Iruka Hawai‘i Dolphin and Manta Tours — Local services in Hawaii

Are ready to try an adventure that is unique? Water activities are great but what about doing something at night, in the water and mysteriously fun? You must do this! A night time viewing of majestic Manta Rey fish! Oh boy, so fun. When I booked my trip to the Big Island I wanted to do as many fun things I could find. I booked a snorkel trip, a horseback riding tour, a Zip Line tour and when I saw this Manta Tour I was intrigued. Never done it. Well, booked it through Hawaii Activities and when I arrived on the Big Island I was anxious. The day came, I drove down to the facility early (good thing I did, I got lost) and introduced myself to the host. Maybe her name was Iruka, but a very friendly girl greeted me and accommodated any questions I had. She offered a wetsuit fins and mask/snorkel combo however, I bought and brought my own (because I know what it means for things not to fit right). We took off on time with about 13-15 people out into the abyss. Light was shimmering off the water as the sun was setting down. Very beautiful to see it on a boat. We took a short ride to the spot where other boats were anchored and the crew pulled out a square like raft. It had special lights in the middle to draw fish and Manta Ray. The special lights draw the plankton towards the light and the fish eat it right away.

Everyone slowly dropped ourselves over the side and crew members helped us swim to the floating raft. We had to hold a small rope handle and given floating noodles to place under our feet to make everyone horizontal. This is to keep our feet from kicking underneath the raft and scaring the fish. This also kept everyone relaxed, well until we started seeing strange fish.

I didn't know what Manta Ray looked like but at first I was scared to see this weird object coming beneath me. I then recognized the thing to be a huge Manta Ray. The come up looping to scoop up the plankton and repeat. The closer they got to the light the more they scoop. There were small and large Manta Ray's and everyone was so excited. Never heard so many screaming into their snorkels with excitement! Lots of people had underwater cameras like go pro. I brought my Insta360 and video'd my experience. Unfortunately, I can't find a way to upload it here. I'll post a link to my YouTube for my samples.

After about 45min I was already getting weary from holding the rope and my camera stick in my hand. Although I had my own wetsuit top on, I was getting to feel a little cold. Fortunately, I was able to sit on top of the raft and watch everyone enjoy the fish below. Gave me an idea to stick my camera pole into the water and continue filming while I sat on the raft.

So much fun! The ride back was scary fun. Traveling through the dark without any lights but the moon illuminating on the water in front of us Wow! This is something you'll never forget. Highly Recommended.

Video...

This is a long post. First off I want to say that we were told repeatedly to leave 5 stars, on both of our trips out to snorkel with the mantas. And were even bribed with Manta stickers, if we left a 5 star review before leaving at the end of the adventure.

We went out on Monday first, and unfortunately did not see any mantas. There were a few panicked swimmers feeling very uncomfortable in the water, and I was surprised there wasn't more instruction before the experience, like a video emailed out, as that may have helped them. Teaching people in the dark water, with kids, and limited ocean experience was not fun to listen to or watch. It felt chaotic. The boat ride and waters were very choppy and people were nauseated and left some folks vomiting into buckets. I'm not sure if they have full wetsuits, but this was in April, and we were able to rent shortie wetsuits for an additional $10. My friends were all cold even with the wetsuits. I was surprised at how relaxed the crew were, they seemed more interested in talking to each other than interacting with the folks on board. I felt like I was being taken care of by frat kids more so than tour guides. Tomae was excellent though. You could see her hard work and caring attitude for the folks on board. My group of 5 all commented on her work ethic and professionalism.

Since we didn't see any mantas, we were welcome to go back again for free. We all dragged our feet as the last experience was not great. So we went out on Friday night, and the experience was a bit better. The waters were still choppy and again, there was someone vomiting into a bucket. They explained how to use a snorkel this time, which I think was helpful for some newbies. The staff this time were a bit more helpful. Except for Maddy. We all heard her berating guests multiple times on the trip. I'm not sure if she was having a bad day, but she was quite rude and had little patience. I'm hoping those guests will leave a review as well, as they experienced her first hand.

We did see mantas the second time and they themselves are quite incredible.

Lastly, other than no touching, there doesn't seem to be much regulation around this activity. There were a ton of boats, a lot of people and little educational information given about the mantas (at least to our group).

Between concern for the future of the mantas, lack of care from the crew for the guests, conditions of the water and lack of regulations surrounding the ecotourism of the activity, I would not recommend snorkeling with...

The email said:

“CRUISE SHIP CUSTOMERS Check in 15 min prior to departure time Your ship will anchor in Kailua Kona Bay. You will first need to take a tender from your ship to the Kailua-Kona Pier. At the pier look for the sign that says "Dolphin Reef Snorkel" / C Big Island) Please note sometimes we must wait to dock the boat and get a guide on the pier to check you in.”

We arrived at the pier at 0820. Sign in was 0845 and excursion was supposed to depart at 0900. We didn’t see anyone with a C big island sign. I walked up and down the pier 5 or 6 times thinking surely I must have missed it. Nothing. I looked for signs on the pier, on vans and on boats. Nothing. Finally at 0845 I was digging out the excursion ticket to look for a phone number when they called. The guy said they had two van loads of people and we would be in the second group. We had to wait a while for the van to show up. It was an unmarked black sprinter van. It took us and one other group of four to a small harbor 4 miles north of the pier. We did not know the van was taking us that far away; the email made it sound like we’d be departing from the embarkation pier. When we got there around 0930 the boat already had a group waiting on us and they had been sitting on the hot boat the entire time. After getting our gear we finally left. The actual snorkeling part was great. We all had a great time. Lunch was fine. After we got back the crew said they’d take us back to the pier in the same groups, which meant we had to wait…AGAIN for the van to leave and then return. So the first group got in the van and left, and then the crew left with the boat, which meant our family and the other group of four was left sitting there by a dusty road all by ourselves. No water or help if we needed it. After 40 minutes the van still hadn’t come back so we called an uber and got back to the pier on our own. The Kona port call is the shortest one we have on this cruise and we wasted roughly an hour and a half round trip searching/waiting for the van. Absolutely unsatisfactory. We would have not gotten up so early and would have ubered both ways if we had known this was the way the operation ran. I do not recommend this tour company for...