Schedule:

• Day: Thursday and on request as available. Snorkeling is also available on our combination Manta trips for divers and snorkelers.
• Meeting Time: 5:30pm
• Return Times 9:00-9:30pm
• Manta Experts: Many of our staff at Jack's Diving Locker are PADI Manta Ray Diver Specialty Instructors or certified Manta Naturalists through Hawaii Community College in collaboration with Manta Pacific Research Foundation.

Find Answers To Frequently Asked Questions

• Cancellation Policy
• Manta Report
• Manta Guarantee
• Manta Participant Guidelines
• Refresher Policy
• Policies for Children

Manta Participant Guidelines - Kona, Hawaii

First established in 1983, these guidelines help to protect our amazing manta rays.

1. Observe Only: No touching. Resist the urge to “pet” the mantas. This will only rub off their protective mucus coating. Do not chase, grab, or try to ride the mantas. This does not benefit the animal in any way.
    
2. Diver Position: Divers must stay on or near the sand, rubble, or boulder bottom. An open water column is necessary for the mantas to maneuver. Avoid contact with the coral, sea urchins, or other marine life. Form a semi circle with your group.
    
3. Snorkeler Position: Snorkelers must stay on the surface and keep legs horizontal. Do not dive down into the water column.
    
4. Lights: Divers shine lights up into the water column to attract plankton. Snorkelers shine lights down.
    
5. Bubbles: Divers try to time your breathing so that you do not blow bubbles up into the manta if it passes over your head.
    
6. Taking photos or video: When taking underwater photos or video, be considerate of people and mantas. Minimize your equipment in the water column and let the mantas come to you.

What are Manta Rays?

Manta rays are large sea animals that live in tropical, sub-tropical, and temperate waters worldwide. Their side or pectoral fins have evolved into wide triangular wings that they use to easily propel themselves through the water. With wing spans reaching over 20’ across, manta rays are one of the largest animals in the ocean. Their broad blanket-like bodies earned them the name manta that means cloak or blanket in Spanish. In Hawaiian, they are called hahalua.  They are related to sharks. Sharks and rays are cartilaginous fishes as opposed to bony fishes. Rays and sharks are called elasmobranchs. Loosely translated, elasmos means plate-like or beaten metal and branchia means gills in Latin. Manta rays belong to the family of rays referred to as devil rays, scientifically called Mobulidae. Devil rays share the common characteristic of cephalic or head fins. When unfurled, the fins help to funnel in food and water into the mouth. To make the fins more streamlined, devil rays can roll up these flexible appendages. When furled, these fins were thought to resemble a devil’s horns.

Most often manta rays are black dorsally with white “shoulder bars”. While the dorsal coloration is relatively similar in mantas worldwide, their ventral side can be very different. Typically, Manta birostris has few spots ventrally with wide gray bands along the back edge of the wings. Manta alfredi has big blotchy spot patterns ventrally located. These spot patterns are unique to each manta and can be used for accurate identification. For a complete catalog of the Kona manta rays, go to www.mantapacific.org. The most extreme difference in manta coloration comes with the “black manta”. These mantas are predominantly black on their ventral surface with small spots or patches of white. Both Manta birostris and Manta alfredi species have a black coloration. Both black and white mantas can be seen together in some locations, however the white color morphology is always more dominant. Black mantas are sighted occasionally on the Kona coast.

How are Manta Rays being protected in Hawaii?

Manta rays are protected in the State of Hawaii (ACT 092, 2009). Both Manta alfredi and Manta birostris are protected under Appendix II in CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species, 2013).