One of the most popular dives in the world. The 2 tank manta ray night dive is an exhilarating experience that is unique to the Kona Coast and one of the top night dives in the world. Kona Honu Divers is the top rated and most reviewed dive company in Hawaii and we provide the highest quality experience available above and below the surface.


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The Manta Ray Dive Experience

You will board the Honu One, Kona’s most spacious and well appointed dive boat, at Honokohau Harbor and cruise north along the coast to Garden Eel Cove. The diving begins with a reef dive led by our highly trained and experienced staff. Divers will spend their surface interval enjoying a Kona sunset and a light meal before having an educational and fascinating briefing on the manta ray’s lifestyle. Once the sun dips below the horizon, you will gear up and re-enter the water in the hopes to see these gentle giants perform their graceful underwater ballet. Your manta ray night dive will be about 45 minutes long. We see these magnificent creatures 80% of the time. If there are no manta rays we will offer the opportunity to enjoy an epic night reef dive.

Why Divers Choose Kona Honu Divers

  • High standards to join our tours
  • Highly Experienced guides
  • Small dive groups – 6:1 ratio
  • Free Nitrox for those that hold the certification
  • Neutral buoyancy 80cuft tanks
  • You get to dive as long as your tank lasts
  • Educational briefing of dive sites
  • A variety of snacks during your surface interval
  • Marine head
  • Hot water shower – a divers favorite!
  • 46 Passenger dive boat with a maximum of 18 divers aboard
  • Our high-quality rental gear is serviced and replaced more regularly
many mana rays circling underwater around a light

Dive Requirements

  • Must be in good health with NO heart conditions
  • Proof of open water certification or higher
  • Must be 12 years of age or older and accompanied by a parent or guardian
  • Have been diving within the last 2 years
  • Must be able to converse in English
  • You must be a comfortable diver
  • You must be able to dive in a group and not need more attention than what is normally provided on a guided dive
  • You must remember there are other guests onboard that are looking for a premium experience so our standards MUST be met. Kindly be a responsible and considerate diver
  • Check out The Frequently Asked Questions

*You can cancel or rebook all the way up to 48 hours before the charter. Reserve your space now before it sells out!


Directions to The Honu One

The Next Level Experience

Kona Honu Divers has been offering the manta ray night dive since 2002.
We take pride in offering one of the highest quality experiences in scuba diving in Hawaii.

We have chosen to exclusively tailor our focus toward the highest quality diving experience available
in Hawaii. By adhering to guest service standards we provide an elevated level of service over other dive operators.

Quality

We offer a spacious 49 passenger custom-built Newton dive boat fitted with the amenities not
usually found on other dive boats.

Our crew has years of experience guiding in Kona which means you
will always have a great experience above and below the water.

Our tanks are neutral buoyancy
aluminum 80’s. This means your buoyancy and trim will always be right and you won’t require as much
weight while diving.

Safety

By visiting Manta Ray Heaven exclusively, we are taking a step towards providing a safer
and more sustainable manta ray night dive. It’s better for the mantas, the environment, and for our guests.

We are also Hawaii’s first and only company to offer free
nitrox
to divers who are certified for it because we value the safety it offers.

Our rental gear is high quality and we select only the most reliable and comfortable brands of dive gear
so that you can focus on the diving experience around you.

We also proactively maintain our dive
rental equipment with regular checkups to help avoid unnecessary malfunctions.

The Kona Honu Divers Difference

All of these things combine to create an experience that exceeds what you can expect from other dive operators. That’s
why people love to dive with us and continue to return year after year.

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Scuba Tours Are 2 Hours Longer

A scuba charter typically takes about 3 hours for a 1 tank dive and 5 for a 2 tank trip. This means snorkelers would spend 1-3 hours more on the water on a dive tour than a snorkeling tour. As a result, they can be more prone to seasickness when the boat is sitting still in the water.

On a snorkel tour, most of the time is spent either cruising or in the water. This leaves minimal time for those who are prone to seasickness to get seasick. If you’re set on a 1 tank manta dive & snorkel you can book with our awesome partner.

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Maximum Spaciousness

Since we have opted to specialize in taking only divers on our manta ray night dive. This means the divers on the boat will have maximum spaciousness aboard with the staff attending only to their needs. Our boat is Hawaii’s most spacious with a capacity of 46 passengers and a maximum of 18 divers on board.

Snorkeling is Better for Most

If you do wish to go snorkeling or have family interested in snorkeling with the manta rays you can check availability here with our sister company (also top rated in all of Hawaii and owned by the same person as Kona Honu Divers).

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Looking to do a lot of diving but want to save some money? In addition to the manta ray night dive Kona Honu Divers also has some other dives that are unique to Hawaii.

Start here

For divers with the desire to get more dives under their weight belt, the 2-Tank Local Morning Dive offers fun easy diving along Kona’s beautiful coast. The reefs and their critters always seem to impress.

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Advanced Diving

For the more experienced diver, we recommend the Premium Advanced 2-Tank Dive trip where more experienced divers hop aboard our faster and more exclusive dive boat, the Honu Lele. The advanced trips include a meal and allow you to go to the less often visited sites farther afield. This means you’ll see some of the more unique features available in these harder-to-reach dive sites.

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The Next level

Have you dove it all and are looking for something completely different? Try the Blackwater Night Dive. One of the strangest and most unique dives, on par with the manta ray dive, Kona is home to some deep waters nearby. We cruise out offshore into 3000 feet (1000 meters) deep water to experience the world’s largest migration of animals on the planet. Float in the pelagic among some of the strangest critters.  Some are new to science and have never been seen before by human eyes! It’s often about some of the strange small and wonderful critters in the dark but sometimes we get lucky and see some of the larger pelagic animals coming through from the dark depths.

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Great for Groups

Do you have a group of friends or family and are looking for something a bit more exclusive? We offer private Kona boat tours for groups looking to dive or snorkel together. For family reunions or wedding parties, the Honu One can comfortably accommodate up to 24 snorkelers. For smaller families or friend groups the Honu Lele can accommodate up to 6 guests in a more intimate setting. Regardless of your diving experience or expectations, Kona Honu Divers is looking forward to showing you just how good scuba diving Hawaii can be.

Private Charters

Dive Packages

Frequently Asked Questions

We used to but decided to focus on what we do best. Diving! Snorkelers can book with Hawaii’s top rated and most reviewed snorkel company Kona Snorkel Trips.
The tour is only 2 hours versus the 5 hours diving. If you must keep the group together you can book
a 1
tank dive
with our favorite partner company.

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The ‘campfire’ where divers spend the majority of the dive is at around
35 feet (11 meters) deep. On the manta ray night dive in general the dive will vary from around
45-55 feet deep max depth. This depth is usually reached on the way from the boat to the campfire.

There are 2 sites. 1. Garden Eel cove and 2. Keahou Point. Manta Ray Heaven also known as Garden Eel Cove also known as Makako Bay is the best site for scuba diving with the manta rays. This is because
the bottom topography and protection from ocean swell is better here. There are also fewer boats
here on a typical night making it safer and less crowded. Kona Honu Divers only visits the northern
site for these reasons.

Divers will typically spend 25-45 minutes at the campfire. This is where the
mantas come to feed. A diver’s biggest limitation will be their air consumption. Kona Honu
Divers allows divers to dive the air in their tank. The total dive time is up to you and your air
consumption!

Book a 2-tank morning dive to see the gorgeous reef during the day and get comfortable diving. If you do it before you dive with the manta rays your bottom time should improve.

Check Availability

There has never been an incident with a manta hurting a person. Mantas
don’t have stingers or teeth. They also move gracefully through the water. It would be very
difficult for a manta ray to hurt a person. Although, we could tell you stories about manta rays
taking off with people’s cameras!

The only factors that affect viewing are the diving conditions which
are typically better from May – November. The number of mantas doesn’t appear to vary by time of
year. Looking through several years of consistent data we have not found a trend in manta ray
abundance.

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