Hawaii Manta Ray Sunset & Night Time Snorkel Experience from Kona - Iruka
Overall Rating
4.87
Best Ever!
Reviewed by: J. Hope, 2022/06/28-The Staff was incredible
-I loved the the boat, it was well equipped and safe
-People should bring a warn sweatshirt for the ride back
-The manta's were plentiful and exciting
-Best Ever excursion!!
-WORTH IT and MUST try it
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2022/05/31 |
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Disappointed
Reviewed by: Sandles, 2022/06/23While I understand there is no guarantee to see and experience manta rays feeding on plankton, I was extremely disappointed with this experience, the crew did not provide a good experience for all. There were a lot of people on this adventure (more than what I felt should be) and as result, the crew had to use three different boards to accommodate everyone. As a result the board with most of the lights, it attracted the manta rays, leaving the others without. The other two did not attract any. I feel the crew should have maneuvered the other two boards or people on those boards to the larger board area so that they could experience the Mantra Ray feeding. I was also very disappointed that there were no lights at the bottom pointing upward. On other manta ray snorkels I joined, when there are lights from the top and from the bottom many more manta rays appear and feed.
The crew also did not provide insights and interesting facts on the Mantra Rays, at least I didn’t hear anything.
The one nice thing I enjoyed about this trip was that the experience allowed me to enjoy nighttime boating.
Aloha Sandles,
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We extend our deepest apologies for the experience you had on our tour. We would like to hear more details about it. Could you email us at info@hawaiidolphin.com and elaborate further? We would like to rectify this situation. Thank you.
Best,
Iruka Hawai‘i ‘Ohana
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2022/06/10 |
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Amazing experience.
Reviewed by: Hilari Freeman , 2022/06/19The tour was great. The sunset was amazing. The boat ride out was super fun with water and sodas. The guides worked hard to get us positioned for the rays. We got to see several rays with one completely in the center of our group doing several flips while eating. Afterwards we got hot chocolate.
Aloha Hilari,
We're so glad to hear all the positive things you had to say about your trip with us, and thank you for sharing your pictures! All returning customer's receive a 20% repeater discount if you folks plan on returning!
Mahalo,
Iruka Hawaii Team!
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2022/06/17 |
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Fantastic!
Reviewed by: Brenda, 2022/06/04I cannot recommend this trip with this company enough. The guides were fantastic and the experience was amazing.
Aloha Brenda,
We're glad to hear that you were satisfied overall during your time with us! Repeating customers are offered a 20% discount when booking directly with our company, so we hope to see you in the future.
Mahalo,
Team Iruka Hawaii
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2022/05/13 |
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Sunset/Rays
Reviewed by: Julz, 2022/05/25Overall, great experience! First the check-in process was easy. Scott was friendly. There was 20 of us on the boat. Bryce and Diego were funny and entertaining. It was super cool having the manta rays swim up so close for feeding. I wish we were out there longer! The sunset was beautiful!
I'd recommend if you are visiting for the first time. The waters were a bit chilly, but we were in for 30 or so minutes.
Aloha Julz!
We love to hear all the positive feedback about our Manta Ray Experience and the crew! Mahalo for joining us and we hope to see you again soon, we offer a 20% discount for repeating customers.
Best,
Team Iruka Hawaii
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2022/05/23 |
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Such a cool excursion!
Reviewed by: Maegan & Liz, 2022/05/05Bryce and the crew were amazing!! We weren’t able to see any rays the first trip, so they had offered to bring us back to the later scheduled ride that evening, and we were able to see them then! This was such a cool excursion for us, we truly enjoyed every second of it. We will definitely be back!! Thank you guys :)
Aloha Maegan & Liz!
We love to hear all the positive feedback about our captain and crew! Mahalo for joining us and we hope to see you again soon, we offer a 20% discount for repeating customers.
Best,
Team Iruka Hawaii
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| Attended as: | Friends |
| Activity Date: | 2022/05/03 |
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A very exciting and entertaining adventure!
Reviewed by: Juliann, 2022/04/23Trevor, Allie and Diego were excellent hosts, both informative and entertaining. They provided all safety info in a clear manner, all the manta ray facts you could wish for, and a good laugh as well! We saw so many rays!! Allie was helpful with participants having trouble with positioning, Diego took great photos and shared them, and Trevor kept us all afloat and played great tunes. Would recommend, would go again! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Aloha Juliann!
We love to hear all the positive feedback about our captain and crew! Mahalo for joining us and we hope to see you again soon, we offer a 20% discount for repeating customers.
Best,
Team Iruka Hawaii
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| Attended as: | Friends |
| Activity Date: | 2022/04/21 |
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Definitely recommend this manta ray experience
Reviewed by: J. Williams , 2022/04/15The manta rays definitely put on an amazing show for us, so I would give them five stars. More importantly though, we would give the crew five stars. They put in a lot of effort to make sure everyone was informed and comfortable, and they were very efficient. We would certainly recommend Iruka for this manta ray experience.
Aloha!
We love to hear all the positive feedback about our Manta Ray Experience! Mahalo for joining us and we hope to see you again soon, we offer a 20% discount for repeating customers.
Best,
Team Iruka Hawaii
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2022/04/13 |
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Amazing experience
Reviewed by: Eric, 2022/04/09We booked our tour not knowing quite what to expect. We were absolutely blown away. The staff was knowledgeable, professional, and hilarious. I was new to snorkeling and nervous (i had approximately 1 hour practice messing around on a local beach) but i immediately knew i was in good hands with the crew and there was always a crew member close enough so i could relax. Words cannot explain seeing these amazing creature swim inches from you. The rays were super active the night we went and put on quite a show. I think the topper for me was a few days after our tour we saw a crew member at a local farmers market and he remembered us and came up and spoke to us about our experience. I absolutely recommend doing this because we will do it again next trip.
Aloha Eric!
We love to hear all the positive feedback about our captain and crew! Mahalo for joining us and we hope to see you again soon, we offer a 20% discount for repeating customers.
Best,
Team Iruka Hawaii
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2022/03/18 |
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Better than I ever expected
Reviewed by: Teresa , 2022/03/22I’ve never been snorkeling before so this was a first experience for me. This company offers great services. They have an option for you to pay $30 more per person for them to come pick you up at local hotel (within their distance). Great option because we didn’t rent a car for our trip to Hawaii. They offer wet suit for rental $10 per person. We didn’t rent any because it was warm enough but it’s a great option. The boat ride was about 30 minutes each way and they included sodas/a cup of hot chocolate and chips for you. The manta-rays we saw were huge and there were so many of them!! They came super close as well. The best part was that they even recorded the manta-rays and air dropped the videos to us!!! I don’t have an underwater camera so it was a great surprise when she (the owner?) offered to airdrop us videos.
Aloha! Thank you so much for joining our tour and for sharing about your experience. We are so glad that you enjoyed your time with us. Please come back soon! Mahalo
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2022/03/20 |
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One Word: Disappointed
Reviewed by: Chris, 2021/12/28I paid for and experienced the sunset Manta Ray Night Time Snorkelling on Dec. 23, 2021. I completely understand that these are wild animals and that it's extremely unpredictable whether or not you'll get a good chance to see them up close and personal. That said, that is what this company is selling and what we are paying extremely good money for. if you are going to charge for it, then every effort should be made to deliver on that experience.
The crew overall did a decent job, but once we arrived at the area where the Manta Rays were supposed to be, I was surprised to see a huge number of boats of various sizes and setups. I then realized that perhaps our setup was not ideal. I noticed that some arrange the snorkelers in a circle or square formation, making it more likely for everyone to get a good view of the Manta Ray if it shows up. Our setup was just some floating paddle boards, and our particular location was not ideal. I would say all of us on our particular paddle board barely caught a glimpse of a Manta Ray, whereas others I believe based on what they said got a much better view. This was extremely disappointing. I'm sure those who did catch a good shot will talk about a different experience, but all of us who were on the boat paid good money, not just those who got a good view of the Manta Rays.
This makes it hard to recommend this particular outfit to others
Aloha Chris, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback as we are always looking for ways to improve our tours. We are deeply sorry that your encounter with the Manta Rays fell short of expectations on our tour. Our captain and crew went to great lengths to provide a memorable experience, but the unpredictability of wildlife and ocean conditions can sometimes pose challenges. We hope you can join us again in the future to restore your impression of our tour and see more Mantas up close. Mahalo
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2021/12/23 |
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Amazing Manta Ray Excursion
Reviewed by: Susie, 2021/12/03Our entire family had an amazing evening swimming with the Manta Rays, it was magical. The crew, with Captain Bryce were fantastic, knowledgeable, and fun. Highly recommend this trip!
Aloha!
Thank you for sharing your great experience!
We are very happy to hear that.
Yes!! Guests will experience a magical night with Manta Ray and our crews;)
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2021/11/30 |
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The crew really went out of the way to make it a great experience
Reviewed by: JCarter, 2021/11/26Pirate Wednesdays - Would highly recommend. You get a comedy show as well as the manta rays
Aloha! Thank you for joining with us.
We are glad you enjoyed our tour!
A Hui Hou:)
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2021/11/24 |
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Amazing!!!
Reviewed by: Barbara, 2021/11/01Everything went very smoothly. Our crew was wonderful & very helpful. I had trouble getting into the boat after climbing the ladder & Trevor was so kind to help me in the boat. We had a wonderful time. The Manta Ray experience will be hard to top! So great of them to share pictures they had taken from below!
Aloha Barbara,
We are very glad you spend a great time with us!
Please come back with your friend and family again!
Mahalos
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2021/10/21 |
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Manta swim
Reviewed by: The Sullivan Family, 2021/10/23The crew were fabulous! We all would do it again!
Yes, please come back to see Manta Rays and us!!
A hui hou
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2021/10/21 |
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Awesome experience.
Reviewed by: Katy C, 2021/10/13The entire experience from start to finish was amazing! The sunset cruise was a fun addition to swimming with the Mantas. The staff is super fun, helpful and knowledgeable. The Mantas are breathtaking- we were in awe of them! I’m so glad we did this tour, definitely a major highlight of our week in Kona!
Aloha,
We are grad you had a great time with Manta Rays,
They come so close and flip flip flips..it's really amazing!
Thank you very much for your nice pic ;)
Mahalo
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2021/10/11 |
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Beautiful!
Reviewed by: Evelia, 2021/10/02This experience was amazing!
We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon and we can't stop talking about how cool this experience was.
We got to see BIG and BEAUTIFUL mantarays and they were really close too.
The guys from the crew were also super nice, funny and told us lots of interesting facts about the marine life.
Congratulation on your wedding !
We are happy to spending such a special time with you.
Manta rays make a beautiful sight very close to us.
Wish you happiness!
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2021/09/09 |
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Fantastic!
Reviewed by: Meg, 2021/08/01We had the best time, the crew was fantastic, nice boat, brand new wetsuits, we enjoyed this trip so much. And the hot chocolate after the swim was a perfect touch! We saw I think 5-7 mantas and they were with us the entire dive.
Thank you for joining with us.
We are glad you felt warmth with Hot chocolate, too ;)
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| Attended as: | Friends |
| Activity Date: | 2021/07/11 |
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Spectacular adventure!
Reviewed by: Donna W., 2021/07/27Amazing crew who shared humor, but were extremely focused on safety and total enjoyment for each guest. Thank you Captain Scott, Bryce, and the entire Ikuka Team for this amazing experience. We will definitely be returning. Mahalo!
Thank you for joining with us and beautiful Manta Ray shots!
We are looking forward to seeing you again!
A hui hou
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| Attended as: | Families |
| Activity Date: | 2021/07/25 |
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Manta Ray snorkel
Reviewed by: Ninnette H, 2021/07/24This was such an awesome experience! My family and I had such a great time. It was a little scary at first but you get over it really quick once you see the mantas! The crew was also awesome. They made everyone comfortable and constantly checked on us to make sure we were on in the water! 10/10!
Thank you for your nice picture!
People sometimes feel scared first in the dark Ocean but no need to worry.
Manta Rays flip in the blue light is so beautiful.
Mahalo!
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2021/07/03 |
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Simply Amazing!! Best of my my things I have done on Big Island!
Reviewed by: Roxene Gascoigne, 2021/07/20This has been the most thrilling adventure ever snorkeling with this big creatures!!! Loved it and loved the reggae music on the boat ride out to the snorkel area.
Aloha
Thank you for your beautiful photos.
Yeah, Mantas are amazing!
Please come again.
Mahalo!
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| Attended as: | Friends |
| Activity Date: | 2021/07/19 |
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Manta snorkle
Reviewed by: Emily, 2021/07/18This excursion was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done! I’ve been to the Big Island 4 times prior and never did this, but I now highly recommend it! It will truest blow your mind to see these beautiful creatures! Trever, Diego, Captain Wayne and all the other crew that I can’t remember their name, sorry, were very helpful and knowledgeable about the Manta Rays. The rays came within inches of us! Very cool! Highly recommend!
Thank you very much!
Mantas swim in a relaxed matter, and come close and turn around under the blue light.
It is very mystical experience !
Please don't miss out when you visit Kona.
Mahalo
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
| Activity Date: | 2021/07/16 |
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Once in a lifetime experience
Reviewed by: Emily, 2021/07/11For a list minute booking, this experience was amazing. The entire crew was very knowledgeable and helpful. We saw so many manta rays up close and personal. They are such majestic creatures. One of the best moments of our entire trip!
Aloha Emily,
Yes, they are coming so close enough to touch!
We are so glad you enjoyed the tour and spend a great time with Manta Rays.
Mahalos
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2021/07/09 |
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Great tour!
Reviewed by: jrd, 2021/06/26We booked this sort of last minute and were so pleased with the tour! The crew was great and had some very funny and entertaining jokes/stories. The manta rays were indescribable and it was such a unique experience. One major thing to note - we went in the middle of June and it was still very cold in the water, wetsuits are a must in my opinion!
Aloha, Thank you for joining our Manta Ray snorkeling tour! We are grad that you had a great time with Mantas. Yes, since Manta Ray tour stars after Sunset, we highly recommend to wear wet suits during snorkeling. Thank you for your advice!
A Hui Hou.
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| Attended as: | Friends |
| Activity Date: | 2021/06/24 |
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The best tour!
Reviewed by: Alyssahsieh, 2021/06/12Our family of 4, with twin 11 yos thoroughly enjoyed this tour. Trevor and Tamae went above and beyond making sure everyone was taken care of. We saw Manta Rays galore!! It was the most unforgettable experience. I highly recommend it!
Aloha Alyssahsieh,
Thank you for joining our Manta Ray sunset Tour!
Yes, it is very exciting that Manta Ray flies so close!!
Please come again with your friends and families.
Mahalo
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
| Activity Date: | 2021/06/11 |
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Highly Recommend
Reviewed by: Vera, 2021/06/09Trevor, Kaimani, Alex, and Captain Wayne were amazing. Our five year old was a little scared, and Trevor took such good care of him. The manta rays are incredible and the crew made it that much better.
Thank you for your review.
We are happy that we could help you and your family fun snorkel with Manta Ray!
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
| Activity Date: | 2021/06/07 |
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Experience of a lifetime!
Reviewed by: Nature lover, 2021/04/09The captain and crew were very welcoming and calm. They were big on everyone having a fun & safe time. The manarays were AMAZING. There were at least 5 that continued to do somersaults within inches of my face.
Thank you for joining our tour!
We are thrilled to know you enjoy it! The night was amazing and we were happy to host you guys.
Please come back in the future.
Mahalo!"
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| Attended as: | Couples |
| Activity Date: | 2021/04/05 |
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Aloha!
We appreciate the kind words about our crew and staff, and are ecstatic that you enjoyed yourself out on the water with us! We do offer a repeater discount of 20% off, so please keep us in mind for future travel plans.
Mahalo,
Iruka Hawaii.