Hawaii Oceanic — Local services in Hawaii

This was the only negative experience from our trip to the big island in February. Essentially paid for two people (~$238) to go out on a short boat ride and not see any Mantas. They do not provide refunds but will offer a future visit (which I address later). I'm sure the company will respond to state that the Mantas are wild animals and viewing them is no guarantee, to which I understand to an extent, but the one star rating goes well beyond that.

First and foremost, the lifetime credit to do another tour is difficult for most tourists to take advantage of. For us, we took the first tour and failed to see any Mantas after spending about 15 minutes in the water. We asked for a refund since we had plans to go around the island to which the company declined and offered to rebook. Fine, we shifted plans around to accommodate the tour on the following Wednesday. Half hour into our drive to Kona on Wednesday (within 1hr of the tour start time!), we get a call informing us that the tour is cancelled for the day due to rough waters. Would have been nice to let us know at least an hour in advance. Fine, we rescheduled for the following day, Thursday, in a last ditch effort to make something out of this experience.

Once again, we're driving to Kona, 1hr from where we were sleeping Thursday night, hoping our efforts to reschedule would pay off. We decided to call while on our way, HALF HOUR BEFORE THE TOUR START TIME, and they informed us their tour was being cancelled for the day. Two days in a row, except this time they failed to even inform us in advance and took us calling them to find out. Is it the customers responsibility to check nonstop with the office and make sure the tour is still going out? This is unreasonable. Their stated reason was water too choppy, again.

Both days there were other people and boats out on the water. I cannot say with certainty, but I think they cancel for other reasons and simply use choppy water as an excuse for cancelling the tour.

Despite other positive reviews, which attracted me to this company initially, I cannot recommend this company to anyone doing a Manta tour. I believe their business model should build in refunds or partial refunds for trips that result in no Manta sighting. The company knows that tourists will often not be able to reschedule for another day and take advantage of it.

I am sure they'll continue to get business with so much tourism to the island, but I hope readers will consider this review before signing up for one of...

This was one of the highlights of our visit to Hawaii. This company's boat is smaller which means our group was more intimate than the other boats we saw that night. We appreciated that. Booking the tour and getting to the meeting point was easy and the instructions were clear. Melissa was delightful and fully explained what was about to happen, she also had complimentary bottled water, juices and snacks available before and after the tour. We were all fitted with wet suit jackets which turned out to be all we needed for the 40 minutes or so we were in the water. A short walk down to the dock and we boarded our boat, the crew of Dylan and Hudson were very friendly and helpful and kitted us out with snorkels, masks and flotation ankle rings. They have a limited number of prescription masks which worked out perfectly for a member of our group. Another plus is that you are able to take your backpack or bag on board and store them in a dry box...no having to leave your valuables in the car or purchase a locker. A very short boat ride, like 5 minutes, took us to the manta location where Ake, our manta guide and guru, and Hudson placed our "surfboard on steroids" into the water. As we got into the water we each held onto handles on the board and Ake swam, pulling us all out to where the manta would come to feed. Ake proved to be so knowledgeable and somehow was able to keep up a running commentary of what we were seeing.....which was AMAZING!!! Within a few minutes we were surrounded by the most graceful and beautiful manta rays...I wasn't prepared for them to come so close, literally inches from our masks, and at first it was a little disconcerting but they truly are gentle giants and it was mesmerizing to watch them glide back and forth while feeding on the plankton. We had all been instructed not to touch the manta but were warned they might bump or touch us, again we were assured they are not aggressive nor do they have any stingers or barbs so in the end you almost wanted them to nudge you. Even for a nervous ocean swimmer this was a wonderful experience and I'm so pleased that we stumbled on to Hawaii Oceanic, well worth the...

WHICH IS THE BEST TOUR COMPANY? THIS ONE. If you want to have an awesome time doing the night manta ray snorkel, then you use Hawaii oceanic! Simple as that. I asked the same question that you did, what is the best company to use for the night manta ray snorkel? How are you oceanic is one of the smaller companies, therefore you’re going to be in the water with much less people, 10 versus 50, and have a much better opportunity to see the manta rays.

*The one important factor that seems to be missing from common knowledge is —Hawaii oceanic offers a late night manta ray snorkel, this starts at 7:30 PM. Most companies only do the sunset snorkel which starts around four or 5 PM, therefore at the manta ray snorkel spot there will be upwards of 10 or 20 boats in the water and way more people. The late night Manta snorkel around 8:30 PM you’ll be in the water with maybe one other group yes it’s pitch black out but that makes it all the better for the Manta Rays.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Period. There is no other place in the entire world where manta rays are common that they can be seen year-round at night in their natural habitat. My wife said it best, “ I would travel to the Island of Hawaii just for this experience if it were just for that.” It is literally unbelievable to see them add to raise up close coming within millimeters of your face as there chomping on the plankton in the water. It is simply magical.

We have seen the swimming pigs and the nurse sharks in Exuma if snorkeled with giant sea turtles in Mexico, and Hawaii, and Thailand, and the Maldives, we have swim with sharks in the Maldives in Southeast Asia. This is above it all. The manta rays are one of the smartest creatures in the entire ocean and it is incredible to see them up close. Do not miss this while you are on the island of Hawaii. You can check out my website travelledbones_com for our island of Hawaii cinematic video or follow me on Instagram @travelledbones to see our adventures with the manta...