Visiting the Big Island in June we decided that we would do a night snorkel with Manta Rays & a day trip snorkelling with dolphins. I chose Coral Reef Snorkel because of the great reviews I'd read here, their website is informative and it's a small boat, maximum of 6 people at once. I booked both using email & calling Capt Ron to pay the deposit, he was very nice & answered every question I had promptly depsite the time zone differences (I'm in Australia).
We arrived early at the harbour for the dolphin snorkel and found Capt Carl & the boat easily. Roberta came out with us as well and I was glad to have her in the water with us. There was only my partner & I plus another couple so it really felt like a private charter. We had about 5 or so drop offs & as you have to be quick to get in the water before the dolphins swim off, I was very glad we'd decided to go on a small boat. Larger boats had 20/30 people so if you were at the end of the line to get in the water, you'd have missed everything! After a fantastic morning out on the water seeing heaps of dolphins, we stopped on the way back to the harbour for our very tasty (& welcome) lunch...I can also highly recommend Capt Rons wifes brownies!
We had booked the night snorkel for that night but Capts Ron & Carl were very honest & upfront and asked us to not go that night but wait a few as there had not been any mantas around the past couple of nights. Happy that they had told us that, we rebooked the night snorkel for a our last night on the Big Island.
Getting to the harbour a bit early, we all boarded and Capt Carl & Renata ran through what we were going to do that night. There were 6 of us on board this time but it never felt crowded. Leaving the harbour early enough to catch the sunset on the water was a great idea and on the way south to the site Renata told us all about the mantas, what to do/ not to do etc. It was great to learn more about the manta rays & also made one of our group, who was nervous, a bit more confident. On arriving at the dive site there were a few other boats there and after getting kitted up (full wetsuit too) we jumped in with our torches and swam off together with Renata leading us. On the way we saw a solo manta so we stopped to watch for a while which was a bonus as no-one else was there! He was doing barrel rolls up to the surface & as you can see from one of the pics, he got very close to me! After a while we swam on to where the lights are set up on the bottom & claimed our spot. Renata was great, she made sure we were in the best place all the time. There ended up being 3 mantas, barrel rolling and eating and also a few fish, it was just incredibly fantastic, something I'll never forget. It was fantastic to just float there holding onto the ring watching them below us. After a while I got the shivers & Renata had a heat pack which she put into the back of my wetsuit which helped a lot. After about an hour or so we swam back to the boat, go on & took our gear off & just talked, everyone was on such a high! We had some refreshments (more brownies!) then Capt Carl set out for the harbour. Luckily we had a full moon which just capped of a magical night.
I would have no hesitation reommending Coral Reef...Capts Ron & Carl, Renata & Roberta are all such great people and really made you feel welcome and comfortable. Another important thing was their gear (snorkel, mask, fins & wetsuits) is good quality which counts when you're using them for a few hours. Thanks Coral Reef for making our holiday extra special!