As a child, my family would travel to Florida every year for a family vacation. On one of my annual trips, I remember watching Jaws in our hotel room when we stopped overnight. Since watching this movie, I have always had a fear of the ocean, especially in gray, murky water where you cannot see the bottom. Through the years, I have become a little more brave, and I have ventured out and tried snorkeling in clear, shallow water, but I would never even consider going in the ocean at night.
On past trips to the Big Island, we have often been relaxing on the lanai at night and have observed people out on the manta ray night swim. I thought they were insane to get in that water at night. I would always tell my friends and family who were with me that I could never do that.
On our family trip to Kona last February, my family was discussing activities that we would like to do, and someone brought up the manta ray night swim. I was hoping they wouldn’t actually choose to do this because I didn’t think I could do it and would let them down.
For the next several days, I thought about this with a lot of anxiety. I tried to envision myself out there, but it just seemed so scary to me. But then I thought about Carson and his “Why Not” outlook on life, and I told myself I need to get over this fear. I will have my family by my side to help me through it, and if Nicole can conquer her fear of the ocean and do it, why couldn’t I?
So we signed up for the night swim, and now I was committed.
When we got there, it was already dark. We had to listen to an instructor give us the details of the do’s and don’ts for the trip. When he was done, we had to head down to the dock and wait for our boat to pick us up. I remember seeing a nice-looking yacht-type boat there and thought, okay, this won’t be so bad. Many boats came in and out to pick up people for the swim, but when our boat pulled up, I was terrified. It was a rubber dinghy-type boat. I remember thinking, Are you kidding me? This is so sketchy.
We all climbed in and headed out. I was not sure how far out we were going to go, but I just kept praying it wasn’t too far. When we finally stopped, I was so relieved that we were in a bay and could see the shore on both sides.
One by one, we climbed in and had to swim and gather around a surfboard-type floating device that had lights under it shining down. It had handrails that we could all hold onto. We all had face masks and snorkels and had to put our faces in the water and look down. We had a swimming noodle under our feet to help keep us flat.
After we all got situated and were floating, looking down and watching for the manta rays, I started to notice all the plankton floating around (this is what attracts the manta rays). Then fish started to appear. As I was enjoying looking at all the fish, I was suddenly shocked by this huge thing that came out of nowhere. It was a manta ray! Being the naive person I am, I had been envisioning them the size of a stingray, so when I saw it, I was startled. But it was so incredible. I was mesmerized by it.
It swam back and forth under all of us, then came by one time directly under me and my family, almost brushing up against us like it wanted to say hi. Soon another one arrived, and then another. We had three swimming back and forth below us. They were swimming upside down and doing flips. It was so amazing.
Never in my life have I experienced something so incredible, and I have Carson to thank for giving me the courage to step outside of my comfort zone and not let fear control me.
Thank you Carson!! Your legacy will inspire us forever. We miss you!!
Tonya Hartman
