Night Diving Accessories

[smw]

Besides a good light, what else do you all suggest for night diving equipment? My husband had a difficult time "finding" me on night dives on our last trip to Belize - even in good viz. I noticed some people used strobes. What do you think? Anything else you find helpful that I might not be aware of?

Thanks for your input!
SMW

[fishfood]

when me and my friends dive we have color coding.. like one person red, one green, one blue, one red/green, one red/blue ect
when i beach dive surface markers are a must.. ( and hope no one stills one.. had a bad night surficed and went into shore hoping i was going to end up in the right spot)

[djkpsu]

Don't forget a backup light. I had one night dive where each diver had one light and the DM had a backup, but the end of the dive all five of us were using the one light that was still functioning. Not that something like that will ever happen to me again, but I always have a small backup light on me. Something small that can fit in your BCD pocket will do fine.

For locating your buddy, strobes are good or chem lights. Just make sure you put it somewhere your buddy can see it. Something around the tank valve can usually be seen from just about all angles. Also, depending on where you're diving having a variety of colors is good. I was on a liveaboard last year that used a white strobe to mark the boat, so they required divers to use a different color.

And like fishfood said, a surface marker is a good idea.

[mossym]

we always use chem lights, in case someones light goes out you can ind them. But how do you lose someone on a night dive in belize? i thought with viz like that you'd be able to see the light a long way away!!

[crpntr133]

The latest and greatest is the Glo-toob. A chem stick works as well but I am leaning to the Glo-toob since I do several night dives a year.

Personally I hate a DB with a strobe. My eyes are so sensitive to light that I am pretty much blinded during the dive.

IMHO, a back up light is a must.

[ScubaBabe22]

If you did your night dive in Belize, did you do in Hol Chan?

I did mine there!! We each carried two lights (my DM had 3 jsut in case) and he attached a strobe to where the boat was...and in regards to the lights, I wore a hanerchief tied over my hair and pulled over my ears...lots of those gross water-bug-worms things were attracted to my light!

[mossym]

The latest and greatest is the Glo-toob. A chem stick works as well but I am leaning to the Glo-toob since I do several night dives a year.

Personally I hate a DB with a strobe. My eyes are so sensitive to light that I am pretty much blinded during the dive.

IMHO, a back up light is a must.

have you used one? are they any good?

[ShakaZulu]

Are you sure he was looking for you??? :poke

[NWGratefulDiver]

Besides a good light, what else do you all suggest for night diving equipment? My husband had a difficult time "finding" me on night dives on our last trip to Belize - even in good viz. I noticed some people used strobes. What do you think? Anything else you find helpful that I might not be aware of?

Thanks for your input!
SMW

Primary light, backup light, and tank light are all you should need. Strobes can be distracting, and can mess with your dive buddy's night vision.

If he had difficulty finding you, that would seem to indicate that you and he were not close enough to each other to maintain good visual contact. I would work on that aspect of your buddy skills, rather than add another light ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Damselfish]

Ditto - primary & backup, and a tank light can be useful especially for telling people apart if they clump. But you really shouldn't be losing your buddy at night in Belize, it should be easy to see their regular light.

Please don't use strobes, they're annoying to others and can be confused with strobes hung from a boat or used by people to mark exit points UW on shore dives. Good to have for an emergency but not to mark a diver.