we set out on a 40-foot dive boat, hoping this was the night we would see Giant Manta Rays. Manta Ray Dives of Hawai’i would not guarantee the presence of these giant’s of the ocean (they had poor luck the previous night at another location) but we were hopeful.
The Manta Ray tourist attraction started years before, purely by accident. An oceanside resort had its outdoor lights shining into the water at night and local divers, spotting Manta Rays at that location reasoned that the lights were attracting them. In fact, the lights were attracting plankton, upon the rays feed, and once this was established the Manta Ray concession was born.
The rest of our group was snorkeling and would see the rays from above, but Jani and I dove with our divemaster, Kenny, 40 feet to the ocean floor for our up close view (we hoped) of these giants of the deep. Kenny laid out some lights to attract the plankton while Jani and I held onto a concrete slab that was there. Then we waited….
It could not have been more than 5 minutes before the first ray appeared. On the boat, we had been tutored about what to expect , but what we actually saw was unexpected. Not only were these animals bigger than we expected (15′-20′ wingspan) but they were much more athletic and graceful than advertised. We had previously gone on a shark dive in Roatan, where we experienced the raw power of sharks attacking a food source, but this experience left a more indelible impression. We felt like we were privileged to have a ringside seat at an incredible underwater ballet.
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It was impossible to count how many individual performers we saw during our 40-minute dive, but we estimated 7 or 8. The reason for the confusion is that they kept returning and making food runs for most of the duration. Rays, it turns out, have unique patterns on their undersides (there is actually a database that identifies them), but we were too staggered by what we were witnessing to try to get a count.
While we were there, we also saw Hawaiian Whitespotted Toby’s and a Scorpionfish. There were lots of prickly black sea urchins about and just as our GoPro battery ran out a Moray Eel slithered close by. It was the most exciting night of our Hawaiian visit so far.
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