Difficulty
beginner
Viz (last reported 13410h ago)
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Unknown
Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Garden Eel Cove / Manta Ray Heaven
The dive site “Manta Heaven” is located in Makako Bay that is just around the corner of Keahole Point, the most western tip of the Big Island. It’s offshore of the Kona International Airport. During daylight hours, the dive site is called “Garden Eel Cove”.
In the summer of 1999, the manta rays essentially abandoned the Kona Surf Hotel as a feeding area. There were no sightings for many weeks. James knew that he could find the manta rays somewhere along the coastline and had heard from local boat captains that manta rays were being seen during the day at Garden Eel Cove. His friends Mike Ho and Mike & Nicki Milligan had done night dives in the bay and a manta swam by.
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Steve Porter
Feb 4, 2008, 12:00 AM
scuba
The "NEW" location of the Manta dive is 7 miles north of the Kona Airport at Kekaka Kai state park. You're going to need a rugged vehicle to get out there (JEEP). The road isn't clearly marked, so look for the road on the left that has about 20ft of pavement turning to a dirt road over lava rock. There are no facilities whatsoever, and going down the lava rock to the water is a bit tricky. Bottom conditions are fairly good, and if you want to be the only shore diver, this is it. If you go at night for the mantas, expect crowds but not in the parking area. You can dive here year round, too. Since it's snorkeled, I gave it a good score as well. I've seen it free dove during the day, and people spearing say it's good, because of its tough location.
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