Day 14 Big Island - Magic Sands Beach & Manta Ray Night Snorkeling

August 5, 2022

Today we spend the entire morning snorkeling at the White "Magic" Sands Beach and when the waves get too rough, we hop over them (or rather dive under them). The waves churn up the sea and the visibility underwater is not as good as in the past few days. Especially near the shore, all you can see when entering and exiting is sand.

As a result, we don't even see the turtles that are feeding on the seaweed right in the surf. No joke, I step on 2 turtles. 🙈

Today, I actually think: "Oh no, not another turtle...!" 😜

After lunch, we relax by the pool, play some card games, and simply enjoy the day. The pool of our White Sands complex belongs to us alone today. Wonderful. By the way, the pool was cleaned thoroughly in the last few days and now sparkles with crystal-clear water. Now we can also see the turtle pictures on the bottom of the pool - we didn't see them on the first day.

The family also relaxes in the hot tub - I can't understand how they can climb into the over 40-degree hot tub when it's over 30 degrees outside.... 🤷🏻‍♀️

Around 4:45 PM, we head towards the airport and turn off shortly before Honokohau Harbor. Another adventure of our Hawaii tour awaits us today: Snorkeling with mantas - at night!

We reach the meeting point of our organizer "Hang Loose", where some families with young children are already waiting. Hm, I wonder if the kids will do all this in the dark???

Names are called one by one, but we are not among them. Then I realize that I wrote down the wrong time. The "sunset tour" is starting now, but we have the "night tour", which logically starts after sunset. Oh shoot, we're 2 hours early at the meeting point...

Embarrassing...

We decide to use the next 1.5 hours for dinner and drive back to Kailua-Kona, where we stop at Burger King. The kids want to eat burgers - fine by me. I'll have a veggie burger 😅

We're in Hawaii, even "fast food" is expensive here. A veggie burger and 3 standard menus - $51. Just like that!

With our stomachs full, we return to the harbor. Now the time is right and the tour guide calls our names. Once everyone is present, we board the boat. We have to leave our shoes at the harbor, they go into a large box.

On the boat, the rules of conduct are explained, everyone is given snorkeling equipment and a wetsuit shirt (we have our own snorkeling gear and wetsuits), and then we head out to sea with lots of music, by now it's pitch dark.

Our tour guide is a mix of Daniel Craig and Captain Jack Sparrow, making jokes and entertaining us with anecdotes during the windy ride. Very funny.

We drive for about 20-25 minutes when we already see the first boats in brightly lit water. Other tours are already underway and we see the snorkelers, holding on to a structure lying flat in the water, looking into the depths.

I'm already a little queasy...

We anchor and receive the final instructions on how to behave in the water. We should lie as quietly as possible in our place in the water and under no circumstances touch a manta ray - although they are very likely to touch us.

I'm already afraid that my son will back out after that sentence, but he bravely puts on his wetsuit and climbs down the ladder in front of us into the black water.

Wow, this is creepy!!! You can't see anything - absolutely nothing! And now I'm supposed to get in this black water too???

The crew accompanies us in the water, snorkeling with surfboards and swim noodles next to us, and assigns us a spot on the structure in the water where we should hold on. Once we hold on, we get a swim noodle under our feet and are supposed to lie quietly in the water. I'm really glad I put on my wetsuit, because the water is quite cold.

I can't look down fast enough, but thanks to the bright light on our structure, I can look at the bottom (I thought it would be much deeper here) and before I can orient myself, it happens: a huge manta ray appears right in front of my face, swims towards me with its mouth wide open, and touches its fins to my arm as it turns onto its back and dives down again.

I squeak in shock, my daughter next to me reacts the same way. Wow, they are huge!!!!

And soooo close! I'm completely amazed!

One after another circles directly in front of us. Sometimes we even have 2-3 mantas in front of us at the same time, I can't even look from right to left that fast. As soon as one dives down, the next one is already there on the other side. Absolutely insane!!!!

Our guide said beforehand that if we are touched by a manta ray, we have a free wish. Okay, I must have had already 40 wishes!

After 15 minutes, my son sails back and is brought back to the boat by a guide. Around us, most participants also leave the water and swim back to the boat. Soon, we are almost alone at our structure. We hold out for 35 minutes, but then we start shivering and getting cold, so we also swim back. Only a few die-hards stay in the water for another 10 minutes, then they also swim back to the boat.

On the boat, there's a short hot shower. Oh, how great!!!

Then quickly change and snuggle up in the towel. What an experience!!!

Around 10 PM, we reach the harbor again - of course, with lots of music and sea shanties. Soft drinks and snacks were also available (various chip flavors).

After finding all our shoes, we head back to the apartment. What a mega cool experience! Definitely recommended!!!