Night diving without certification

[AlaskaDiver]

Totally fun! Night dives are truly my all time favorites. I did the night cert as part of my PADI advanced in Kauai and it was delightful. The only piece of advice I'd offer is once you get out of your gear, be prepared to gather up your gear in a somewhat poorly lit area. A mini headlamp or small light has been a help while trying to find missing articles of clothing or miscellaneous pieces of gear.

 

[rollerboi]

I've got the night diving specialty.. they didn't teach me anything about signalling with my light, which surprised me. Oh well. But the major benefit of the certification was getting comfortable in total blackness, under direct supervision. A little more stress, a little more task loading, that's pretty much it.

You'll probably be fine, once you get comfortable using your light and can see everyone else's lights. It's mainly a 'get over it' certification.

 

[Coldwater_Canuck]

You do not need a night diving certification but taught by the right instructor the course can be a lot of fun and can ease the transition.

That's the way I saw it. While it probably wasn't necessary, I do think it helped to have someone who knew what they were doing there.

The four main differences I found with night diving were:
- disorientation: once I thought I'd completely lost control of my bouyancy and was flying to the surface, in reality I'd floated up a couple of feet: it's tough when you lose sight of the bottom (I was also diving in 5-10 foot vis that night). Your depth gauge becomes even more critical in night diving.

- spookiness: this sounds kind of weird, but things seem to jump out at you and you're not sure exactly what various things are. It's a bit easier to run into things and overall you just have less of an idea what's going on (this would be helped if I had a better light, eventually I want to get one of those nice $500 canister lights).

- having that light in your hand: it's amazing how much more difficult it is to make simple gear adjustments, navigate, etc. when you need to keep control of your light. The first navigation I did at night I was just bouncing off the bottom.

- limited vis: easier to lose others, etc. (this is probably more of an issue in warm waters, vis in Seattle sucks anytime).

Overall it's probably not particularly unsafe to do night dives without training (at least in shallow water), but I do think it helps ease the transition as you said.

And you and I don't know each other, proving my point!

Well two people in this thread have it, so you must just not know the right people

 

[Damselfish]

I think very few people that night dive have a night diving certification. though some will have taken AOW and might have done the night dive for that or at least read the stuff in the book. I've been on tropical boats plenty of times where they had new night divers and just gave them a mini-class on the way to the dive. And having a guide, while not something you want to be dependent on, can help soothe any first-night-dive-nerves. Since it sounds like you are brand new with no dives outside certification, it's probably not something you want to do on your first night. You should at least have decent buoyancy control and be reasonably comfortable during the day. So get in some number of daytime dives first and make sure you have it together.

I actually did a night dive class (like 20 years ago) and it made sense for me at the time. I had done a couple night dives during AOW at home that I wasn't too happy with, my buddy didn't at the time want to night dive, and the shop was offering the class for not much more than the price of the light they threw in for free, which was the exact light I'd planned on buying anyway. So I didn't really learn anything new that wasn't covered in AOW, or that you couldn't get in a good dive briefing, but for me it was cheap and a good opportunity to sort things out and build confidence. It was, as someone said, a "get over it" class.

 

[helimvee]

The big difference is that you have tunnel vision - limited to the beam of your light. Unless of course there is a very bright moon.

Make sure you are very comfortable with your gear first. Any tasks that you have difficulty with during the daytime will be that much more difficult in the dark. Take a backup light as well.

Have fun.

 

[knotical]

Night diving can be a real joy.
One of the neat things is how much you can see with lights off !
Another is to wave your hand and see if you don't trigger some phosphorescence.

Relax and enjoy.

 

[RJP]

To me the interesting part is that "you only see what you're looking at" if you know what I mean. There's fewer distractions, allowing you to focus on one or two things at a time.

Go slow, cover as little ground as possible and take it all in!

 

[boulderjohn]

One of the neat things is how much you can see with lights off !

Make sure you do this when you are confident and have a buddy (and/or group) who knows what you are doing and goes along with it.

If you do shut all lights off and just hang around until your eyes get used to things, you will see all kinds of things that you were missing because you had your light on. Depending upon the site, you will see that there are many tiny light sources under the water.

Some of us use the term "midnight cruiser" for those who enjoy those lightless moments.

 

[ligersandtions]

A night diving certification is quite silly....really, all you need is an experienced buddy or dive guide (but make sure that the guide is, in fact, your buddy....or make sure that you have a buddy and the guide is just a guide and not someone you're relying on for anything other than showing you around on your first night dive).

A really fun thing to do, imo, is to dive the site during the day, and then dive the same site at night. You'll see all kinds of different critters....the nocturnal ones you don't even know are there during the day are out and about at night.

But a night diving certification is not required and not necessary. A good buddy, a good primary light, a back-up light or two, and being comfortable are really the only things you need to have on a night dive (well, that and all the things you'd normally bring on a day dive). Have fun....night diving is truly a treat!

 

[Stu S.]

One of the neat things is how much you can see with lights off !

Yes. In Florida, a huge light may not be an advantage. My buddy once brought along his cave light, a high-watt model. He created a white-bright zone directly in front of him, and could hot see the sharks and turtles that were further away. He no longer takes that one along.

Speaking of turtles, You may already know not to shine the light at a turtles head. Freaks them out, and they will take off quickly, perhaps onto a reef.

Have a great time on your trip.