We ate lunch at a Japanese joint, Hayama, recommended strongly by a cab diver the day before. It proved really delicious and for the first time, not over-filling. We had gone to Quinn's Seafood by the Bay the evening before, and mistakenly ordered a salad before our main dishes. The salad came in a bowl big enough for the whole family, and by the time we were done with the appetizer, we seriously had no space for main course. Packing half our dinner home, we had heated it up this morning and ate the left-overs for breakfast with our own brew of Kona coffee.
Exploring uphill of Hamburger hill this time, the air was cooler and less sunny away from the beach and nearer the volcano. There were 2 banks located in the town center in the middle of Palani Drive, and 3 small supermarkets, which soon begun to look alike after a while. We did go into a drug store [and Kenon cannot cease to be amused that he is buying a drug from the drugstore] to buy his seasick pills. As we headed back to Hamburger hill in the late afternoon, a childhood tune rang out loudly. We had not yet noticed the ice-cream truck and were thrilled when it came around. I had not seen one of these for the longest time! After buying popsicles for both us, we headed back to our room to get ready for our night dive.
The boat ride out into the sunset was itself amazing. We had arrived at our destination with a group of snorkellers and only 3 divers that evening, at around 6pm. The sun was still high over the horizon and we sat to wait until it had completely set before the Mantas came out to feed, allowing me to sneak a perfectly orange sunset over the sea shot just before our dive. The Mantas were not pelagic, they were resident coastal Manta Rays. They feed on phytoplanktons which rise up to the surface to photosynthesize by day and crowded around where moonlight shone at night. Divers had inadvertently attracted the planktons with their torch lights and the Manta Rays came daily to feed on these planktons, at dinner time. The resident rays all had distinct markings over the abdominal area which over the years of regular sighting, had led the divers to name them.
Jumping into the cold, black water after the sun had set, I quickly located bottom with my torch light and descended to about 8-9m. One Manta had already arrived and was gracefully turning up to entertain the circles of snorkellers that were already in the water. When the four divers including our guide had all reached the bottom, we headed below that Manta and waited for the rest to come. Soon, more rays came and swam freely in the water between the snorkellers and divers. They were dimly illuminated by our torchlight but I was still deeply impressed by their immense size, their wingspan up to 12-13 feet wide. The largest coastal ray, Big Martha was said to be up to 15 feet wide, but she did not turn up today.
They seem to fly in loops and circles, flapping their pectoral fins very slowly with a lot of grace. They were clearly not shy as they came very close to our heads in order to feed on the plankton attracted by our torchlights, which I held high above my head to avoid the Mantas flapping into me. Something that large could easily weight more than 1000lbs and I definitely do not want to be hit by it.
Soon, however, we had already done 50minutes of bottom time, just hovering at the bottom observing the rays. Our dive guide, Luke, ended the dive with a normal night dive, exploring the reef for sleeping fishes and nocturnal crabs and lobsters. I saw a tomato-red crab hiding under rubble, but capturing this on camera was impossible without strobes. I had not yet gone professional.
Exhausted, cold, but happy, I paid the videographer for the night dive video and waited for our cab to drive us home to the hostel. The cab driver dropped us off at Ali'i Drive for dinner first, and satisfying our hunger with sandwiches since it was already 10pm, we went home and rested, sleeping very deeply.
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