All Reviews for Marine Wildlife Encounters

We went on the sunset cruise and had a great experience. The crew/guides were knowledgeable, fun and helpful. When we got in the water, they knew where to take us for the best viewing.
The Manta Ray's were so cool to see. This should be on your must do activity list. I would recommend it over a regular day time snorkel trip. However, next time I would do the later night time trip. The Manta Rays seem to be more active the later it gets.

My family had a great outing to the manta rays. The crew made us feel safe and made sure we had a great time. My 12 and 8 year old loved the experience as well. Would definitely recommend this crew.

Staff are super friendly and funny. Loved the experience of going to 150 ft inside the ocean and see the marine life !!!

If you are ever on Big Island and looking for unforgettable experience, you have to snorkel with manta rays. They are massive, but completely harmless, and will swim up to and under you. Just have your camera ready and enjoy the show. Dolphin Discoveries took care of all the details and made everyone feel comfortable in the water. I will definitely consider them for other tours!

Awesome crew, it's actually an advantage to go on a smaller boat with fewer people, highly recommended.

Our crew was awesome and made the experience just totally rad.

Was lots of fun! Saw manta rays and enjoyed the sunset!

I would totally do this again! Such beautiful creatures!

We 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!

Never done anything like this. Is like a must do in Kona.

A must do when visiting Hawaii! Good for all ages?

We traveled with our 7 and 10 year old boys. The 7 year old snorkeled for the first time that morning and didn't really like it. The staff on this tour were very friendly and knowledgeable. They helped us get the way suits and pick snorkeling gear. By the end of the day, our kids were raving about the trip and wanted to go back and spend more time. Keep in mind, this adventure happens after sundown! You don't actually snorkel freely in the dark. You are holding on to a floating structure alongside other passengers while the crew circle around checking on everyone and helping them float. Watching the manta rays was very very cool... More cool than my words can describe. The waters were choppier than I thought they would be.

Very pleased with our mantra dive experience. The crew was friendly, knowledgeable, and took charge to make sure everyone had the best experience possible. At one point a few children refused to stop kicking their legs in the water after being asked numerous times to keep still (or else they scare the plankton away and therefore mantas don’t come), after the children repeatedly showed they could not follow directions they were asked to leave the water, as to ensure a good experience for the other people on the excursion. Very much appreciated that. Also great snacks, and fun music!

Seemed to be a very special experience and we were surprised it is marketed as family friendly. In our opinion, only well-behaved kids over ~9 should come on this... otherwise there runs a risk of ruining it for everyone, or even hurting the mantas.

The crew met us on time and were reasonably friendly, the boat looked well kept, and the wetsuits were clean. Everything felt safe and there were free sodas and snacks on the way back to the harbor. It's about 30 minutes from the harbor to the site where the mantas feed, and we got there pretty early so the crew was able to secure a good anchor spot amongst the dozens of other boats. Once it was dark enough we jumped in the water and held on to the raft attached to the boat. A light was shone and a few mantas swam up to feed on plankton near the light. We felt lucky to have them come to our boat because I'm sure with so many boats, other tourists may have struck out. After 30 minutes the captain told us we were leaving which was disappointing because we were still enjoying the show, and our boat was the first to leave. It felt like the crew was tired from a long day and wanted to get home, so our tour was shortened for their convenience. Overall I'm glad we did it but it could have been better.

The guys at Dolphin Discoveries made it so much fun. Simply float and enjoy the mantas swimming super close to you. This should be on everyone's bucket list.

Our 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!

I really loved the snorkel session and so did my mom. At first he was a little nervous about getting in at night but the staff were very nice and accommodating to help her in.

Trevor, 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.

This is once in a life time experience, nobody should miss it!!! Swimming inches away from Manta Rays was unbelievable!

I love the crew and the service. My friends and I had a very wonderful time enjoying the sunset as well as seeing many manta rays yesterday. We would love to come back for a dolphin/whale trip in the future with you guys! Thank you!

Kellie and Shelly were incredible hosts!!! Extremely knowledgeable. We were the only ones they had five manta Reis under our board because of their expertise!! Their fun attitude was contagious!

We had so much fun! I believe we saw 4 or 5 Manta Rays. One kept doing flips and brushing against us. It was a great experience, and the crew was extremely nice and fun.

There was no sailing on this trip.The Manta rays are close to where the boat goes in the water. I thought we would have a nice sail while the sun was setting and then get in the water but that was not the case. This experience was both boring and exciting. You are in the water for 45 minutes lying flat with arms outstretched holding onto the handle on one of several connected "light boards"while you have your snorkeled face in the water, and are balancing a noodle under your ankles. You brush up against the people on either side of you.The motion of the ocean gets to be a bit much for many people. I heard a crew member say to another "at least no one puked this trip". I have never been sea sick but started feeling queasy and did get out with about 10 minutes to go. You can raise your arm and be escorted back to the boat at any time.You are provided with a half wet suit but still you get chilled. If you have any shoulder problems I would think twice about doing this trip. All that being said it was so cool when the Mantas did show up and swim right past you! There weren't many but I got some good video and stills with a camera that I borrowed from a friend. Maybe there is a better time of day or year to see more mantas? If you're positioned on a middle light board you have time to get the camera set because you will hear the people at the ends of the the light boards ooh and aah and cheer! I probably would not do this trip again but notice I didn't say never! The boat was nice , the crew was fine.

We loved the experience! Saw 6 to 8 mantas swimming near our little surfboard. They made multiple backflips just inches from us. Nice captain and guide.

This is an amazing experience and it's so easy, you barely need to know how to swim. You just lay w/ your face in the water and the mantas come to you. Actually they come to feed on plankton which are attracted by the lights that the crew shine in the water. It's a super-cool experience and the crew on our boat were awesome. Highly recommended.

The 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.

An incredible experience, had no idea they were that big and they’d get as close as they did. We took all four of our kids ages from 11 to 20 and they all loved it!

I have been on a whale watching tour in the past and the captain took us directly to where the whales were and we were so close and able to get great pictures for the entire tour. That was not the case here; we were constantly looking for whales and all we ever saw was the “blow” and some splashing from quite a distance. It was very disappointing. I would think these guys would know where to go since they do this everyday. We were in the boat for several hours and never saw anything to identify this as a good trip! I would have expected them to take us somewhere to see the whales, we seemed to hang out in the same area just hoping a whale would show up!
The boat was very nice and the people were nice too but the whales were missing!! This was the beginning of February, isn’t that the best time?

We saw a variety of humpback groups, including a mother with a very curious calf. We even saw one breech a few times! Staff was very knowledgeable and friendly. Took a lot of questions from the group. We also saw a group of manta rays on our way back to shore! My 4 year old had as equally good time as his grandparents. Would definitely recommend!

We got to see lots of whales. We saw whales breach & fin slap. We saw a baby calf very closely & she looked right at us. Then, the calf swam under our boat as the mom followed & then the huge escort male whale followed. Definitely was a trip to remember! Both the captain Chuck & lifeguard aboard were excited to see the whales & were very excited to share their knowledge! Our captain took us north away from all of the other boats. Which made us feel very connected to the whales & not like tourists.