I’ve gone snorkeling in places like Antigua and Belize, where you’ll swim over small coral reefs, and see some fish. I don’t think anything could have prepared me though for what I experienced in Kona, Hawaii. Manta Rays, not to be confused with Stingrays, possess no stinger and are truly friendly giants.
Mantas are covered in a mucus layer that protects them! If we touch them, this can cause it to come off, and they could get ill. They can touch you, but don’t try to pet them! These creatures are also truly massive. The ones that live closer to the shore have wingspans of around 13 feet (3.96 meters). The mantas in the deep ocean get to around 20 feet (6.10 meters) or larger!
In Kona, there’s a hotel that beamed down a large light into the ocean that caused plankton to gather. This started attracting manta rays, who came for dinner! Once this was discovered, the hotel kept the light on and the mantas stayed. Now, companies run tours so you can get up close and personal with them!
How to Swim with Manta Rays
I did my tour with Sea Quest Hawaii and could not recommend it enough! You’re provided a wet jacket or thick wetsuit, a snorkel, and a pool noodle. Participants are given a safety briefing and then broken out into groups to go on the boats. First, you’ll get into the water and grab onto the large board which emits a bright blue light, this attracts the plankton. The noodle goes under your feet to keep you straight on the water’s surface. This is so you aren’t kicking in the water, as that will scare off the ocean life. Don’t worry if you do lose your noodle at any point, the guides will help you.
It may take a few minutes for the manta rays to start showing up, but when they do, brace yourself! You might not realize how big they actually are until they’re right under you…..and I do mean RIGHT UNDER YOU! One manta barrel rolled into me and others were about two inches from my face as they swam under our board! As they try to get the plankton, they’ll open their mouths all the way and you can see inside. It’s incredibly thrilling, and I won’t deny I may have dropped a few F bombs each time they got near me. Thank goodness they were muffled by the snorkel!
There will likely be other fish, one even smacked my leg with their tail. I also had the “pleasure” of seeing a sandbar shark. As I wasn’t in a cage, and just laying directly in the water, this was the scariest thing to me. We were assured they were harmless! Additionally, the shark would have thought we were all one big creature anyway and stayed well underneath us. Now I can say I’ve swum with sharks too!
After Your Experience
After about 45 minutes you’ll get back onto the boat, head back to shore, and dry off! Make sure to bring your own towel! We were provided with hot cocoa and tea to help warm up. I was shaking some on the ride back. This was from holding on to the board the whole time and having to regulate my breathing in the snorkel. This can be a tough activity, so you don’t want to do this if you have zero snorkeling experience or can’t swim!
They do have Go Pros for rental! If you got one, when you return it, they’ll pop out the SD card and give it to you with an adapter and a case. This was an extra $30 on top of the tour cost, but was worth it to me as my Canon would have been ruined.
This was one of the most amazing things I’ve done in my entire life. The emotions this experience brought to me and the rush I felt were worth all the time and energy of getting to Hawaii in the first place. I also won’t lie, there were hesitations about doing this. I was a bit nervous, but SO glad I did it because it’s something I’ll truly remember for the rest of my life.
