My boyfriend and I recently visited Kona and have planned on swimming with dolphins and also doing a night dive swim with manta rays.
After reading all the great reviews for Coral Reef Snorkel Adventures, I just knew I had to book with them.
We went for the dolphin swim during the day on a Sunday and did the manta ray swim at night (of that same Sunday). We were led by Captain Ron and Keira (not Stephany with a 'Y' - as mentioned by Keira).
We had a friggin' awesome day, first with the dolphins, where both Captain Ron and Keira did an excellent job of finding out where the dolphin hotspots were.
We managed to get up close to a massive group of dolphins, particularly 'bottle-nose' and the local 'Spinner' dolphins, which was so insane as they kept jumping out of the water to do somersaults! This lasted about 3-4 hours all up, as guests would constantly have to hop on and off the boat. Trust me, it sounds very physical, but it is SOOO worth it. We even saw some manta rays, a sea turtle and humpback whales while doing this swim.
(Unfortunately, it was during this swim that the Lifeproof case of my iPhone crapped out on me and instantly killed it due to the salt water. Tip - test out your water proof case multiple times before using it, and make sure you are insured. Nevertheless, my boyfriend's GoPro was a lifesaver!)
Come night time, we suited up for the manta ray swim with Captain Ron and Keira once again. They were excellent as usual and on the way to see the rays, we made a quick pitstop to check out some whales, we saw a baby and a mama whale! Amazing!
When we got to the manta ray station, a group of tourists were already there with their boards and bright lights, in order to sea below the water. These are the most gentle and majestic creatures I have ever seen underwater at night time. They came up close to my face and I was in awe. Such a great experience, and this whole day was one that I will never forget, yes, this even includes Keira's 'fish jokes'. Don't worry, their not all that lame...
This is an experience not to miss out on in Kona!