Big Island Manta Ray Night Snorkel Tour Adventure on a Hawaiian Sailing Canoe reviews, Big Island tours & activities, fun things to do in Big Island | HawaiiActivities.com

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Big Island Manta Ray Night Snorkel Tour Adventure on a Hawaiian Sailing Canoe

Overall Rating

4.94 4.94 / 5

Reviews

34 reviews
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fun!

Reviewed by: blake, 2024/02/02

fun!fun!fun!fun!fun!fun!fun!fun!fun!fun!fun!fun!fun!fun!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2023/02/15
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Book Eka Tour - You won’t regret it!!!

Reviewed by: L Family , 2023/03/07

Eka snorkeling with manta rays was amazing. The small, personalized tour is a great way to see the rays. Loved the classic canoe. This was perfect for ray family and I can recommend this tour group highly enough. Kai was great - he is so knowledgeable about the rays and he calmed my 9 y.o.’s fears -he on spectrum and they were very flexible in how we got him into the water and to the board. My son can’t stop talking about how great this experience was-he can’t wait to go again. Book this tour - you won’t regret it. The entire group was accommodating and friendly and made this the best adventure of our Hawaiian trip. Thank you Eka.

Rating:
Attended as:Families with Young Children
Activity Date:2023/03/05
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A MUST DO!!!!

Reviewed by: Desiree, 2022/11/19

I booked the Manta Ray Night Snorkel Canoe for my 12 year daughter & I. This totally exceeded my expectations! I still cannot believe how many mantas we saw & how close they were. Our crew took great care of us & had a great sense of humor.

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2022/11/17
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Such a cool experience!

Reviewed by: Stephanie , 2022/10/07

The canoe was a very cool option and keeps the number of people in the group low. The boat sailed a very short distance to the manta viewing area- great for me as I tend to get motion sick. The water was warmer than I thought- again great for me bc I think I’m allergic to cold water. I wore my own wetsuit but they provided everyone with a proper wetsuit top. I wore both and was fine. Our 12yo said he was cold but didn’t complain.
We were all provided snorkels and masks. We all got into the water and held onto a floating device equipped with an underwater light. There we’re several mantas in the area and a few of them swam within inches of us! One touched my arm with its belly. We were in the water about 30 minutes at best guess which was plenty of time in my opinion. I specifically booked a shorter tour for fear of getting sick or freezing but none occurred.
Overall it was a very cool experience and our guides were friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful! Definitely recommend this adventure!

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2022/10/05
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Best excursion ever!

Reviewed by: Connie C, 2022/09/30

We had a great time. The Manta Rays gave us a great show! I was a little worried about getting in and out of the water but that was no problem with a little help from our guide. I highly recommend this tour.

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2022/09/19
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Great experience!!

Reviewed by: Nin, 2022/09/17

Amazing experience for the four of us (mum, dad & two teenage boys!). The crew has the right balance of humour, sensitivity & business like manner! The snorkelling experience was just phenomenal, one of the best experiences of our lives! Captured on go-pro, so a memory we can re-live time & time again!

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2022/08/26
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Excellent

Reviewed by: EGrE, 2022/08/18

This is an intimate and friendly canoe trip. I enjoyed it with my three kids and the crew was helpful and patient with my littlest one who had never snorkeled. We got an incredible education about the Mantra Rays and saw them within inches of us. I can’t recommitting enough. I really liked having a smaller group and special type of boat.

Rating:
Attended as:Families with Young Children
Activity Date:2022/08/16
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Manta Ray Trip

Reviewed by: Paul, 2022/08/11

Our canoe boat trip was great. We loved the smaller boat experience - only about 12 of us - vs. the big catamarans. The captain and crew of two were friendly and fun. In the water we saw lots of Manta Rays. Our young lady crew member filled us in on lots of info about manta rays while in the water. My son took lots of GoPro videos and images. One hour was just right, since the trip out to the viewing spot only took a few minutes.

Rating:
Attended as:Families with Young Children
Activity Date:2022/08/07
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Manta ray with EkA Canoe

Reviewed by: Michael , 2022/08/05

Can’t recommend highly enough!! So much fun, the equipment, boat, and crew are great.

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2022/08/03
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Night snorkel

Reviewed by: Kat , 2022/07/03

An amazing experience, once in a life time. A must!!

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2022/06/27
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Another Great memory of the Big Islands trip!

Reviewed by: Islands Lover, 2022/05/21

It is Amazing!!! In person always better than in the pictures!!! I would definitely do this again (on the nice current ) The ride from the pier was short which was really nice so we wouldn’t be so cold for a long time. The cost of this is great! Better than other deals I was searching.
We saw so many Manta and they were all under us and swam up close to us for the plankton ❤️

It is for sure one of the best memory for my Hawaiian trip!
We will be back!!!

Rating:
Attended as:Friends
Activity Date:2022/04/28
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10/10 for adults and kids

Reviewed by: Lemmies, 2022/05/19

It’s really hard to go wrong with a sunset/early evening swim with manta rays in Hawaii. 100% worth the $. Our 8 and 10 yr old loved it. 8 yr old was nervous but boat captain and crew explained everything, made it fun, and he was way less stressed once we got out there. Canoe ride is short, water isn’t too cold either. Actually, I don’t really remember the water temperature because I was too busy watching for manta rays and freaking out over how amazing it was.

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2022/05/16
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Most awesome experience ever!

Reviewed by: Trose, 2022/05/02

This was money well spent. The crew was very nice and sent emails for confirmation reminders and directions. They were very knowledgeable and gave a ton of information about rays through the evening. While I would love to have stayed in the water a bit longer it was a good amount of time to watch the rays swimming around. Plus it started to get a bit cold since you are not actually swimming.

  • This girl did 5 loop-to-loops right in front of us! AWESOME!

Rating:
Attended as:Friends
Activity Date:2022/04/18
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Exhilarating Experience

Reviewed by: Ashley M., 2022/04/18

So amazing!!
Amount of time was perfect!
I'm not a person who gets seasick but I did in the water after laying horizontally with the waves for so long.

Saw so many manta rays.. at least four. They came close many times. Enough to record and to turn off your camera and just live in the experience.

Would recommend to anyone!

I liked this company because it's a small group and you get to ride a canoe.

The guide in the water was very nice and gave lots of information about the mantas. Small enough group that even though I was on the very end, I could hear him.

So cool! 5 stars from me!

Rating:
Attended as:Solo Travelers
Activity Date:2022/04/15
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Within inches of manta rays!

Reviewed by: Nancy , 2022/03/28

Pros: You will get as close as possible to many Manta rays, completely safe, even for kids, very informative guides.

Cons: They don't yet have an option to buy underwater photos or GoPro video of your experience, so bring your own.

Overall a great experience, highly recommend!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2022/03/24
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Unforgettable Experience

Reviewed by: Alex, 2022/01/19

The manta rays were inches from us, and all four in our group had an exceptional time. The guides were knowledgeable and really added to the experience. Highly recommend.

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2022/01/17
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Just....WOW

Reviewed by: Chris , 2021/08/01

The whole experience was well done. Captain Danielle and her crew mate were knowledgeable, kind and helpful. We saw tons of mantas doing endless barrel rolls inches from our masks!!! The boat ride is brief and we spent plenty of time in the water on the light-board. FYI- You need to be able to climb up a 3-rung boat ladder to get out of the water, it went fine with our tour but I could imagine that might be tough for some. Well worth the time and money!!

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2021/07/30
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Amazing!

Reviewed by: C Wilson, 2021/07/22

The crew was friendly, knowledgeable, and professional, and seeing the mantas up close was an amazing experience. We would so this again, no question!

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2021/07/20
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A must do

Reviewed by: Cliff, 2021/07/18

Over all great experience. The boat and crew were great, we seen several mantas even though it was kinda rainy. Went with family and older children. 16 and 19 y/o daughters they loved it.

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2021/07/13
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Awesome experience and wonderful guides

Reviewed by: Heidi, 2021/06/24

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

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2021/06/22
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Such a unique and special experience, swimming with these gentle giants. We highly recommend avoiding this event if you happen to be a piece of plankton.

Reviewed by: Steve S., 2019/08/15

One of the highlights of our trip to the Big Island was jumping in the water after dark and watching these enormous, graceful creatures emerge from the blackness, do a few plankton-catching loops and then disappear back into the darkness. Can't recommend it enough!

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2019/08/10
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Manta Ray Snorkling with Lions

Reviewed by: Jeff, 2018/12/16

We were greeting by Lions almost immediately. He explained what was going to happen and when since we were early. The Captains came over later and introduced themselves after the boat was prepared. We all loaded and headed out.
We were told sightings were hit and miss, but lately had been good. Since I had been praying for multiple sightings I was expecting it to be a good night. We were not disappointed. Lions took our group right to the spot, among many others. He took care of us like the amateurs we were. He continuously checked that were were OK and whether we needed anything. Plus prepared us as to where to look when a ray was headed toward us.
By the end of the trip we had seen 3 different rays. Lions said that was the best night in months. Thank you Lions and Captains for a very memorable tour.

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2018/12/13
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Bewilderingly incredible! Such an incredible experience.

Reviewed by: Shannon, 2018/10/18

Truly excellent. One of the most amazing experiences of our lives.

Excellent crew and hosts. Patient, clear, fun, looked after us beautifully.

And an awesome canoe!

Can’t reccomend enough. Well worth it.

Rating:
Attended as:Friends
Activity Date:2018/10/15
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Unforgettable and once-in-a-lifetime

Reviewed by: Brett, 2018/05/21

This was an unforgettable once-in-a-a-lifetime experience! Definitely recommend swimming with the manta rays. It will be one of the most majestic experiences of wildlife you will ever have. A note we were unaware of: it seems essentially all ventures to swim with the mantas leave from a similar dock area and set anchor at essentially the same spot in the water--which is just a few hundred yards out from the dock.

Rating:
Attended as:Solo Travelers
Activity Date:2018/04/29
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Fantastic

Reviewed by: Hilary, 2018/01/22

Excellent diving with the manta rays, really enjoyed it and was one of the highlights of my holiday.

Rating:
Attended as:Solo Travelers
Activity Date:2017/12/24
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Manta Ray Night Snorkel

Reviewed by: D & L Williams, 2017/12/25

For those who love the water and its fascinating creatures, we highly recommend this activity aboard the Hawaiian Sailing Canoe. The canoe is a modern replica seating a limited number of passengers, so the skipper Dave knew our names immediately. But much like going to a "modern" zoo, you may see what you're looking for the first time out but you may not. Our first night snorkel was at 8:30pm, and while the groups before and after us had a grand "show" we were skunked. But Dave said we could keep coming back (for free!) until we sighted the mantas. The next night at 9:30pm we were in luck, and were treated to a 45 minute water ballet by two mantas that glided and turned just inches beneath our illuminated surfboard. For optimum warmth bring your own full-length wetsuit instead of using their wetsuit tops.

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2017/12/21
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Best Experience on Big Island

Reviewed by: Brian, 2017/09/23

We had a great time with Chanda and the captain. They honored our reservation even though we were the only two.

We saw 3-4 huge female manta rays that came up and brushed up against us. Not counting all the schools of fish! And hot cocoa when we were done was icing on the cake.

Looking forward to the next time!

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2017/09/19
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Just do it!

Reviewed by: S.S., 2017/07/31

This is definitely a must-have experience and believe me, you won't regret. You don't have to know how to swim, by the way.

Rating:
Attended as:Couples
Activity Date:2017/07/26
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Amazing!

Reviewed by: Vparikh, 2017/07/26

Our teenage children went on this excursion. They had the best time. The captain and the crew member were very helpful and made them feel very comfortable.

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2017/07/22
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manta rays up close and personal!

Reviewed by: Troutman , 2017/07/07

This was the most amazing trip ever! The canoe was perfect for my family as we all get motion sickness and everyone was fine but mom. It was a quick trip out and you are in the water immediately snorkeling with the manta rays. We had two that just kept coming straight towards our faces (one even brushed dad). It was the most amazing experience and our guides, Kat and Rob made the whole experience so pleasant. We highly recommend this trip!!!!

Rating:
Attended as:Families
Activity Date:2017/06/05
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