stillsostrange

Last night I went on a night dive (by which I mean snorkel, as I do not have a SCUBA cert) with manta rays. Neptune Charlies--who were lovely, and I would recommend--took us on a boat to a point off the Kona coast, gave us wet suits, snorkel gear, and high-powered flashlights. (People with SCUBA certs were given diving gear and lights.) Then we jumped into the cool, night-black water of the Pacific* and waited for manta rays to come, following the plankton drawn to our lights. Then we spent an hour clinging to a styrofoam tube, watching the rays and the divers and the iridescent schools of fish that came to share the plankton.

The rays roll between the divers' lights and the snorkelers' lights to eat the plankton, all wide dark wings, pale, spotted, nearly nacreous bellies, and wide wide mouths. They come close enough to touch--which you cannot--and sometimes brush you as they roll. The water is cold, and the whole time you're hearing the guides talking and joking and the people next to you gasping, and being kicked and bumped the fins of your fellow snorkelers, but that all falls away when a ray is swooping inches from your face. It was probably the most beautiful, awe-full experience I've had. I took a lot of pictures--on film; how adorable!--and I can only hope some of them turn out.

* Several Kona beaches had closed earlier that day due to shark sightings. I went anyway, and was not eaten by sharks. Go me.