The evening started with a lovely boat ride during sunset, a super friendly crew and snacks (crackers, chips, candy) and drinks (juice, water, pop) on the boat. We arrived at the manta location and had time to further enjoy the sunset and snorkel during the daylight hours to familiarize ourselves with the area and see the coral below.
The experience itself was... unbelievable. It's not possible to express in words how amazing it feels to come so close to these majestic creatures. The manta rays are incredibly graceful; they dance so close to you that they sweep across your body.
I was worried that there were too many people in the water at the location but the number of lights shinning down seemed to be a bigger draw for the manta rays and while we only had three at first there was soon a group of five, flipping and dancing directly below us for ages!
We were in the water for about an hour! Boat ride was about a half hour each way, for a 2.5 hour total. Once we got back on the boat we had hot chocolate.
** Bring a change of warm clothes and a towel for the ride back. It's quite chilly in the evening air and you'll be chilled from being in the water for so long.
The only reason for the four stars instead of five stars is because the wetsuits were a bit too large (also full body wet suits would be a great option because it gets chilly!) and the goggles were slightly uncomfortable.
Thanks to the crew - Andy, Taylor, Brian. They were friendly and told great jokes!