Manta Heaven

A couple of months ago I went on a really cool dive.

Reed came too.

 


Our first spot was to a place called Garden Eel Cove.  At about 60 feet the coral stopped and there was nothing but sand as far as you could see on the ocean floor.  Except...for all these guys.   There were hundreds of them!  They are called Garden Eels.  They would sway with the current just like plants in the wind and go back into their holes if you got too close.   It was really cool to see. 



Then as night fell we got back in the water...

Reed blowing bubbles at me.

Das our boat.

 We placed a milk crate full of flashlights on the ocean floor pointing up to make a column of light to attract the plankton...

 

But we still didn't see what we were looking for.  So we swam off for a little night diving adventure.  I have all sorts of videos of eels and crazy crabs with huge shells covered in shells,

So we got to see lots of really cool things, and it turns out the ocean at night time is whole different place!  But in the end I hadn't seen what we were hoping to see, then as I was climbing back onto the boat in disappointment, I turned around to see THIS!

 

GIANT MANTA RAYS!!!!

It was AWESOME!  There were lights on the boat that were enough to attract the plankton which in turn attracts the rays.  These things were massive and beautiful!  I loved every minute of the whole experience.  I love how while scuba diving you are completely free to go in any direction you want, it is so much fun! I've lots of video but since blogger is a bummer and I don't have editing capabilities, I can only show the short ones...

We were right off the Kona coast on the big island.  I continue to fall more in love with everything ocean.  I am thinking I should have been a marine biologist or something!  Anyways, it was cool, and of course the pictures and videos just don't do it justice... Aloha!