MANTA MAGIC
Brett Atkinson adheres to a strict 'no touch' manta ray experience in Hawaii but the same can’t be said for these surprisingly social creatures
After exploring Honolulu’s craft breweries and diving into the food scene on Maui, we’re now on Hawaii — known locally as the “Big Island” — and discovering just how far a wetsuit can stretch after a week of eating and drinking. Joining us in Fair Wind Cruises’ dockside greeting area are fellow travellers from around the United States mainland, all equally keen to experience one of Hawaii’s most unique wildlife experiences.
The island state’s tropical twilight descends quickly as Fair Wind’s Hula Kai boat sets out from Keauhou Bay on the Big Island’s leeward and more protected Kona Coast. Inland, Hawaii’s famed Kona coffee plantations shroud nearby hills, and it’s a short fiveminute journey for the 17m catamaran to reach “Manta Village” amid the bay’s sheltered waters.
With an authoritative mini-lecture from Hulu Kai’s naturalist, we learn about the graceful creatures known to scientific types as Mobula alfredi (reef manta rays), and a delicate floating raft framed by bright floodlights is carefully laid out off the back of the boat.
Equipped with masks, snorkels, flippers and Day-Glo foam pool ‘noodles’ to assist with buoyancy, we make the short swim to the edge of the floating raft and await the beginning of the evening’s entertainment. Arrayed around the raft, all of us with our face masks in the water, Tammy from Taos and Chuck from Chicago are equally expectant.
Within just a few minutes, the bright lights start to do their job, and swarming masses of plankton are attracted to the illumination of the inky waters, the intense gathering of basic organisms soon resembling a murky primordial soup.
Big fish attracted by the night’s spontaneous buffet emerge from the indigo darkness, swimming sleekly past us as an underwater studio of GoPro cameras is fired up to try to capture the action. The fish are definitely too fast to be captured on film, zipping speedily underneath and around us for at least 15 minutes, a thrilling supporting act before the arrival of the evening’s headliners. Elsewhere on the bay, we’re beginning to hear whoops of excitement from other boats, so we know it’s only a matter of time.
Suddenly from out of the marine darkness, Mobula alfredi, some weighing almost 1000kg and with a wingspan of up to 5m, emerge to swoop, glide and barrel roll just centimetres away from us. Earlier advice that all the bay’s mantas can be individually identified is reinforced by their different markings, some with spots on their underbellies, and others with distinctive indicators on their wing tips. After the frenzied action of earlier piscine visitors, being in the water with the rays is a far more relaxing experience.
Despite their massive size, manta rays are completely harmless to human interlopers, and they continue to surge through the underwater haze of nutrients we’re now all sharing. Giant mouths scoop up thousands of plankton in one graceful, somersaulting pass, and it’s not uncommon for the giant creatures to brush gently against our arms and legs. We’re all following a strict “no touching” protocol, but there’s no reciprocal restrictions from the mantas, their skin resembling the smoothest grade sandpaper as they occasionally make fleeting contact.
The show continues for at least 45 minutes, and the benefit of being first in the water means we’re also among the last to get out. After most others have reboarded the Hulu Kai, several more manta rays arrive to glide beneath us and provide a thrilling encore. Even when we’re finally climbing back up the boat’s ladder, a couple of the surprisingly social creatures are still mooching up against us in the tropical waters of the bay.
It’s an exceptional coda to an essential experience on Hawaii’s biggest island.