Big Island Manta Ray Snorkel Cruise from Keauhou Bay - Sunset & Night Tours reviews, Big Island tours & activities, fun things to do in Big Island | HawaiiActivities.com

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Big Island Manta Ray Snorkel Cruise from Keauhou Bay - Sunset & Night Tours

Overall Rating

4.76 4.76 / 5

Reviews

17 reviews
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Great time!

Reviewed by: Reif family, 2022/07/12

The boat fit the 5 of us plus crew perfectly with space. Captain Bambi and Mason were knowledgeable and took us to see the parrots and goats while we were waiting for the sun to set and mantas to come out. Those lighted surfboard really attracted the mantas, and the pool noodles helped keep our feet up. FYI be prepared to do the Superman pose holding the surfboard. Get a good arm work out. We saw at least 5, one even touched my youngest, which scared her but no harm. I wish the surf boards would have a camera to record all the mantas but otherwise great trip!

Rating:
Attended as:Families with Young Children
Activity Date:2022/07/10
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Amazing once in a lifetime experience

Reviewed by: Gill , 2020/01/25

What a privilege to be in the water with these magnificent, graceful creatures, the small group ( max 6) made for a very personalised tour, Keith and Cassie were so knowledgeable and passionate about the mantas, knowing them all by name! I would highly recommended this tour operator, they have a deep respect for ocean and the sea life in this beautiful part of the world while providing a fun and outstanding experience. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Attended as:Friends
Activity Date:2020/01/22
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Most amazing experience of my life

Reviewed by: Amy, 2019/12/02

This was an amazing experience. We had the boat all to ourselves and the sunset cruise was unforgettable. The manta rays were so beautiful and you got so close to them! Worth the money and I’d go 1000 times again.

Rating:
Attended as:Friends
Activity Date:2019/11/29
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Up close with manta rays

Reviewed by: Stacy, 2019/07/13

We had an amazing time on our tour! We saw wild goats (kau) climbing along the coastline, Cassie taught us some history about Queen Ka’ahumanu, and we saw several mantas up close (hit my snorkel gear close), including Amanda and Big Bertha. We booked the small group tour and it turned out we were the only two - what luck! Would love to do it again!

Reply from activity provider

Mahalo for taking the time to submit a review of your Kona Ocean Experience Sunset/Manta tour! We're so pleased to hear that you had an amazing tour, that you got to learn about some of our Hawaiian culture and history , as well as seeing mantas including 16 ft. Big Bertha! Hope you have a chance to come join us again sometime! Aloha

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2019/07/10
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Delightfully Entertaining Cruise and Night Swim

Reviewed by: Erika, Lucia, Eileen, 2018/12/26

This was definitely worth the price! The boat ride was incredibly fun and the guides were very knowledgeable about the island and hidden wildlife spots. Saw goats, flock of parrots, bat, and of course some manta rays later that night. It was amazing!

Definitely recommend bringing layers to wear once night falls. You're on the ocean and the wind can definitely bring a chill, especially after coming out of the water. Guides do a wonderful job of taking care of you with food and drinks. It was wonderful!

Reply from activity provider

Thank you for taking the time to submit a review of your Sunset/Manta tour with Kona Ocean Experience. We're glad to hear you saw an abundance of our unique and amazing wildlife along the Kona Coast, above and below the surface! And that you had a wonderful time! Mahalo for your kind recommendation. Happy New Year!

Rating:
Attended as:Friends
Activity Date:2018/12/19
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Great hosts, great time!

Reviewed by: David L, 2018/10/14

We had an awesome time! I had done a similar activity tour before, but I enjoyed doing it even more with this crew. They actually called us beforehand and warned us that the mantas had been inconsistent in the previous few days, and wanted to know if we wanted to do a different tour or go on a later date. We were leaving the next day, so we couldn't do either, but we really appreciated them being upfront. It turned out not to matter, though, because we saw several mantas! They were incredible to watch, and we got some amazing views of them feeding. Our hosts also gave us a sunset tour of the coast before the mantas came out, which was super beautiful. Highly recommended!

Reply from activity provider

Mahalo for taking the time to write a review of your manta tour with Kona Ocean Experience. We're so glad you had the opportunity to take advantage of our manta guarantee after your 1st trip out with us, and that you enjoyed your beautiful coastal tour and got to watch several "incredible" mantas on your 2nd trip! We appreciate your recommendation and hope to see you again sometime. Aloha!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2018/10/07
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Unforgettable

Reviewed by: Joel, 2018/05/20

The highlight of our week on the Big Island. Having a small group meant we had a great chance to see the mantas, as well as a fun dinner and sightseeing along the coast. You won't really understand just how amazing this experience is until you go, so just go.

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2018/05/11
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Night Manta Ray Swim on the Big Island.

Reviewed by: LOIC, 2018/05/03

Good experience!
Just a little bit disappointed by the tour.
The guides were super nice but late, we stayed one hour at the harbor due to a boat problem. The dinner (Sushis) was too light, we had to share 20 pieces for 4 people. We stayed only 15min in the water swimming with the mantas because we were running out of time due to the delays at the beginning.

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2018/04/27
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small group the way to go

Reviewed by: Krin, 2018/04/25

we had so much fun - when we were watching from shore the next night we wished we had signed up again. we had one on one with our captain and guide (Justin and Tara) - The other groups were so large there was no way they could have asked questions like we did. Tara worked hard to keep us where viewing was best. Bring your towel but not change of clothes.

Reply from activity provider

Mahalo for selecting Kona Ocean Experience for your manta viewing excursion! It's wonderful to know that you had a fun time and appreciated the small group experience and hard work of our fabulous crew, and tickled to hear that you wished you'd "signed up" again for another trip with us! Hopefully you will have the opportunity to come back someday!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2018/04/18
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Absolutely great choice

Reviewed by: David, 2018/03/14

This was better than I could imagine. After leaving the shore on a small boat (three crew and four passengers), we passed manta village and went south a bit more to see some historic land with wild goats on it and sat there while the sun set. We had a platter of sushi and grapes, which was delicious.

When the sun set, we went back up and joined the rest of the boats at manta village, and got into the water where we all held a surf board and had floaties under our stomachs. It was all very comfortable, besides the cold, which we had full or short sleeve wetsuits for. The surf board had a nice light on it which attracted plenty of plankton.

We saw two manta rays, Amanda, and I forget the name of the other one. Amanda actually brushed up against my wife twice! (Don't intentionally touch them as I've heard it's a $5000 fine).

After plenty of time in the water, and repeated visits by both manta rays, we headed back to the boat and had some ginger ale on the way back to the dock.

Overall wonderful experience!

Oh, if you're on your honeymoon, make sure your ring fits tightly enough not to fall off in the water! And insure it if it's valuable! Mine slipped off, but thankfully I didn't loose a bunch of money.

Reply from activity provider

Thank you for letting us know about your Sunset/Manta Snorkeling tour with Kona Ocean Experience! We're pleased that you appreciated the small group atmosphere, and enjoyed the sushi and fruit platter. We appreciate you taking the time to write your descriptive review as this lets other folks know what they might expect when going out on our tour. We're especially glad to hear that you had wonderful experience and super close encounters with the mantas, while being mindfully careful not to touch them! Thank you for your warning to others to remove loose jewelry... and although not expensive it's still a "bummer" that you lost your wedding ring. Mahalo again for joining us aboard. Hope you might be able to return for another adventure with KOEX in the future! Aloha!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2018/02/26
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Majestic Rays

Reviewed by: Kay, 2018/02/14

Watching rays swoop in from the darkness was amazing.

Our dive master was well informed and even gave us a great recommendation for a beach to hit the next day.

If I had any quibbles with the excursion is that from the time we left the dock until the time we went back to the dock we were only out for about 1hr and 15 minutes.

We were aware that the excursion had a max time of 2 hrs+ but would have loved to spend more time in the water after sunset and the Rays actually came out.

The excursion was still great though and it’s certainly a recent highlight of wild animal viewing.



Reply from activity provider

Thank you for submitting a review on behalf of Kona Ocean Experience. We're happy to hear that our dive guide provided great information to you regarding the manta rays (as well as a beach recommendation) and that you had an amazing time watching the mantas "in action"! Just so that you (and others) know, our KOEX Sunset/Manta Snorkeling tour is advertised as a 1.5 hour trip (not "2+ hrs") as verified on our website: www.konaoceanx.com. Although a bit shorter than you'd expected, we're glad you felt it was a great excursion and a wild animal viewing "highlight"!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2018/02/10
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Guaranteed!

Reviewed by: Jon, 2018/01/09

Bambi (captain) and Steven (dive guide) both are very friendly and knowledgeable. More importantly, in case that you do not see any manta ray, they arrange you another trip for free. In our case, the giants took a day off on Sunday and then came back on Monday. So try to book it at least 2 days before the end of your trip.

Reply from activity provider

Mahalo for taking the time to submit a review of your sunset/manta tour(s) with Kona Ocean Experience. We're so glad you had the opportunity to rejoin us for a second evening after the mantas took a "night -off", so that you could enjoy seeing their majestic moves. Thank you for acknowledging our "manta guarantee"! Hope to have you aboard again sometime, to perhaps join us for a morning Dolphin & Kealakekua Bay adventure. Aloha!

Rating:
Attended as:Solo Travelers
Activity Date:2018/01/07
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Mantra Ray Night Dive

Reviewed by: Ella , 2017/11/30

Steven and Shawn were amazing captain and guide. Provided us with an amazing tour and really great snorkeling spots around the area! The tour time is perfect to catch sunset and then it gets dark so the water lights up beautifully in the dark. The waves in the ocean are a bit rough so going on an empty stomach is adviseable. We saw 5 manta rays on our expedition. Definitely an attraction to do on the Big Island!! And Kona Ocean Experience is a great company that hosts this amazing experience!!

Reply from activity provider

Mahalo for submitting a review of your Sunset Cruise & Night Manta Swim with Kona Ocean Experience! We appreciate hearing that you felt our KOEX crew of dive guide, Steven and Captain Sian, as well as the tour they provided were "amazing"! And pleased that you would recommend our company to others looking to experience a manta ray tour with our company. Mahalo nui!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2017/11/26
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Great Experience

Reviewed by: Kkuh1, 2017/09/16

This was an amazing experience. Our captain and the diver were really great. While we were "waiting" for the mantas to arrive, our diver went to the ocean floor to pick up some sea urchins and sea cucumbers to show us. He put them back of course, but it made the trip even more interesting. Them the mantas arrived and put on an amazing show!

Reply from activity provider

We're so pleased to know that you had an amazing experience while out on your manta tour, and glad that our crew was able to show you other interesting sea creatures, too! We hope you will have the opportunity to join us aboard again sometime in the future. Aloha!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2017/09/13
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Amazing experience!

Reviewed by: Nat, 2017/08/02

We liked that our guide taught us how to "encourage" the mantas by singing to them. We had a blast :)

Reply from activity provider

We're so pleased that you had a "blast" while on your manta tour, and that our KOEX dive guide, Steven, was able to show you how to enhance your experience with these amazing sea creatures. Hope you will have a chance to come join us again for another adventure aboard in the future. Aloha!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2017/07/30
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Awesome Time

Reviewed by: Kelly Koch, 2017/07/08

This was an amazing adventure. We were very taken very good care of. Will definitely do it again.

Reply from activity provider

Aloha Kelly! We're pleae to hear that you had an amazing adventure on your Sunset/Manta tour, and that you felt well taken care of. We look forward to having you join us again for another real Kona Ocean Experience. Mahalo for taking the time to write a review for us!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2017/06/14
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manta adventure

Reviewed by: Bill Nott, 2016/08/27

It turned out to be just the two of us on the cruise,,,It was great fun and swimming with those sea behemoths is magical! Our two person crew were very gracious and gave a wonderful view of the rays and other island animals...and it included sushi!

Reply from activity provider

Aloha, Bill! We're pleased to learn that you had "great fun" and a "magical swim" with the mantas while aboard with Kona Ocean Experience! Mahalo for your kind compliments regarding our crew and the overall tour. We hope that you may have a chance to join us again sometime in the future for another memorable tour!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2016/08/03
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