Organizing Manta Ray Viewing Sites with the Campfire Method
Manta Viewing Sites
When you travel to Hawaii to swim with manta rays, chances are you will end up at one of the “manta ray viewing sites,” where tour operators turn on big lights at night. The artificial lights attract plankton, which attracts manta rays, who love how easy the feeding is here!
Read more about the manta ray viewing sites and how they function.
There are three official Manta viewing sites, with the two main ones located close to the shoreline in Keauhou and Kona Airport. Both sites attract dozens of boats and up to several hundreds of participants on busy nights.
Concentrating the manta ray activity around a limited number of viewing sites is a proven safe and efficient concept: it allows more people actually to see manta rays. If tour operators each try to draw mantas to other areas, fewer guests will see a manta ray.
The best way to organize each viewing site at night is called the “Campfire Method”; it improves safety for everyone by congregating around a central spot.
How the Campfire System Works
We keep the lights in one location by placing a light box at the bottom of the ocean in the middle of a sandy area at a depth of 25-30 feet (8-10m). This light box is a weighted basket that’s filled with dive lights, shining upwards. This creates a focal light source, much like a campfire.
Divers (guided by a dive master) sit in a circle around that lightbox; they’re wearing individual lights in their hands and shine them toward the surface as well.
At the surface, snorkelers hold on to their group’s floating device. This resembles a surfboard, and a professional swim guide positions this device above the campfire area. The floating device has a light that shines downward.
This creates an area that’s well-lit in the dark ocean; the light attracts the plankton - which in turn attracts manta rays.
Image courtesy of Martina Wing at MantaRayAdvocates.com
Why the Campfire Method (Usually) Works
The Campfire System has worked for many years for multiple reasons:
It allows for optimal control over the situation - all the people (from different tour operators) gather in one location.
Because the artificial lights are focused in one location (and not grouped by tour operators), the mantas are drawn to that one area, which improves everyone's chances of seeing them.
It’s safe for mantas: they can move around in the water column between the snorkelers at the surface - and the scuba divers at the bottom. Since no one is free diving in that area, there is no bumping into the mantas (or into other participants).
It allows boats (with their engines, propellers, and deck lights turned OFF) to stay at a safe distance from the campfire.
It improves the experience for individual participants: no other people getting in the way of seeing manta rays or bumping into other fellow participants!
It improves safety for EVERYONE involved: captains, crews, participants, and manta rays.
From the Point of View of the Crew…
Focusing all the lights around one campfire also makes the work lighter (literally) and much safer for the in-water crew.
Without a campfire setup, swim guides must push and drag a floating device (a big surfboard) with 10-15 guests around the ocean at night, looking for mantas.
Since many tour operators don’t provide fins (which are your “engine” in the ocean!) for their snorkeling guests, each snorkel guide drags around at least 1,500 lbs (680 kilograms) of “dead weight”.
That is hard to maneuver… especially if you have to keep an eye out for mantas simultaneously. And imagine doing this with waves or strong winds!
This is sheer insanity and an over-demanding work environment in a low-paid job.
Most ocean crew members start this career wanting to educate guests about manta rays and share their passion for the ocean, which is a place to love and appreciate. But it is often quickly replaced with overwhelm, stress, and frustration.
This is a vicious circle: many experienced dive masters and manta ray lovers quit their “dream job” early, and the manta ray tourism industry is plagued with a fast workforce turnover. Consequently, tour operators must turn to new and inexperienced crew, who lack the skills and know-how to work with (often low-skilled and under-informed) guests.
When the Campfire Operation Stopped Working
Unfortunately, the campfire system is being used less and less due to the unbridled popularity of manta ray viewing… and the resulting overcapacity at the viewing sites.
The two main manta ray viewing sites (Manta Village in Keauhou and Manta Heaven at the Kona Airport) attract up to 30 boats (each). This means that over 400-500 people frequent each viewing site simultaneously on busy nights!
Needless to say, it is impossible to organize so many swimmers, snorkelers, and divers in one location… and the busier each viewing site is, the more chaotic and unsafe things get.
It is a recipe for disaster.
Currently, no regulations covering manta ray tour operations, and the voluntary Tour Operator Standards (dating from 2013) no longer suffice.
From boats coming into contact with people and mantas, over mantas bumping into participants while trying to feed, to conflict arising between participants or crew - the situation has been extensively mapped in a 2015 study for the Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative Research Program (HCRI-RP). The report concluded that if nothing changes, a severe accident will likely occur in the future.
And unsurprisingly, several severe and even fatal accidents have happened since the study came out.
We work vigilantly to push for the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to implement regulations, but it is a painstakingly slow process.
Watch the video to learn more about the proposed regulations!
