Dive Review of Kona Ocean Adventures/Marriott Vacation Club in
Hawaii/Kona

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Kona Ocean Adventures/Marriott Vacation Club: "Dive with the Mantas - best crew ever", May, 2021, by Don Jennings, CA, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 11537.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Like most everyone else we were taking our first vacation in a year. Several divers went to the Big Island of Hawaii with the express goal of going on a night dive with the Manta Rays. After researching several places we picked Kona Ocean Adventures. The reviews were wonderful and, if we didn't see Mantas on that dive we could come back and try again for free. We chose the two tank dive, one in the late afternoon followed by the Manta Ray night dive. The crew had been out of work for a year and had only been back to work for a couple of weeks. They were amazing. Two of our group have had 1,000's of dives on boats all over the Caribbean, Hawaii and California and we agreed we had never had a crew as enthusiastic and focused on making our dives fun and enjoyable. Two our our group were very inexperienced divers, one had only dove in a quarry before these dives, and the crew took great care of them and made sure they were comfortable with the dive. The first dive was very nice, the guide accommodated our wishes to find a swim-thru that was large enough for the inexperienced divers to feel comfortable. We saw surprisingly healthy coral, with lots of different fish and eels. Very relaxing warm-up dive for the big event. Given the goal was to see the Mantas, the second dive couldn't have been a better dive. We sat on the bottom and 6 Manta Rays performed a beautiful ballet in front of us, sometimes being so close we could touch them. We estimated the biggest was over 12 feet from wing-tip to wing-tip (there were several divers side-by-side in front of us that made the task of estimating easy). As one member of our party put it, "it was a life-changing event." I would gladly go back on the Manta Ray dive with Kona Ocean Divers again.
Websites	Kona Ocean Adventures
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	California, Mexico, several Carribean Islands, several Hawaiian Islands, Florida
Closest Airport	Kona - KOA	Getting There	We had a direct flight from San Jose, California so no problems.
Dive Conditions
Weather	dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	75-78°F / 24-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	50-75 Ft/ 15-23 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	First dive, follow the guide, Second dive, sit on the bottom and watch the Manta Rays swim by.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Kona Ocean Adventures/Marriott Vacation Club in Hawaii/Kona

Kona Ocean Adventures/Marriott Vacation Club: "Dive with the Mantas - best crew ever", May, 2021,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Kona Ocean Adventures/Marriott Vacation Club in
Hawaii/Kona