Laupāhoehoe Point

Today we have another set route of places to visit with our guide James. We are going around the island by driving over the North side. James explains the history of the first king of Hawaii named Kamehameha. He conquered all the islands except for Kauai who joined voluntarily. Many kings after him kept the same name.

We travel along the coastline and get some interesting views. The roads in some places are very narrow and do not allow more than one car to pass. This is a bit stressful in tight turns as you don’t know if you will meet sunshine coming the other way.

Once we arrive in Kona we drive up to our accommodations. I mean drive up as we have to climb 650m. I was nice and warm at sea level but it’s pouring rain up here are the temperature got from 30C to 20C. I did not think there would be quite a difference. They say that people have options of how much warmth they want by buying a place at different altitudes.

After meeting our host, we get ready to head back down. We booked an activity on the water tonight. We are going to go see manta rays. I can’t wait.

We arrive at the docks with our gear, there are many other groups of people. We all seem to be waiting for the same thing. The captain arrives to verify our tickets. We get a wetsuit top and snorkel gear. The boat picks us up and we head out. We have a 15 minute ride to the “spot”. When we arrive we see many other boats waiting for the show. Before we go in the water our guide explains that we may see a couple manta’s tonight. He says that they have a wing span of 8 to 18 feet here. He will place a board in the water that has lights pointing below. This will attract the plancton which will attract the mantas whom eat it exclusively. They have to eat 3-5% of there body weight every day. That’s a lot of plancton. They swim with their mouth open and filter the food.

We get in the water and head to the board. My expectations are that we will see 1 or 2. We have to be patient. Boy are we in for a treat. 2 minutes in and we already see one. Wow, they are magestic when they swim. 2 minutes later, we see 2 of them come by. It’s amazing, we are lucky tonight. This continues for 45 minutes, at one point there are 5 of them under us. They come up to the board and perform a barrel to eat the plancton closest to the lights showing us their belly. They pass by so close. One of them skims me with its fin. This is so amazing, we film them with the GoPro. I hope it comes out okay. After 45 minutes in the water with the non stop show I am flabbergasted. I had so much fun.

We are brought back to the wharf while having a quick snack. Everyone seems super impressed and happy from their experience. The guide tells us that he has not seen this much activity in a while. Every night is different. I am super happy I decided to book this attraction. It was a great experience.Read more