A few years ago we were on vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii. Danny was still scuba diving at the time and after trying it myself a few times, I decided it just isn’t for me. But there was one underwater experience I thought I might want to try, the Manta Ray Night Dive. I went back and forth between being excited to being petrified.
Earlier in the day of the dive, we stopped into the dive shop (Kona Honu) and they said that someone else signed up to do the Manta Ray Night snorkel tonight (Originally, I was to be the only snorkeler on a boat with all divers and had just about made up my mind before this that I wasn’t going to go.) The girl at the shop did a good job at describing what was going to happen and eased my fears some. Just knowing another snorkeler would be on board helped calm me a lot.
We headed off a little after 3:00 to go the harbor to meet up with the boat. The crew packs up the boat and we are off to the first spot. The scuba guys go on their first dive while me and the other woman from California snorkel around the reef for about 30 minutes or so. There was tons of fish and took some photos and video. The divers saw a couple of Mantas already.
I used a noodle and my shortly Danny bought me for Christmas and felt much more secure. After we got back on the boat to wait for sunset I started feeling quite queasy. Someone had some ginger so I tried chewing on that and it worked pretty well. I didn’t get to eat the sandwiches they served as my stomach was upset. Changed into a full wet suit and still brought a noodle (overkill I know but it made me feel better.)
I really don’t know what time they let us in the water but first all of the divers go and then me and my partner swim over above them. It took me a few to calm my fears but I just knew I had to jump into that scary, dark water. (In all actuality, because of all the lights from the divers and snorkelers, it’s less scary than I envisioned.)
The videographer just told us to look to the brightest lights (his camera) and he would bring the Mantas to us. He didn’t have to, they came to us! It felt like hundreds of them (there were actually 17.) It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I was squealing in delight into my snorkel. John, the captain, had told us that the guys could only stay down for about 30-40 minutes but we could stay as long as we wanted. I was like, there is no way I am going to be able to stay out there that long.
A while later I hear Danny’s voice getting on the boat, yelling with excitement about how awesome that was. And I was like, really, do I have to get back on the boat already?
A few minutes later I ask my partner if she is ok and I get a mouthful of water so we decide to get back on the boat. This was the only thing that kind of freaked me out, the looking around to check which boat was ours and having to swim IN THE DARK back to the boat. Got a little banged up on the ladder getting back into the boat.
Everyone on the boat was so excited at what we had just witnessed. Had some hot chocolate as the crew rinsed off all the equipment (crew was excellent getting everyone set up and broken down) and settle in for the 30 minute ride back to the harbor with everyone regaling in their manta tales, signing up for the video and sharing emails to share photos later.
Back at the room and we had some cheese and crackers and a drink or two while reliving the encounter through our videos and pictures that came out awesome. Finally admitting that I am happy that Danny insisted on purchasing the GoPro and laptop.
What a wonderful and extremely memorable day.
Kathy's Korner 