Kona Manta Ray Snorkel & Night Dive Tour at Keauhou Bay - Sea Paradise
Overall Rating
4.54
Absolutes Highlight
Reviewed by: Paseba, 2017/11/26Diese Tour fand mit ca. 18 Personen auf einem modernen Katamaran statt. Man befindet sich ca. 45min im Wasser, wobei man neue Neoprenanzüge trägt. Der Trip wurde professionell durchgeführt, es fanden sich neben den Teilnehmern stets 2-3 Sicherheitsschwimmer im Wasser. Wir sahen 5-6 majestische Mantarochen - selten was eindrucksvolleres erlebt. Ich empfehle Mittel gegen Seekrankheit, denn die Tour findet auf offenener See (Wellengang) und bei Dunkelheit statt. Kann diese Tour auf jeden Fall empfehlen.
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2017/11/05 |
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Amazing experience
Reviewed by: Erica , 2017/11/01We had a great time, and really enjoyed the entire experience. We we lucky and had manta rays barrel rolling right up to us for most of the time we were in the water. The captain and staff were friendly and knowledgeable. And the snacks were a nice treat after getting out of the water. Hope to do it again!
Thank you for taking the time to review your manta tour. We are happy to hear you had a good time.
Mahalo Nui Loa!
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2017/10/02 |
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nice, but...
Reviewed by: dusty, 2017/10/25their lights were dim compared to other companies, and they went in much earlier than the other boats.
Thank you for reviewing your tour with us. The lights we use are quite powerful, we do place a special blue filter over them to attract more of the microscopic plankton which the mantas' appear to prefer over the larger zooplankton, that may be why they appeared to be dim by comparison.
Mahalo
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| Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
| Activity Date: | 2017/10/22 |
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A stunning experience for all
Reviewed by: Amber Bialy, 2017/10/24My husband and I were both nervous, I get seasick and he has a fear of deeper water and has never snorkeled. Captain Morgan was amazing and the crew was super reassuring. They gave me ginger candy when I got on. I only felt a little queasy, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Short ride and they got us in the water and we had a full display of barrel rolls by 2 mantas! My husband had an amazing time and he enjoyed it more than he thought he would. He would do it again! You stay in the water for a reasonable amount of time, I got out a tad early but we went back shortly after. Tea, soda and fresh pineapple was offered. A MUST do and I couldn't ask for a better crew. Bring your own goggles and snorkel if you have them, some masks leaked a little. Worth it even if you get seasick (lots of ginger and dramamine!)
Pick a day with no wind as Well! We had a great experience.
Thank you for taking the time to review your manta tour. Happy to hear both you and your husband enjoyed the experience. Thank you for joining us and hope to serve you again soon in the near future.
A Hui Hou!
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2017/10/21 |
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Manta ray with NO CRUISE
Reviewed by: Steve, 2017/10/22Crew was very nice and captain had a great story, but we were ones that had little luck with manta's. We did see one or two, but it took a full hour in water, where some of my party began to get sick and missed it. The most disappointing part was absolutely no cruise. Do not expect a cruise. We coasted for 5 min and went out where I could snorkel on my own. I really thought we would sail for a bit and get snacks instead of one piece of pineapple. Understand you are hanging onto a ladder the whole time. I get it for safety reasons, but not what I expected. There is no real snorkeling where your swimming around. No boat lights other then ladder. I felt we were using other boats lights, where we were the last ones to ever see anything, unless we got lucky. Our ladder had lights. I thought this was also a 3 to 4 hour tour. It took 5 or 10 min. To get where we were going, then hour in water, then go home. No drinks on this, and hit and miss with hot chocolate. I highly recommended actually sailing first and open the sails like they said would happen and choosing this boat in the first place. My party was disappointed. My kids were troopers and stayed out with me and saw the one manta, before turning back where the rest of the people holding onto the ladder didn't see it. At least give us a cruise first with this cool boat.
Thank you for taking the time to review your manta tour. We are happy to hear you enjoyed the staff and also sorry to hear you did not fully enjoy the trip. We, unfortunately, do not always get the opportunity to sail prior to the manta tour. As stated on the website, factors such as mooring availability water conditions and weather play a great part in what happens on each individual tour. If I could have it my way, every night we would have just enough wind cruise out to sea while watching a glorious sunset (No rain). Return back to the manta site to find our mooring available, at this point the wind would calm and the sea would be flat and upon entering the water all of Kona's manta rays would gather under our raft for the entire hour. Everyone would be happy, but alas this does not happen as often as I wish it would.
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
| Activity Date: | 2017/10/18 |
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Manta ray swim
Reviewed by: Jessica , 2017/07/29The people at sea paradise were truly outstanding. They were professional, fun, and extremely accommodating. Let me preface this review by saying that I suffer from extreme motion sickness and had I not been heavily medicated then this would've been a truly awful experience, of course this was no fault of the crew, the waters are just that rough. The crew Heather and Troy and the captain did their absolute best to make me feel better, while entertaining my six year old daughter. We saw tons of mantas and they barrel roll right under you almost touching you. Truly a remarkable experience. Once we decided we had enough the crew got us back to the shore as quickly as possible as they could tell I was in distress. I highly recommend this experience, just be aware that you will need every form of motion sickness prevention if that's a concern. I couldn't be more pleased with the crew of sea paradise.
Aloha and Mahalo for taking the time to review your experience. We are happy you had a great time and you took the precautions you needed for your motion sickness. The waters in Kona are generally flat and the calmest of the islands, however once in awhile we do get a swell. Happy the mantas put on their beautiful performance to keep you at ease. A Hoi Hou and Aloha!
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
| Activity Date: | 2017/07/26 |
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Manta Ray Swim
Reviewed by: Tony, 2017/07/22I had a great time the guides very very knowledgeable and helpful. It was amazing how close the Manta Ray came to use as we were on the surface hanging to a raft. If I go back this is one thing I will differently do again.
Thank you for taking the time to review your tour with us. Happy to know you enjoyed it.
A Hui Hou!
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| Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
| Activity Date: | 2017/06/29 |
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Awesome experience
Reviewed by: Lianne, 2017/05/27I had an awesome expierence with the Manta Ray swim in front of our hotel.
Aloha, thank you for taking the time to review your trip. We are so happy to know you enjoyed it. Mahalo!
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| Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
| Activity Date: | 2017/05/21 |
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Awesome!!!!!
Reviewed by: Stacy R, 2017/03/18We saw several manta rays and they were amazing! Some came up to the surface and could be seen from the boat. Captain Morgan and Troy were awesome! They were funny, personable and told some great stories. While in the water, Troy and Cory were always making sure everyone was doing okay. I would definitely recommend this excursion with Sea Paradise and this crew.
March, 2017
Thank you for reviewing your tour. We are so happy you enjoyed the manta experience and the crew treated you well. Hope to be able to serve you again.
Mahalo!
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2017/03/11 |
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Super Cool
Reviewed by: Larissa, 2017/02/21Totally awesome experience, did the moonlight snorkel with the manta rays. The crew was awesome it was a nice small size of 6 people and such a great experience. They swim so close to you and are so incredibly cool
Thank you for taking the time to review your trip. We are so happy to hear you enjoyed the manta tour. Hope to be able to serve you in the future.
Aloha,
Sea Paradise
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2017/02/13 |
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Manta Ray Swim
Reviewed by: The Leiths, 2016/09/10We would like to thank the staff of veltra for their outstanding services with helping making our dream vacation a reality, we really enjoyed the swim with the Manta Rays - the staff on the boat were perfect, snacks were provided and we saw lots of Manta Rays, the sunset was beautiful.
Thanks Again
Thanks for joining us at Sea Paradise aboard the Hokulani! We are happy you enjoyed our manta ray tour :)
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2016/08/30 |
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Simply amazing
Reviewed by: Pernille , 2016/09/08We didn't have the best start for our manta ray snorkeling - trouble checking in for our flight the day after stressed us a lot, so we were not really in the mood. But despite me getting pretty seasick, being in the water and experiencing these magnificent and majestic fish feeding was an amazing experince. I so much wanna do it again - but next time without being seasick :) Thanks to the crew and captain for being so nice to me
We are happy you had a pleasurable experience minus being seasick. It does affect some of us more than others. We always have remedies on board to assist with seasickness. A Hoi Hou!
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2016/09/05 |
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Manta Ray Spectacular
Reviewed by: Keith, 2015/10/17A fantastic experience,the mantas come as close as the say! A great tour with experienced helpful guides.
Aloha and thank you so much for taking the time to review your trip with us.
We are so happy you enjoyed yourself and hope to see you again soon.
Mahalo!
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2015/09/17 |
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The greatest/worst activity of the trip
Reviewed by: Mountain Man, 2015/10/05I'll be honest, overall I didn't have a great time on this trip. We sailed off late and missed the sunset which we were supposed to enjoy, and then spent 15 minutes "sailing" in a circle getting tossed about in the waves in the boat which was very unenjoyable. I wouldn't call it snorkeling either. After an hour of getting tossed around in the waves, you get in your wet suit and get your snorkel mask and get in the water to hold on to a long float, getting beat up by the waves (some more) while playing footsie with your neighbor. Meanwhile, your float is drifting in the current towards the plethera of other boats in the surrounding area leaving you wondering if you're going to get run over or not. Seriously, our floating group ended up almost tangled in another boats anchor line. It was incredibly unsafe.
Why am I rating it a 3 with the description being very negative? Well it's because it's the most incredible thing to see Manta's swimming INCHES from you. We had quite a few come by and it was spectacular to witness for those few seconds.
Thank you for taking the time to review your tour. We appreciate your feedback. The safety of our guests and staff are of great importance to us and we will be speaking with them on how to improve our operations. Again thank you and we are happy you enjoyed seeing the manta rays.
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2015/09/23 |
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So worth it!
Reviewed by: Julia and Pat, 2015/03/01Two mantas came to visit and were incredible. It was definitely something everyone should experience at least once in their life. The crew was friendly and did a wonderful job keeping everyone safe and comfortable.
Thanks for joining us! :)
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2015/02/05 |
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Huge Manta Ray visit
Reviewed by: Deb Stuckey, 2015/02/07I was a little leary about swimming with Manta Rays at night in the ocean....but I knew I would regret not doing it. WHAT an experience!! The highlight of our trip. It was amazing to float on the water with those gigantic rays swimming literally inches from your body. I would highly recommend this to anyone!
Aloha Deb~ We are so happy you enjoyed your night out on the water on the manta ray tour! Safe travels, and we hope to see you back again with us here at Sea Paradise.
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2015/01/16 |
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awesome
Reviewed by: Ota, 2014/12/27It's a amazing experience!!!
We really recommend!!
Thank you for reviewing your trip.
A Hui Hou!!
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2014/12/02 |
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Fantastic trip
Reviewed by: HHHH, 2014/12/02They did a great job with my young kids. Everyone got in the water and had fun. When the 5 year old was ready to get back on the boat, they took her and let the adults stay in the water. Professional and fun.
So happy you and your family had a good time. Thank you for taking the time to write a review. Mahalo Nui Loa!
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
| Activity Date: | 2014/11/29 |
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Gotta try this!!
Reviewed by: Mike B, 2014/11/17This was truly a unique experience that should be done once. It is kind of creepy being out in the open ocean at night, but that is the exciting part and of course the Manta Rays will not disappoint. After about 25 minutes in the water you've seen enough, but definitely a thrilling 25 minutes.
Mahalo for taking the time to write a review. Were glad you had a good time.
Sea Paradise
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| Attended as: | Friends |
| Activity Date: | 2014/10/23 |
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manta rays snorkel
Reviewed by: amauri santana, 2014/09/15i liked all the atracctions and people live arond island. and hotel and foods
Mahalo for writing a review.
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2014/08/22 |
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wonderful event
Reviewed by: blessed, 2014/08/04this is my second manta snokel.
3 yrs ago, I did it at hulakai.
Even though at that time, I had no manta encounter,
I think there is no difference between sea paradase and fairwind.
Steps of sea paradase seems to be more informative. I though.
Thank you for taking the time to write a review. We are happy you enjoyed the trip.
Mahalo! A Hui Hou
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2014/07/07 |
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amazing
Reviewed by: helen, 2014/07/12This was an amazing experience, the rays swam around gathering up the plankton and came within milimeters of us. The staff were very friendly.
Aloha! Mahalo for taking the time to write a review. We are so happy you enjoyed your Manta Night excursion. We hope to see you the next time your visit the Big Island.
A Hui Hou!
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
| Activity Date: | 2014/06/17 |
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Manta ray night snorkel
Reviewed by: Spieth5, 2013/11/26A once in a lifetime experience. The crew took excellent care of our entire family and helped put our nerves at easy. I only wish they had the ability to take pictures of your swim for you, sure hope ours turn out. Everyone should do it!
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| Attended as: | Families |
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Words Cannot Describe
Reviewed by: Mark from Ottawa, 2012/02/29There are not enough superlatives to describe this experience. For a landlubber from eastern Canada this is an adventure that will not likely be repeated. The staff at Sea Paradise are friendly, proffessional and extremely knowledgable. I would not hesitate to book with them again. Can't wait for my DVD to arrive so I can relive it all over again.
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| Attended as: | Couples |
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Thanks for everything!
Reviewed by: Shane, Samuel, Marylin, 2010/06/18We were so comfortable! It was amazing. If you are scared, my dad made it with just one arm and at 74 years young. You can do it too! We will tell all our friends!!
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
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E.T. encounter
Reviewed by: Mr. Anonymous, 2009/01/26So if I'd explain this experience to someone, I'd say that it was like meeting with E.T. underwater. It's just very unique and almost spiritual experience to see them underwater at NIGHT. If you are comfortable in the water, do this tour. You won't regret it.
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| Attended as: | Friends |
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Beautiful Experience
Reviewed by: Mr. Anonymous, 2008/10/07The experience with the mantas was the highlight of our honeymoon. They are beautiful, amazing creatures and spending time with them was fantastic. The scuba diver who attracts the mantas also filmed it and it was the one DVD/picture set that we bought of all of our tours. We really loved the animals, but hte experience was so-so. Do NOT go on this tour if you are not comfortable snorkeling, as they really do not hold your hand--you go in the water in the dark and there isn't really a lifeguard or somebody making sure that you are with the pack. Its fine if you are comfortable, just be warned. The only other downside was the other people on the boat with us who, instead of passively watching the creatures and taking their turn with them, swam over on top of us every time the manta were near us. We got kicked in the head by stranger's fins and we have it all on tape! I might recommend trying to get somebody to take you on a personal charter for this beautiful experience, it would probab
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| Attended as: | Couples |
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Snorkel with Manta Rays
Reviewed by: Alison, 2007/10/26This was a fantastic experience and very unique. Never expected the manta rays to come soo close. Hope my pics come out. Will definitely do again when I come back to the Big Island. Highly recommend for everyone, was a very easy snorkel and NOT scary at all.
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| Attended as: | Friends |
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an experience of a lifetime!
Reviewed by: ashley, 2007/07/23This was an amazing experience to witness. You are probably five minutes off the shore by the sheraton resort and are left to swim with huge manta rays that swim right up next to you. It is a little scary at first but after the first few minutes you get used to it. The staff on the boat are very friendly and pretty humorous. You definitly get your moneys worth on this activity because you are in the water for about 45 minutes and they dont let you get in until a manta ray shows up so your time with the manta rays isnt wasted. The only bad things I have to say about this activity which was kind of a personal problem was that I got stung in the butt my something. It hurt pretty bad but the stinging went away in about a hour. I dont think anyone else had this problem though so I wouldnt be too worried about it. I would definitly sign up for this activity is I was you!
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| Attended as: | Couples |
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Thank you for taking the time to review your manta tour. We are happy to hear you enjoyed the experience. Hope to serve you again in the future.
Aloha!