A Manta Rays + Snorkeling experience by Kona Style. Back to all Big Island tours.
Tour Summary: A sailing catamaran leaves Kailua Pier at sunset and lowers a staircase into the water so you can slide in over a manta ray feeding site. Shorty wetsuit tops and prescription masks are included.
The sail down to Manta Village leaves Kailua Pier around sunset, so the light show comes before the snorkel. 
This is what the lighted platform is for: the lights pull plankton, and the mantas come to the plankton. Departure tracks the sunset: 6:30pm in July and August, 5:30pm in December. Mantas feed by cruising open-mouthed through the plankton the lights draw in. Manta counts swing hard from night to night, from one animal to a dozen.
6 Tour Highlights:
- Sail the Kona coast at sunset and grab a spot on the bow on the way out
- Walk down into the water on a lowering staircase instead of climbing a ladder in the dark
- Hold a lighted flotation platform for about 45 minutes while mantas feed underneath you
- Borrow a prescription mask from -1 to -7 if you normally snorkel in glasses
- Warm up with hot cocoa and hot tea on the sail back to Kailua Pier
- Free rebook if the boat sees zero mantas, subject to availability, ride-along guests excluded
Important: You must be able to swim without a flotation device to enter the water, and there is no refund if the crew directs you back to the boat because you cannot.
Tour Information:
| Price: | Adult | Youth | Infant |
|---|---|---|---|
| (excluding taxes & fees) | $135 | $121 | $89 |
Price note: Infants and ride alongs ($89) must stay on the boat (are not allowed in water)
Tour Provider: Kona Style
Activity: Manta Rays + Snorkeling
Tour start time: Depending on the time of sunset, between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm, with check-in 30 minutes prior
Duration: 2.25 hours
Location: Kona Coast
Pick-up available? No
Included: Snorkel gear and pool noodles. Shorty wetsuit top. Prescription masks, -1 to -7. Two onboard restrooms. Unlimited non-alcoholic drinks. Hot cocoa and tea after
Cancellations: Free cancellation up to 48 hours before your scheduled departure time. Inside 48 hours the booking is non-refundable. There is also no refund if the crew directs you back to the boat because you cannot swim well enough to stay out, or if you are denied water entry for exceeding the 300 lb limit. If the boat sees no manta rays at all, you get a free rebook subject to availability rather than money back, and ride-along guests are excluded from that guarantee.
Read more: about manta rays in our Big Island manta rays guide.
Read more about the sunset manta sail
You spend about 45 minutes in the water, face-down, hands locked onto a lighted flotation platform and feet up on a pool noodle, while the mantas feed underneath you. Your shoulders will feel it. Kona Style runs this one from a USCG-certified sailing catamaran that leaves Kailua Pier, in the middle of town, rather than from a harbor outside it. The tradeoff is water time. Manta Village sits off Keauhou, a few miles down the coast, so of your 2.25 hours about 45 minutes is the snorkel and most of the rest is sailing. The sunset sail fills the first half of the night.
A staircase into the water, hot cocoa when you climb back out
Entry and exit are on a staircase that lowers into the water. No ladder. Climbing a ladder at night in a wetsuit, with the boat moving under you, is the worst part of a Kona manta trip, and this boat skips it. The water off Kona runs cool after dark, and the included shorty wetsuit top handles it for most people. Not everyone: 45 minutes is a long time to float, and some guests still get cold in it. Prescription masks are stocked from -1 to -7 if you normally snorkel in glasses. Hot cocoa and hot tea come out once everyone’s back aboard, and there’s alcohol for sale onboard, so bring a card.
What happens if only one manta shows up?
Nothing. The guarantee pays a free rebook when the boat sees zero mantas, subject to availability, and ride-along guests are excluded. Zero is the trigger. One-manta nights happen, and they pay out nothing. That gap is the most common complaint on this trip. Better to know it before you book than after. Kona Style’s own advice is worth following here: book this early in your stay, because a free rebook is only worth anything if you have another evening left to use it.
Plan for company at the site. Six or seven boats and close to a hundred people on rafts is a normal night at Manta Village, and that’s not Kona Style’s doing, since every Kona operator works the same water. The rest of the fine print runs the same direction. No refund if the crew sends a weak swimmer back to the boat, and none if someone over the 300 lb water limit is turned away.
Sunset sets the clock, so your start time moves
Departure tracks the sunset. We checked the calendar across the year: 6:30pm in July and August, 5:30pm in December, with check-in half an hour ahead. You meet at the Kona Style store inside the Courtyard King Kamehameha, and the group walks down to the pier together. The store isn’t the pier itself, and people do get turned around looking for it, so read your confirmation.
If you’re staying in Kailua-Kona you can walk to check-in, which is the advantage of this departure over the harbor trips. Driving in, leave time: parking near the water in Kailua is tight, and the lots between Aliʻi Drive and Kuakini Highway run from free to a hefty fee. Waikoloa is roughly 45 minutes out.
Adults are $$135, and that rate starts at 13. Youth 5 to 12 are $$121, and a ride-along seat or a child 4 and under is $$89. You need to swim without a flotation device to get in the water, full-face snorkel masks aren’t allowed, and the vessel isn’t wheelchair accessible.
The boat and the pier are why we list this one over the other Kona manta trips, and the 4.9 across 864 reviews holds up: the crew briefs properly and checks on people in the water. The operator has answered 299 of the 300 reviews we read, the critical ones included. You hold that platform face-down for 45 minutes, though, and if your shoulders are already unhappy, that’s a workout rather than a float. Floating face-down with your feet up on a noodle is also how a choppy night turns seasick, so if you’re prone to it, take something before you board, not after.
About Kona Style
A USCG-certified sailing catamaran leaves Kailua Pier, in the middle of town, so if you’re staying in Kailua-Kona you can walk to check-in instead of driving out to a harbor. On the way out you get a sunset sail, and at the site a staircase lowers into the water instead of a ladder you’d otherwise climb at night, in a wetsuit, with the boat moving under you. Kids 4 and under ride along at $$89 and stay dry, and prescription masks are stocked from -1 to -7. The operator holds a 4.9 across 864 reviews and answered 299 of the 300 we read, including the critical ones.
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