Aug 12, 2025: Pu’uhonua O Honaunau Park, Hang Loose Manta Trip

August 12 (Day 4 – Pu’uhonua O Honaunau Park, Hang Loose Manta Trip): Slept well with meds! Still felt bad, but puttered around a bit & felt ok, we decided to take it easy. We eventually headed to the Pu’uhonua O Honaunau Park . Very interesting! We wandered around on the self-guided historical tour. It was not crowded at all. Only ~3/4 mile, but very culturally interesting. After that, we watched the info. Should have watched that first. We came back after that. I felt pretty bad. Rested the rest of the afternoon. We had a night manta trip ! Left our place @ 7:00pm & drove back to the Hang Loose Tours. It was raining a bit when we left, but it soon stopped. 20 minute ride out to the mantas. They shine lights in the water which attracts plankton that the mantas come to eat. The tour provides wetsuit tops. No fins needed. We all jump onto a platform & put noodles under our feet to float flat. We were to make noise to attract the mantas. About 11 came. Rod got a great video! We were out ~40 minutes which was plenty. I got cold! Back to condo in Hilo, had a G&T, then bed!

Rod’s Thoughts: Both adventures today were good. I really liked the park and just walking around the ruins. A fascinating story in those stones. The manta ray tour was crowded like nearly everything else in Hawaii, but it was still worth doing. The manta rays were absolutely fascinating and the best views of mantas I have ever seen. Worth the cost of the trip and just hold your nose and accept that there are going to be people (and manta rays) bumping into you.