Best Liveaboard Destinations For Manta Rays

Updated May 12, 2023

This is the forty-ninth in a series that introduces and describes the various dive services and sites for worldwide liveaboard dive safaris. This one focuses on the best liveaboard destinations for manta rays. For other “Best” reviews of liveaboards and destinations, go to “Best Liveaboards & Destinations Lists” on the top menu.

Have you ever been diving in any of the locations described below? If so, I’d love to know about your experience. What liveaboard did you use? How was the diving? Were the services and accommodations good? Please post your response in the comments section at the bottom and we’ll all learn something we can use.

Manta rays hold a special attraction for divers. They can be so huge yet gentle that it seems like an anomaly. Such grace and intelligence are difficult to imagine until you have a chance to see them up close as they take in huge volumes of seawater to filter out nutritious plankton while simultaneously performing acrobatic twists, turns, and somersaults. Their passive demeanor as cleaner wrasses, shrimps, and other small fish pick off aggravating parasites at cleaning stations as mantas wait in line for their turn and remain nearly stationary while being worked on is also an intriguing process to behold.

There are a number of places to go on a liveaboard that can introduce you to scenes like the ones just described. Below are descriptions and links to more information and details that will help you choose the best liveaboard safari for you.

Best Liveaboard Destinations for Manta Rays

Socorro Islands, Mexico
Sangalaki, Derawan Islands, Indonesia
Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Komodo, Indonesia
Palau, Micronesia
Similan Islands, Thailand
Kona, Hawaii (the Big Island)
Kadavu, Fiji
Ari Atoll, Maldives

Socorro Islands, Mexico

Socorro Island, the biggest of the 4 main islands of the Revillagigedo Archipelago, is a great site for megafauna with friendly giant manta rays at the top of the list. These graceful creatures with wingspans up to 23 feet (7 meters) across often interact with divers near Socorro at distances less than a meter and even swim with them. In addition, the local bottlenose dolphins often simultaneously join in the love fest. They are there in numbers from November through July with more of them during the season of bait balls from May through July.

The other megafauna around Socorro Island is equally intriguing which includes humpback whales who come for breeding from January through March, whale sharks in late spring, and a variety of other sharks including shoals of hammerheads, individual or small groups of silkies, and Galapagos sharks, a large number of resident whitetips, often seen silvertips, and oceanic whitetips, and the occasional tiger shark.

This remote location has a strong current possible and cool water making it most suitable for experienced divers. It is a popular liveaboard destination with at least 9 yachts providing safaris to the four islands.

Dive Season: November – July
Skill Level: intermediate to advanced, (minimum of advanced open water recommended)
Water Temperature: 70-82°F (21-28°C)
Visibility: variable based on the weather with a range of 30-200 feet (9-60 meters), usually the range is 60-100 feet (18-30 meters)

For a review of Socorro Islands liveaboards and diving, check out these posts:

Check the Price and Details on Socorros Islands Liveaboards

Sangalaki, Derawan Islands, Indonesia

Sangalaki is one of 31 sparsely populated islands of the Derawan Archipelago just off the east coast of Borneo. There is great diving in many locations around the islands with some excellent macro sites, beautiful and diverse coral reefs with many reef tropicals, massive schools of barracuda and big-eye jacks, eagle rays, numerous species of shark including whitetip reef, nurse, thresher, hammerhead, grey reef, and whale sharks. Stingless jellyfish can be found in a clear brackish lake and there is a turtle nesting area on Sangalaki Island, itself.

Sangalaki stands out from the rest for the large number of 11.5-foot (3.5-meter) mantas that congregate in the relatively shallow water near the island at cleaning stations and to feed on plankton. The busiest season for mantas runs from October through June but they don’t all leave in the offseason.

The two liveaboards cruising the Derawan Islands, Raja Manta and Raja Ampat Aggressor, miss the rainy season from November through March.

Dive Season: year-round (liveaboards run from May through August)
Skill Level: beginner to advanced
Water Temperature: 79-86°F (26-30°C)
Visibility: > 68 feet (20 meters)

For a review of Derawan Islands liveaboards and diving, check out this post:

Best Derawan Islands Diving Liveaboards

Check the Price & Details on Derawan Islands Liveaboards

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Fuelled by its equatorial location and strong currents, the Galapagos has the most diverse array of megafauna of any archipelago in the world. Divers encounter not only sharks, rays, reef tropicals, pelagics, and cetaceans, but also frequently have the chance to swim with iguanas, penguins, and sea lions.

Many divers also delight in the opportunity to drift along in the current in close proximity to giant manta rays regularly, especially off Wolf and Darwin Islands, in the channel between Santiago and Sombrero Chino Islet, and off the wall on Cabo Marshall.

Many liveaboards serve this remote location, but pricing isn’t cheap. Strong currents, cooler water, and rough surface conditions are common, so it is definitely a location for experienced divers.

Dive Season: year-round
Skill Level: intermediate to advanced (minimum of advanced open water recommended)
Water Temperature: 71-77° F (22-25° C), lows in the dry season in June-December
Visibility: 33-70 feet (10-21 meters), it can be lower, especially during the plankton blooms

For reviews of the Galapagos Island liveaboards and diving, check out these posts:

Check the Price & Details on Galapagos Islands Liveaboards

Komodo, Indonesia

The Komodo National Park has more than 40 dive sites with pristine diverse coral reefs on volcanic terrain. There are sites with macro critters, rich coral gardens, and megafauna including reef sharks, Napoleon wrasses, eagle rays, hawksbill turtles, dolphins, whales, pelagics like dogtooth tuna, and Mola Mola, that come in August. Komodo also has walls and pinnacles with current where mantas feed and other calmer areas that serve as parasite cleaning stations both of which are excellent locations to regularly see resident manta rays in numbers.

There are at least 19 liveaboards diving on Komodo that usually provide opportunities to go ashore and offer divers a chance to hike on a live volcano or get up close to 275-pound (125-kilogram) Komodo dragons.

The currents can be strong making this a site for experienced drift divers.

Dive Season: year-round (the plankton bloom attracts more mantas in the dry season from March to October)
Skill Level: intermediate to advanced (minimum of advanced open water recommended)
Water Temperature: 81-86° F (27-30° C)
Visibility: 16-100 feet (5-30 meters), plankton blooms and rain influence it toward the bottom of the range

For reviews of Komodo and nearby Alor and Flores Liveaboards, check out these posts:

Check the Price & Details on Komodo Liveaboards

Palau

Palau is known as a world-class site for wrecks, beautiful reefs, turtles, sharks, great schools of reef tropicals, pelagics, and the famous stingless jellyfish lake. There are mellow coral gardens and sites like the Blue Corner with ripping currents that can require a reef hook to maintain position.

There are also a large number of manta rays that can often be seen at cleaning stations, most reliably from January through April. The liveaboards and dive operators all have their special “secret” spots but the one well-known and tested location is in German Channel. This is a man-made cut through the reef with a maximum depth of 50 feet (15 meters) which blocks the major flow of current and has created an ideal place for mantas to lounge while cleaner wrasses, butterflyfish, and others can relieve them of parasites. A few years ago the individual mantas seen were cataloged and they reckoned that there were 235 mantas around Palau

There are 7 well-equipped liveaboard yachts servicing Palau with cruises available every month.

Dive Season: year-round
Skill Level: beginner to advanced
Water Temperature: 84-86°F (29-30°C) most of the year but drops to 79°F (26°C) in February and March
Visibility: usually 50-130 feet (15-40 meters), increased rain and winds from July to September can cause a dip to the low end

For reviews of Palau liveaboards and diving, check out these posts:

Check the Price & Details on Palau Liveaboards

Similan Islands, Thailand

The Similan Islands and the protected marine park there are widely acclaimed for beautiful reefs, macro critters on the reef and coral rubble bottom, reef tropicals, and megafauna, including reef sharks, turtles, pelagics, whale sharks, and manta rays.

Starting in October resident mantas are frequently seen around a cleaning station at Koh Bon. From January to mid-May large masses of migrating oceanic mantas come primarily for feeding and can be seen at Koh Tachai as well as Koh Bon. There are some present in the area year-round, however, with an estimated 20 resident mantas around Koh Bon.

Some sites have strong currents on occasion but sites and conditions can be found that are suitable for all levels of diver. A couple of dozen quality liveaboard yachts cruise the Similans, most of which offer very reasonable rates.

Dive Season: the Similans National Park is closed from May to mid-October
Skill Level: beginner to advanced
Water Temperature: 80-86°F (27-30°C)
Visibility: 33-100 feet (10-30) generally but variable based on the site and conditions, plankton blooms from January through March, and rains can decrease visibility

For reviews of Similan Islands liveaboards and diving, check out these posts:

Check the Price & Details on Thailand liveaboards

Kona, Hawaii (the Big Island)

The shallow coral reefs and fascinating volcanic seascapes provide excellent habitat for rich and diverse marine life of reef tropicals, macro critters, and an array of spectacular megafauna that includes several species of shark, spinner dolphins, monk seals, and humpback whales that come in the fall.

The biggest attraction, though, is probably the large number of resident mantas that not only can be seen in the daylight hours but also can be reliably found at night. At a dive site called Keahole Point, near Kona Airport, divers using their underwater lights attract plankton which in turn brings mantas that come to feed whirling and somersaulting in close proximity to the lights and the divers holding them, for a bucket-list experience.

There is only one liveaboard diving in the area, the Kona Aggressor, which can organize up to 6 dives a day and provides service in an unusually friendly atmosphere. Some locations have moderate to strong currents and night diving is most suitable for experienced divers. Scuba diving courses are offered to provide a supervised opportunity.

Dive Season: year-round
Skill Level: beginner to advanced
Water Temperature: 76-80°F (24-27°C)
Visibility: 50-100 feet (15-30)

For reviews of Hawaii liveaboards and diving around the state, check out these posts:

Check the Price & Details on Hawaii liveaboards

Kadavu, Fiji

Proclaimed as “the soft coral capital of the world” by Jean Michel Cousteau, Fiji liveaboards offer remote biodiverse diving throughout the islands on a variety of subsea terrains with rich corals, heaps of reef tropicals, and megafauna that includes many shark species and manta rays.

On the Kadavu Islands to the south of the capital, Suva, near the Great Astrolabe Reef, there are protected bays that offer a great location for mantas to feed near the surface and be cleaned at stations on the reef. During the primary migration season from May through October, up to 300 mantas can be found there taking advantage of the plankton and cleaner wrasses and other shrimps and fishes ready to rid them of parasites.

The 2 liveaboards currently diving Fiji run itineraries to all diving areas of Fiji. Clarify with them which trips will focus on Kadavu.

Dive Season: year-round (May through October for mantas)
Skill Level: beginner to intermediate
Water Temperature: 82-86°F (28-30°C)
Visibility: 60-130 feet (15-40 meters)

For a review of Fiji liveaboards, check out this post:

Best Scuba Diving Fiji

Check the Price & Details on Fiji liveaboards and diving

Ari Atoll, Maldives

Of the 1,190 islands and coral atolls that cover a wide area, Ari Atoll is one of the most popular dive sites located in the central region. People come for the whale sharks and for manta rays.

At the northern end of Ari Atoll is the Ukulhas Thila pinnacle in the Maavaru Kandu, a wide channel. It’s a 300-meter long pinnacle topping at 15 meters which serves as a cleaning station. Nearby is the Fesdu Lagoon where large numbers of mantas can be seen on night dives feeding on the plankton drawn by divers’ flashlights in a somersaulting display. Another location where mantas are often found feeding in shallow water is in Hanifer Bay of Baa Atoll in the far north. There are liveaboard itineraries available that can get you to both locations sometimes on the same trip.

39 yachts cruise the Maldives that have a broad pricing range from bargain to luxury levels. Most use a large comfortable dhoni to get to the dive sites and many provide special services and other facilities.

Dive Season: year-round (the best season for mantas is December through May)
Skill Level: intermediate to advanced (minimum of advanced open water recommended)
Water Temperature: 80-86°F (26-30°C)
Visibility: 50-100 feet (15-30 meters)

For reviews of Maldives liveaboards and diving, check out these posts:

Check the Price & Details on Maldives Liveaboards

Photography

To take full advantage of the wide-angle photographic opportunities on a manta ray liveaboard, the PADI Digital Underwater Photography specialty course is recommended. For information and reviews of diving cameras, click here:

Best Underwater Cameras Compared and Reviewed

Liveaboard Comparisons

If you have an interest in further comparisons and reviews of liveaboards, please check out these posts:

Last Minute Liveaboard Deals & Special Offers

For greatly reduced pricing on special offers for a broad range of liveaboards in 17 countries around the world, please check out this post:

Last Minute Liveaboard Deals & Special Offers

Scuba Diving Trip Insurance

A cushion for emergencies provides peace of mind when on vacation. I recommend this diving insurance as they have worldwide coverage and give scuba divers quality insurance and medical assistance service.

Feedback and Comments

I hope you found this post on the best liveaboard destinations for manta rays interesting and useful. If you have any questions or ideas, please feel free to share them in the comments section. I’d love to know of any experience you have. If there is no comments section directly below, click here: >>comments<<

Comments

Barnaby Lee says

at 8:37 am

Thanks a lot for this article. It’s an interesting list of spots for manta rays. I was surprised that you know about Sangalaki. I just wanted to let you know that I went there in August and saw a lot of manta rays. The rest of the diving there on the other islands is pretty spectacular, as well. There were hammerheads, a tiger shark, and the jellyfish lake was pretty exciting, too.

Good luck with your website.

- Joe says
  
  at 8:42 am
  
  Hi Barnaby,
  
  Thanks for your valuable feedback. I am pretty happy there was so much for you to see there. It’s good you got the chance to go this year. I bet it will get crowded before long as people start to get the word about it.
  
  Best regards,
  Joe