Big Things Off A Big Island With Not So Big A People...

While I was in Hawaii meeting my brand new niece Jaiden, I was fortunate enough to go on a 3 day romp (do I really want to say 'romp?') with 3 of my friends to Big Island.  This was my second time visiting this gorgeous island, but the first time I was able to make a dream come true..  Diving with the magnificent Manta Rays!

Ever since I began scuba diving, it has been my dream to dive off Big Island at night with these graceful creatures.  I have always wanted to see a Manta out in the wild and was stoked to have seen my first one while diving off The Great Barrier Reef in Australia!  They are just amazing and HUGE!

We dove with a company recommended to me by my friend, Randy, called Kona Honu Divers (who I totally recommend as they are most accommodating).  We met at the dive shop at about 2:30 or so in the afternoon to check in.  We arrived at the dock a little later and met up with a group of about 12.  This was a 2 tank dive, the first one being a twilight dive, just before sunset.  We got in the water and followed our guide to about 55 feet in depth.  We saw plenty of fish, eels and colorful corals.  Then it happened...

I saw something in the distance swimming like one of the Brown Stingrays I used to work with.  As I "stood" there staring at it, Marisa tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to a large Manta Ray swimming only a few yards from us!  I turned back towards my animal and I realized that it, too, was a Manta!  Soon we were in the midst of 9 Manta Rays during daylight!  It was amazing!  The whole time the whales were singing as well creating a wonderful atmosphere for us divers!

By the time we were finished with our first dive, we were all freezing.  Marisa and I, being the geniuses we are, forgot dry clothes as well as towels...  how many dives have we been on??  While we froze on the boat, the crew fed us sandwiches and chips and talked about the Mantas.  They tell the difference between each one by the patterns on their bellies.  I thought this was interesting as I learned more about these rays.

Our night dive was even more amazing!  Before we even got in the water, you could see, from the lights they planted on the ocean floor, that the Mantas were already feeding on the plankton.  I was the first one in and as I waited for my friends, I peered below me to see a couple of Mantas swimming just below me and all around!

We made our way to the floor, flashlights in hand, and took Terri's idea to heart.  Marisa, Jen, Terri and I kneeled next to each other and put our flashlights together.  You see, the plankton are attracted to the light and the Mantas are obviously attracted to the plankton.  Hence, the more the plankton, the more the Mantas!  Genius!  

I think this was the coldest dive I have ever been on.  We had a discussion before the dive that if we get too cold to let our guide know so we can surface.  We knew we would get cold but once we were in with the 15 Mantas, there was NO way we were surfacing!  That's right!  We had 15 Mantas come out doing their acrobatics all around us!  They even came from behind!  Marisa and I screamed the whole entire time because they got so close to us.  Let's just say we got head-butted a couple times as well as whipped by a couple tails, but WE did not do the touching like were instructed not to do...

The following is a video I compiled of the footage I caught.  It's kind of long and I kept our bubbles and screams on it for your hearing pleasure.  If you wait until the very end, you can actually see and hear me get hit in the head by one of the Mantas...  I apologize if it's not the best video, but hey, it's my first time ever editing video and posting it!  So enjoy what you can!

A dream come true!

This is where the dives become even more amazing!  Osprey Reef.  Need I say more?  For those of you who don’t know about this fabulous place, it is 200 miles out to sea in the middle of the ocean.  No cell phone service.  No Internet service.  We were at the mercy of Mother Nature herself now.  Awesome.

Our first dive at 7:50am was a site called Around the Bend.  This is where Andy saw his birthday Hammerhead, so Risa and I crossed our fingers.  He guided us on this one.  Unfortunately, luck was not on our side, but we did run into more White Tips and were shown some Dogmouthed Tuna.  These made Risa hungry and the first thing she said when she surfaced was that she wanted sushi.  Go figure. 

Our next dive was Around the Bend once again, but this time we were “not guided by Chantes.”  She was supposedly there only to take photos.  This was one of the most rewarding dives, but also where Risa gets the Special Ed award.  We were cruising along when I realized I was at a depth of 39.1m, which is just less than 130 feet – the deepest allowed for recreational diving.  I came up a bit and saw Risa swimming downward a bit.  I was checking something out when Risa approached me, showing me her dive computer.  Ready for this?  She dove to 41.8m, which is about 138 feet.  Not to worry folks, she was scolded by Andy and won the award for the day. 

(Where fish swim... Up.)

THEN, the most amazing thing happened.  We turned around and there swimming right towards us, a beautiful Manta Ray.  This creature was amazing and just so graceful!  It was the first time we’d ever seen one diving.  We were SO happy.  After watching it a bit, we noticed one of the members from Team America swimming closer to it.  It had just turned around and was eating when coolio decided to reach out and try and touch it.  Risa and I got so upset.  It was then that the Manta spooked and swam away.  We could have had longer with this marvelous creature, but Team America ruined it, once again. It was still an amazing dive nonetheless.

Next we dove The Gap with Andy.  We truly were his favorites at this point, you could just tell, lol.  We saw a lot of fun stuff including a Nudie that he had never seen before.  I took several pictures, but unfortunately, the housing fogged up.  It had several dives of no fogging but of course, it had to happen when we saw this, what we’ve decided, rare Nudie.  I did get some snapshots, but he still turned out a little fuzzy.  Pretty cool though.

Next was Admirality, named due to an anchor that broke through the reef when Captain Cook anchored here.  Admirality is the brand of the anchor that is wedged in a swim through.  Maty guided us on this one along with our Hostee Teresa, from Sweden, whom we love.  Before we dove, Maty asked us if we were cool with swim throughs and we nodded in excitement.  These swim throughs were tiny!  We went through the several of them and I swear they got smaller every time we went though one.  There were times when we had to actually turn our bodies so we could fit.  After 2 of the other divers that joined us ran low on air and went back to the boat, we went back to the anchor swim through and this time, dove under the anchor and got a couple of great pictures.  Afterward, we stumbled upon 2 Octopus mating!  They were adorable and so shy.  We watched them for a while and then continued on.  Very fun dive.

(One of the octopuses we interrupted. Oops!)

(Admirality Anchor.  See it?)

In the evening while it was raining, we dove Admirality again.  This time with Chantes.  Before we descended she asked if we were ok with swim throughs.  I was a little nervous about Risa since she is not a fan of tight spaces but she said she would be fine.  We went through a couple of them, Chantes in front, Risa in the middle and me trailing.  In the middle of one of them, we sat there for what seemed like eternity.  Poor Risa almost had a panic attack during it all and I didn’t understand why we were sitting there not moving.  Apparently, there was a giant Green Sea Turtle that Chantes had befriended on previous dives sleeping.  She had to try and move him since he was blocking the whole tunnel.  He was gigantic and very lazy.  He turned to Chantes and Risa thought for sure he was going to bite her.  He just sleepily swam off to find another hiding space to crawl in.  We also saw a White Tip and TONS of Humphead Maori Wrasse.  It was like a parade of Humpheads, it was gorgeous!

It was another great day of diving!  That’s right, five more dives.  After this one, we were freezing!  Not only were we freezing but it was still raining.  It felt so nice to peel off our wetsuits (which stopped smelling so bad since we decided it was the Sour Apple solution they were using to rinse them with).  Up to now, we are at 19 dives.  That’s right, 19 dives in 5 days.  How do you feel about that?  We feel pretty good, although we were going through the Swimmers Ear drops real quick…