Pacemaker Fishing Forum

We just got back this week from an amazing Honeymoon in Hawaii. While we didn't fish, we kept busy by visiting 3 islands (Maui, Kauai & the Big Island) and doing lots of snorkeling, as well as a bunch of other activities. With lots choose from, the highlight for me was definitely the last night of the vacation. We booked a night snorkel trip with a local dive boat to see Manta Rays.

This was truly an amazing event. We went with a boat called the Kona Honu Divers. They were a great captain and crew but I'm not sure it really matters who you go with as they all work together to position around a common "campfire" of lights. The scuba divers go deep and surround the campfire with additional lights pointing up. They have to stay on the bottom. The snorkelers hang in groups holding onto a surfboard or platform modified with handles and lights pointing downward. We had to stay flat on the surface with no free diving allowed.

The lights from above and below attract plankton. The mantas and other fish are attracted to the plankton. The mantas feeding zone is directly above the divers to directly below the snorkelers. This particular night we had 4 or 5 mantas come in to feed. You're in the water for about 45 minutes or so. Most of the time the mantas were near the bottom or at mid depths. You could see them gliding gracefully around below. They are beautiful animals. Gentle, majestic and  not afraid of or aggressive towards humans. This species of manta have wingspans from about 4 to 16 feet across. They all have unique markings on their undersides and can be identified by the locals. Koie was the largest to visit that night and is in the 14 to 16 foot range. She stayed pretty low however.

The highlight of the night happened about 5 minutes before having to exit the water. A ray named Tim decided to come up and feed right under our lights. He is in the 8 to 10 foot range. That probably puts his weight in the 600 to 800 lb range. His markings were consistent with the manta ray database as well as the recent injury to his cephalic fin from a fishing line. Here's some raw footage from the GoPro- https://youtu.be/K-2WMfkWzSo

If you love nature and ever get to go to the Big Island, I would definitely build in time to do this trip. I will definitely go again.