Anelakai Adventures in the Press

Experience the ocean after dark.

Stargaze and snorkel with manta rays on an Anelakai Adventures after-dark excursion off the Kona coast on the Island of Hawaii. All ocean activities with this Native Hawaiian-owned tour company are people-powered (no motors used), so participants can enjoy the quietude with stars above and manta rays, plankton, and other marine life below. 

Read 15 Best Things to Do in Hawaii With Kids featuring Anelakai Adventure. 

Tapuwae Leave Only Footprints

Season 1 Episode 7
An indigenous travel series with popular presenter Pio Terei. Tapuwae-Footprints shares indigenous connections, values and a unique approach between Māori and international indigenous operators.

Watch Tapuwae Leave Only Footprints Season 1 Episode 7 featuring Anelakai Adventure. 

Can You Say Kuleana?

On the water or on land, it’s no secret that the island of Hawaii is an outdoor adventurer’s paradise. Fortunately, there are many outfitters, tour operators, and resorts committed to sharing the island’s wonders—reverently and responsibly.

Read Spotlighting Responsible Tourism on the Island of Hawaii featuring Anelakai Adventure. 

My top 5 things to do on the Island of Hawaii

My absolute favorite thing I got to do on Hawaii was night diving with the Manta Rays with Anelakai Adventures. It sounds terrifying, but it was absolutely thrilling. You meet up at the water’s edge near Kona at sunset. Then you get put in partial wetsuits and life jackets, and then you get to help paddle a double hulled canoe out into the bay.

Read about the Points Guys adventure with Anelakai Adventure. 

National Geographic's Eco-Traveller is a unique exploration of eco-tourism practices transforming responsible travel around the globe.

Watch the National Geographic Eco-Traveller video featuring Anelakai Adventure. 

Our 10 Essential Experiences on Hawaiʻi Island

There aren’t many places in the world—and none in the U.S.—where you can swim with friendly manta rays in luxuriously warm water. In Keauhou Bay off the Kona coast, you can get in the water with dozens of resident rays on guided tours at night. Anelakai Adventures takes guests out on a traditional double-hulled Hawaiian canoe to a spot in the bay where, after sunset, giant manta rays come to feed on photoplankton, attracted to the area by ultraviolet lights. 

Read Swim with Manta Rays featuring Anelakai Adventures.

From snorkeling with manta ray to visiting historic parks, there's so much to do in Kailua-Kona.

One of the best things to do in Kailua-Kona is to book yourself a night-time snorkeling adventure to see manta rays up close and personal. These gentle giants love feeding on plankton right off the coast of Kona and can grow up to 15 feet from wing tip to wing tip. Tour companies like Anelakai Adventures provide visitors and locals with an eco-conscious method of seeing the manta with its double-hulled canoe—and yes, they’re powered entirely by paddle power.

Read Top Things to Do in Kailua-Kona featuring Anelakai Adventures.

Pride Journey: Hawai‘i

After a quick power nap, we headed out for our first excursion, an evening swim with manta rays organized by Anelakai Adventures. This will definitely go on my top 10 list of most memorable experiences.

Read Pride Journey: Hawai'i featuring Anelakai Adventures.

Exploring the Island of Hawai'i: A Week on the Hawai'i's Biggest Island

Within minutes, several other giant manta rays join her – and then there are five huge manta rays swirling in the water below. It’s exactly the kind of encounter I’d hoped for during our trip on the Island of Hawai’i.

We’re on a nighttime manta ray snorkel experience with Anelakai Adventures, a locally owned, eco-friendly outfitter. Anelakai takes a different approach to ocean excursions. Instead of using a motorboat, six guests and several guides paddle out in a double-hulled canoe.

Read Exploring the Island of Hawaii featuring Anelakai Adventures.

The Best Places on Earth to (Ethically) Visit Rad Wild Animals

Animal and wildlife tourism can be incredibly sketchy. Here's where to go to do it right.

The serene shores of Hawai'i’s Kona Coast are teeming with aquatic life. Among all that natural wonder, manta rays capture the imagination like little else. They’re also highly sensitive to vibrations given off by outboard motors, which is how most tour groups get close to them. Thankfully there’s another way: Anelakai Adventures affords you the opportunity to snorkel with these impressive beasts in a wholly unobtrusive way.

Read The Best Places on Earth to (Ethically) Visit Rad Wild Animals featuring Anelakai Adventures.

When it comes to manta ray tours, Anelakai Adventures offers a truly spectacular opportunity to come face-to-face with these gentle giants.

Read Take a Midnight Swim With Massive Manta Rays featuring Anelakai Adventures.

The family-run business is the only one using a motor-less outrigger to bring guests up close and personal with the massive maritime marvels. You’ll snorkel right alongside dozens at a time, some with wing spans as wide as 16 feet from end to end.

Read The Ultimate Island Trip featuring Anelakai Adventures.

Manta Swims & Dolphin Spotting: Experiences That Actually Protect Hawaiʻi’s Endangered Species

f you, like me, are a wildlife aficionado who dreams of seeing everything from turtles hatching to humpbacks breaching – come to Hawaiʻi Island and spend time with locals like Koka and Iko. It’s inspiring to hang out with humans who not only respect their ancestral connection to ʻāina (the land) and kai (the ocean) but are also actively working to improve and share that connection with everyone – one lucky tourist at a time. 

Read Mission: Save the Giant Manta Ray, with Anelakai Adventures featuring Anelakai Adventures.

This is what it's like to snorkel with manta rays at night in Hawaii

While the other boats carrying large tourist numbers hoon off with their propellers and engines, we take extreme care climbing back into the canoe from the water. Crane lowers a small step ladder into the water, but advises us to move quickly so we can pull it out quickly to prevent a manta ray bumping into it. The care Anelakai Adventures take to avoid any harm to these creatures is impressive.

Read This is what it's like to snorkel with manta rays at night in Hawaii featuring Anelakai Adventures.

The Island Of Hawaii: Small Groups, Big Discoveries

For a unique opportunity to encounter these graceful creatures in their natural habitat, book a nighttime snorkel session with Anelakai Adventures. With only six passengers per boat, you can enjoy plenty of time to meet the mantas.

Read The Island of Hawaii featuring Anelakai Adventures.

Island of Hawaii: In the State’s Biggest Island: Fun, Food, and Fine Art Reign Supreme

Anelakai Adventures provides a canoe paddling by day and a manta ray expedition by night. Unlike other outfitters that use motorized, gasoline-powered boats, this one is completely eco-friendly.

Read About Champagne Living featuring Anelakai Adventures.

Diablo Magazine March 2021 issue

The Big Chill: Inspiring and Restorative Adventures Await on the Big Island

”A lot of people, they want to have that front row seat. They want to be up and personal instead of being careful,” says Iko Balanga, a big wave surfer, lifeguard and ocean safety expert featured in a ocean safety film promoted by Hawaiian tourist authorities.

Read PSA: Hawaii Is Not a Theme Park