close is one of the most incredible experiences you can have on the Big Island. This guide will help you plan your manta ray night snorkel! We were so happy with Blue Wilderness and really enjoyed the night.Kona manta ray snorkeling is one of the best wildlife experiences not only in Hawaii, but the entire world! Since it’s a nighttime activity only accessible on a tour, it’s helpful to know some details before diving in. ![]() Crazy, exhilarating experience seeing these beautiful creatures at night. They advise you not to touch them but a few of us did get bumped a couple of times. I did not feel disadvantaged at all being a snorkeler. They did flips over and over right in front of us. I believe we saw 5 in total and they were just a beautiful sight to behold. As soon as we put our masks in the water we saw one and they stayed for the whole visit. They set up a light box under the water to attract the plankton and the divers go down below and the snorkelers hang off a modified surf board. It took about 10 minutes to get out to the spot, where we got the briefing and as soon as the sun went down we jumped into the water and swam into the bay for the manta ray experience. There is the added benefit of Blue Wilderness being the only operator in the area so no crowds. We were staying at Mauna Lani and to save driving back to Kona for one of the other Manta tours, we were able to drive 10 minutes to Puako for the trip to the Mauna Kea for the Manta Ray experience. Thanks to SheaG from the Tripadvisor forum for steering us towards Blue Wilderness. Some in our group heard some of the crew complaining about our group after the trip, but at least some of that was their own fault. But in general the two guides who went into the water with us could have been a lot more professional and friendly IMO. There were also a couple of people in our group trying to dive and touch the mantas in spite of the repeated warnings from the crew to not do that. And one person did get sick and put a little extra "chum" in the water right next to me. The trip was delayed because one group showed up pretty late, but that wasn't a big deal since we still had plenty of time in the water with the mantas. ![]() Some of the things that were not quite so good were, to be fair, outside the control of the crew. And the fact that there was only 1 boat with 16 people at the site was so much better than the many boats at the airport site last time. The captain of the boat was also very professional and handled the boat well. ![]() We also saw at least 7 mantas, which was great. Since we were staying at the Mauni Lani, the short drive to Puako and the short boat trip to the location where we viewed the mantas were so much better than driving all the way to Kailua-Kona like we had to do the last time. But there were also a couple of things that would have made this experience even better. This is my second time doing the manta ray nigh snorkel and in many ways this was just as enjoyable as the first time.
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