Swim with Manta Rays
Swimming with manta rays was one of your most anticipated experiences in Hawaii, but after bad weather cancelled last’s night’s trip, you were lucky to get another chance at the last minute, with a different crew recommended by the first. Arriving at the dock in a harbor north of Kona, you sit down with a few people waiting at a picnic table near a bait shop and look over the supplies in your waterproof bag. Soon crew members emerge from one of boats.
This crew is straight out of Hollywood casting, an old captain with a shaggy beard, three feisty, diverse young ladies who are doing most of the work, and a younger guy who didn’t say much and probably had scars. They look ready to fight crime, or perhaps commit one, you are not sure which.
The passengers are divided into two groups, half will be scuba diving, and you are among the snorkelers. They ask if you want a wetsuit, but the weather is nice and you inquire what the water temperature is. The answer is not really helpful, but you decline the wetsuit anyway. Everyone gets ready, then you board the boat and are among the group asked to move onto the bow for the trip out. As you sit back on the slippery deck and grip the railing, the boat speeds out to sea into a golden sunset and the excitement builds.
In 30 minutes you reach your destination, a spot just off Kona airport. Ten other boats are already there for the same thing. All of them are swaying side to side in the choppy waters, including the one you are on, but so far you aren’t feeling any ill effects. The crew ladies give some quick lessons on snorkelling, which is good, because despite being a good swimmer and growing up in Florida, you have never snorkelled before. You hope that’s not going to be an issue. One by one you are shown the edge of the boat and told to jump in, you choose to be the last one. Thankfully the water is comfortable so your choice not to wear a wetsuit was a good one.
The way this works is there are long surfboards with bright led lights on the bottom that shine down into the sea. These lights attract plankton, which in turn attracts the manta rays which feed on it. Probably they have learned over many years to do this, and apparently this is only one of a few places in the world you can have this experience. The risk though, is that they may not appear and you might not see anything. That is not a problem tonight.
Within a few minutes of getting in place facing down into the water, a huge beast appears in the dark blue below. It swims slowly by, probably farther away than it looks, but it feels very close. It’s approximately 8 to 12 feet across. There is no danger, manta rays have no stinger and they eat plankton. It’s very peaceful and awe inspiring. Along with the manta rays are schools of shiny fish about a foot long, darting back and forth in every direction. A few more mantas appear and disappear, it was a good night apparently, they said later there had been around seven, and they all had names. You see at least three.
But to see all this, you have to float face down in the water gripping this floating board with several other people, keeping your arms and legs extended. It’s not easy. If your limbs are dangling into the sea, the crew ladies are yelling at you, because it will scare away the mantas. You are also holding a waterproof camera and trying to take pictures at the same time, which is next to impossible. Your crew lady doesn’t like this. On top of it all, snorkelling is not so easy, the seas are rough, you can’t keep a grip on the snorkel, and you are swallowing quite a bit of seawater. After about ten minutes of this, you have had enough and since you can’t swim to avoid disturbing the creatures, you have to be towed back to the boat by your crew lady, with an I-told-you-so look.
You climb back into the boat, greeted by the one other person who quit before you, then promptly lean over the side and throw up. The fellow passenger offers you a bottle of water and you drink the whole thing. As you wait and watch everyone else swim for another ten minutes or so, you are thinking this is one of the greatest experiences of your life and you would do it again in a minute, but perhaps after doing a little more snorkelling first.