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.