User:KristinaRyanCU/Manta Ray Night Dive

The Hawaiian Islands are renowed for their abundance of unique sea life. The Manta Ray Night Dive at Garden Eel Cove is one of the most famous Hawaii dives. Loacted just off the coast of the Kona International Airport, this dive has attracted many scuba divers for the abundance of manta ray present. This dive is unique not only because of the high prevalence of manta rays but also because of the high concentration of other sea life including garden eels, Hawaiian Turkeyfish, and Heller's Barracuda. Manta rays are attracted to the high levels of plankton in the water. Depending on the amount of microscopic plankton present, the number of manta rays will vary. Some days no manta rays are seen while on other days upwards of a dozen may be present. While diving, scuba divers of any expertise shine lights up while snorkelers shine them down creating a column of light which attracts millions of plankton and miniscule organisms, which in turn attracts the manta rays.

History
Knowledge of the abundance of manta rays in the waters surrounding Hawaii has been known for many years. For decades travellers to Hawaii have observed manta rays at restaurant lanais and even at hotels along the coast, such as the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and the Kona Surf Hotel. Around the mid nineteen eighties, dive operations began occasionally taking scuba divers to areas such as Garden Eel Cove for manta ray encounters. The frequency of these dive trips has increased dramatically over the years with many dive operations offering trips almost every day of the week.

Recognition
The Manta Ray Night Dive just of the coast of Hawaii is routinely recognized as one of the top dive sites in the world. Not only do scuba magazines and experts call this dive a great one to experience, the general public also ranks this dive very high. According to Leisure Pro's AquaView Online Magazine this dive is not only a must dive site, but it is also fourth on their list of the top 15 dives to experience before you die. Islands magazine states that diving with manta rays in Hawaii is a highlight of vacationing to Hawaii. PADI places this dive on the list of 100 things to do before you die and state that "dive magazines the world over consistently rank Kona's manta ray night diving as one of the best things you can do underwater".

Conservation and the Manta Pacific Research Foundation
With the increasing popularity of this dive, conservation and protection of manta rays has been a priority of dive shops in the region and of local non-profit organizations. Manta rays in other parts of the Pacific Ocean have been hunted by fishermen as a result of the increasing demand of manta ray gill plates. Local Hawaiian organizations, such as the Manta Pacific Research Foundation have increasingly begun to protect the local manta rays and educate the public about not only manta rays but other sea life. The Manta Pacific Research Foundation's mission is to "study manta rays in their natural habitat, conduct scientific research, provide education programs for the public about manta rays and the marine environment, and to establish and promote global manta ray conservation". As a result of manta rays' fragile biological composition, guidelines to protect the health of the manta rays at this dive have been set forth by The Ocean Recreation council of Hawaii and PADI's Project AWARE. These guideline state that divers and snorkelers must observe only, that they must not touch the manta rays, divers must stay at the bottom of the ocean floor and shine their lights up, snorkelers must stay on the surface and shine their lights down, divers must avoid exhaling bubbles directly into the manta rays faces, and photographers and videographers must be considerate of other divers and the manta rays. These guidelines are strictly enforced by all dive operations that conduct this dive.

Dive Shops
Dive shops offering this dive are normally located in Kailua-Kona and usually either do one-tank or two-tank dives. The most well-known shops include: Aloha Dive Company, Big Island Divers, Dive Makai, and Jack's Diving Locker. Most of these dive shops, along with others, depart from Honokohau Harbor, which, from there, is only a short trip to the dive site. Manta ray diving tours on Hawaii occur year round; they are not limited to the seasons.