All-in-all, this was pretty much the most relaxing day of our trip. Which some people might find a bit weird because usually when you go somewhere warm for the winter, you go and sit on the beach and drink. I like to go out and see things. It's also a bit different if you're not staying in an all-inclusive resort. We had a really late morning because we woke up late, cooked a nice breakfast, and watching the women's hockey gold metal game for the Olympics. Good start to the day because the Canadians won!

Not too long before noon we took a little trip up to Waikoloa village, where my parents had stayed last time, to go look at the shops they had there. Not much different from what's near our complex. We also took a bit of detour inland to a small town to check out their supermarket for fresh fruit and so my Mum could try and find stamps for her postcards. I ended up getting a couple cute Hawaiian-themed lunch bags that I totally plan on using at home to make people jealous.

Early yesterday morning we'd booked an excursion that I've been dreaming of since I was very young. Swimming with Manta Rays. I think I'd seen a program on the discovery channel back in junior high, or around that time, and I'd put it on my mental bucket list. Everyone else was a little skeptical because it doesn't sound like it's going to be anything spectacular, but I convinced them it would absolutely be worth it.

Since the Manta Rays are an sunset/evening thing, we decided to head to the farmer's market in Kona that afternoon (across from Hale Halawai park on Alii Dr.) that was pretty close to where we needed to be for the trip. It was a fairly large market, but it's mostly for tourists because they were selling some kitchy items. There were some nice shirts and dresses as well as some good fruit, but nothing that really caught my eye. Except for maybe a necklace or two that were just too expensive to even think about.

We also walked along the streets near there and looked at the shops. I'd been struggling with my little point-and-shoot camera because it seemed to be fogging up a little on the inside lens every now and again, and sometimes it didn't want to turn on. I think it was unhappy about being in the water the entire day yesterday and then sitting in the hot sun. I wasn't taking any chances by taking pictures during the day because I really wanted it to work for the Manta swim.

We met up with the tour boat in Honokohau harbour. They take you by boat from the harbour out to 'Manta Heaven' that's actually not too far off-shore near the airport. We made sure to take gravol before getting on the boat, just in case, even though the water was not choppy at all. We left before sunset, and so, on the way there, they took the boat out a bit and looked for some whales. We were pretty lucky because we saw quite a few. Big breaches, fin slaps and everything. I got a couple videos of those, surprisingly. And, as a bonus, we even saw a fin and bit of a shark near the boat! The boat driver was pretty funny. Zach and I stood up top on the second level and talked with him.

When we got to the dive site, there were already other boats there anchored and waiting. The sun was just starting to set and we shimmied into our wet suits. It's much harder than you think to get into those things. And even though the water during the day had been warm, when the sun goes down it get pretty cold quickly, so you definitely need them, especially if you're not swimming much. They're definitely not very flattering. And the neither is the squirmy dance you have to do to get them on. We got a quick talk about what was going to happen, with the main rule being keep holding onto the raft and don't touch the mantas. Finally, once the last of the sunlight was almost gone, we slipped into the water, grabbing onto a pool-noodle raft. A bunch of floatation devices had been strung together so about eight people could hold onto the edges and swim together. There were really powerful spotlights they attached to the middle of the raft.

The guides helped us swim over to the spot we'd be floating for the swim. It was already pretty cool when you stuck your face (with mask and snorkel, of course) down into the water as you were swimming. The water was so clear and the spotlights so powerful you could see right down to the bottom. It had to be at least 40feet down at least. There wasn't much activity as we swam over to where everyone else was floating around. There were quite a few fish swimming, probably attracted to the lights as well.

It was kind of chilly at first, but your body got used to the cool water pretty quickly and the wetsuit helped a lot. It wasn't hard to keep afloat and the guide was always looking around to make sure we were staying where we supposed to, or having us swim over to other spots to see if we could see any mantas. I know some people might get weird about swimming in deep, dark waters, but with the lights from all the other rafts around as well as all the divers sitting on the sea floor with spotlights shining up, it wasn't scary at all, but rather really interesting to look at. Our guide even dove down to the bottom and pick up a pencil sea urchin that was bright red. The put it up on the raft and had us pass it around to touch. Not spiny at all, but really smooth.

It was quite while where we just floated around, swimming to a couple different places, and the guide kept telling us to wait it out and we'd probably see a couple mantas. We were almost worried we wouldn't get to see any, or only a couple, but THEN, out of the darkness behind us came this HUGE giant flying figures. MANTAS. A lot of people think of Manta rays as other types of rays, like stingrays that are small, could fit in your hands, or smaller than a person is. Not Mantas. They get up to 20feet across. Yes. That big. Much larger than a human. The first thought was that they looked so graceful. They really look like they're effortlessly flying through the water. Their backs are black and their bellies white, so they are really stealthy as they swim if you're watching from above.

We were all just really excited to see some mantas. I think everyone was really surprised how big they were. The guides hadn't been lying about how big they get. The seemed to sweep along near the bottom for a quite a while, but there seemed to be more and more showing up. Then they started doing barrel rolls. This is what the mantas are known for. The swim in giant circles from the bottom up to the surface with their mouths open to filter the plankton that's attracted to the spot lights because they think it's the last of the sunlight. The mantas are essentially trained to come to this spot because the plankton gather there because of the spotlights.

The barrel rolls they do are spectacular. They show their bellies as they circle at the top, and they come so close they almost touch you. There were a couple times when I had to suck in and try to move out of the way so they didn't touch me. They just did continuous barrel rolls, all the way from the bottom all the way up to the rafts. There were a couple times where they were rolling up towards you and you could see all the way into their mouths and their gills were glowing with the spotlights shining through them. Absolutely breathtaking. Zach was really surprised at how big they got, but how gentle they were. It really was a once in a lifetime experience.

After a while, they finally pulled us away from the manta ballet because it was time to head back in. I wish I could have stayed for hours and watched them longer, but they don't stay around for too long after sunset, even with the lights on. It was hard to swim back because I kept looking back at the mantas that were still rolling. They gave us some snacks once we were back on the boat and we took off the wetsuits so we could wrap up in our towels to warm up a little. We smiled all the way back to the dock. Hands down the best part of the trip.