Unsure about night diving?

[lulubelle]

I certainly was. My first night dive was horrid, I had new buddies who were speed demons and I lost sight of them while in strong current. Second one was just OK. This past week I was in Little Cayman and somewhat unenthusiastically told myself that I needed to try a couple more night dives before calling it quits.


WOW, can I tell you how glad I am that I persisted and got a little more experience.

Our dive Thursday night started out without much going on. Unless you count the two vertical divers whose fins were crashing down on our heads. My buddy and I split off from the group and were puttering around. For some odd reason I pointed my light up towards the surface and saw a school of baitfish. But then I noticed that my light made their eyes almost iridescent. I got a little closer and noticed that they had translucent pink bodies. What I was looking at was thousands of small squid up for a visit from the deep. We played with them for the rest of the dive. It was the most beautiful thing I saw all week. We also saw a baby cuttlefish, some decorator crabs, and fed bloodworms to the coral while down under.

Give it a try, and then another, and then another. I'm hooked.

[elmer fudd]

Around here it's pretty dark even in the daytime. Past about 60' you're generally diving in the dark anyway, so the difference between a day dive and a night dive is just one of degree and having the nocturnal creatures out and about.

I personally don't do much night diving at all. I just don't want to bother getting all geared up and then cleaning everything up afterwards that late. Winter time though we'll often do one last dive after sundown or get back after dark. It gets dark early here in December.

[TSandM]

Yes, any after work dive in Seattle in the wintertime is a night dive -- and I have learned to love them. So many things are out and about at night. And when we went to Cozumel, the very best dives were the ones at night.

[oggy666]

Cleaning the gear late does suck but the night experience is worth it. My favorite is the bioluminescence just amazing.

[Cave Diver]

What's a night dive?

http://divelightsbysandho.com/images/lighttable3.jpg

[oggy666]

Does it cook the fish 2? :)

[Cave Diver]

Yes!!

[Tigerman]

I LOVE the night dives, especially if its not many divers around. Its so nice to just disconnect from the world and swim around with the sea creatures worrying about nothing but my diving and where my light shines..

[knowone]

You will never never know if you never never go.
And persist.
Conducting that glowing stuff is good.
Washing gear after dive after pub is washing tomorrow.
Shine your light in your own eyes, or a few yards ahead, because you should already know, where you are already.



YUK. Do you know what you were swimming in Garrobo. Alas yes, diving then eating then unconscious in the chair.

[Garrobo]

I've only done two night dives but they were great. I dove them with three and four people and a DM off of Islamorada. Luckily for us one of the dives was during the coral spawn. That was fantastic.The DM was one of those guys who wants everyone to see what he has found and goes about slowly. He showed us stuff that you would never see in the daytime including two types of lobster that only come out at night. One of the lobsters, small and reddish orange with claws, he had never seen. And this is a guy with over5000 dives, lots of them at night. I also liked the luminescence and other little critters in the water which you can't see during daylight. It was really relaxing to do these dives. I would do more but at my age a couple dives in the morning is usually all I need. I wish I had the stamina to do more.

[lulubelle]

I just don't want to bother getting all geared up and then cleaning everything up afterwards that late.

I got lucky on this account, we were at a dive resort in Little Cayman, so our BC/Regs/tanks were taken care of for us, we only had to rinse out our neoprene and hang it up. Which reminds me, there is a bag of not quite dry gear downstairs to clean again.


He showed us stuff that you would never see in the daytime including two types of lobster that only come out at night. One of the lobsters, small and reddish orange with claws, he had never seen. And this is a guy with over5000 dives, lots of them at night. I also liked the luminescence and other little critters in the water which you can't see during daylight. It was really relaxing to do these dives. I would do more but at my age a couple dives in the morning is usually all I need. I wish I had the stamina to do more.

I struggle with energy levels. My travel mates didn't see much of me at the bar or pool OTHER than diving. We did 4 dives some days. The diving was easy to do at this resort, we just showed up at the boat with our wetsuits, booties, mask, and fins, and the rest was taken care of. And they carried our gear to the dive platform and back each dive. I got spoiled, let me tell you.


What's a night dive?



Yeah, there were a couple of people with those big ass lights. I had to wonder why they were even on a night dive if they needed to light up the ocean brighter than it was during the day. All that did was ensure that they saw nothing as the critters just hid. We split off with our little TUSA reef lights and saw a TON.

[drbill]

Last summer most of my dives were night dives. I love to see the changing of the guard as some species retire for bedtime and others come out to hunt.

[Doubler]

One of my best dives ever was a night dive on the Toki Maru in Guam. Full moon, flat calm, vis 100 plus. Got down to the wreck and turned out our lights. After our eyes adjusted to the dark we did the main deck sans light. Beautiful. Never saw my buddy leave a phosphorus trail before. You could see large animal shadows out in the distance.

[MiamiMike]

Wow. The stories sound exciting. I have my first night dive ever (AOW cert) scheduled this coming week out in Key Largo. I'm so excited. Can't wait.

[Selchie in LB]

OMG thanks for the post! I can't wait to go night diving now. The bioluminescence must be spectacular first hand. I've only ever seen it in video clips. I have a friend who petrified to night dive. I'm glad I read your accounts!

[lulubelle]

One piece of advice I would offer is to leave your bright lights at HOME. My first night dive last week my buddy had a really bright light and did not want to dim it. That sucked. My second one my buddy and I both had a small TUSA reef light and were dimming it often. We saw SO much more on that dive and the squid play was simply awe inspiring. I was really happy that we had time to play with the squid on our own before the second encounter when I had got the attention of the group who all came over and shone their bright lights at the squid who promptly left.

And always leave some time for total darkness.

[Cave Diver]

Yeah, there were a couple of people with those big ass lights. I had to wonder why they were even on a night dive if they needed to light up the ocean brighter than it was during the day. All that did was ensure that they saw nothing as the critters just hid. We split off with our little TUSA reef lights and saw a TON.

Typically we just carry our LED backups on night dives, unless it's on a wreck. A lot of times I'll even turn that off during part of the dive if we're in open water. There's usually enough ambient light to see by and it makes for a really interesting dive.

[PansSiren]

I absolutely love night dives! My first one was the same night of the day I got certified, and it was at a spot I've been to twice during my "discovery" and cert., and was just amazed by how incredibly different it was (animal and plant life). Strangely enough, I found it extremely relaxing swimming in the dark... I sort of favor night dives over the day for that reason. I must admit, I got way creeped out one night though... I was happily swimming along, looking forward for a while, then I pointed the light towards my right side, and there was a huuuuge turtle cruising along about a foot away from me. It scared me at first, but turned out to be incredibly awesome! He followed along for quite a while, too!

[farsidefan1]

Two ideas to help enjoy night diving. My primary light has a red light or white light. The red light does not seem to bother the fish. If I need to see more I'll switch over to the white light but then of course the critters react. Bright lights are needed for some situations but critter watching is not one of them. The other idea is a UV light. it makes the coral and some crustations light up like a black light in a bar. Very interesting although you need the yellow visors to make it work.

[lulubelle]

Typically we just carry our LED backups on night dives, unless it's on a wreck. A lot of times I'll even turn that off during part of the dive if we're in open water. There's usually enough ambient light to see by and it makes for a really interesting dive.

I sure wish you could have convinced my buddy on that first dive to do that. Poor critters were lit up like Christmas. I use my little LED light to find something interesting or to get from A to B and then either cover it or turn it off entirely. There is much more to see in low light. It was pretty cool to feed bloodworms to the coral with the light though.


Two ideas to help enjoy night diving. My primary light has a red light or white light. The red light does not seem to bother the fish. If I need to see more I'll switch over to the white light but then of course the critters react. Bright lights are needed for some situations but critter watching is not one of them. The other idea is a UV light. it makes the coral and some crustations light up like a black light in a bar. Very interesting although you need the yellow visors to make it work.

One of the divers had some sort of blue cap on his light, was that the UV light? I've also seen yellow and red covers for lights but I don't know if those are easily found. I generally just use my hand to block out most of the light if I just need a tad.

[on_two_wheels]

It's been a long time since I dove at night and even then, only a couple. Next month: Farnsworth Banks at night. That'll be a great time!! Glad you persisted. I was fortunate that my first couple were simple so I have never had a concern with night dives.

My BEST single moment diving thus far occurred on one of those night dives. There were about 6 of us at Shaw's Cove (here in So Cal). We did a surface swim out and it was very dark, just a few house lights on at top of cliff. For some reason we all started singing the theme music from the Discovery Channel commercial while finning out. 5-6 divers singing "Boom-deeah, boom-deeah" in pitch black water was awesome. I'll never forget that part of that dive.

[NC Wreck Diver]

I also really enjoy night dives. Very cool, can be a little spooky depending where you are (admit guys, jumping in the ocean, or a river with a swift current for a drift dive can get the heart pumping - but isn't that the point?).

I did two really good night dives on the Barrier Reef. On one, we were pretty shallow, maybe 30 feet. I just relaxed on the bottom, turned my light out for a few moments, and watched the moon glow in the night. The other was on the same liveaboard. We dove about 40 minutes before dawn. As we were done, we surfaced as the ambient light was starting to grow, and the sun was just at the surface on the horizon.

[Cave Diver]

I also really enjoy night dives. Very cool, can be a little spooky depending where you are (admit guys, jumping in the ocean, or a river with a swift current for a drift dive can get the heart pumping - but isn't that the point?).

The last night dive I did was with someone who had never done one before. We started off at dusk at a site we'd dove earlier in the day and just gradually adjusted to the fading light.

It's not quite such a shock to someone that's a little spooked by the idea that way.

[NC Wreck Diver]

Sounds like a good idea to get an uneasy diver confortable about night diving, Cave Diver.

[Tigerman]

Sounds like a good idea to get an uneasy diver confortable about night diving, Cave Diver.
Its not only a good idea, its even in the standards for the PADI AOW/Night diver to have dived the site for night dive during the day to be familiar with it..

[Hatul]

I enjoy night shore diving in S Cal. For one thing you don't overheat after suiting up, parking is easy, I can do it after work, there's a mystery to it, and I like playing with lights. I don't like very early morning dives that many do. Also the ocean with reflecting lights is beautiful at night.

You do have to be familiar with the dive site, stay close to your buddy and be well within comfort zone of dive conditions.

Adam

[cbursian]

The family and I did our first night dive this past week down in Cozumel. It was a small group (6 including our guide), and it was incredible! We did run into some other groups on the reef, but really the only way to tell they were there were thanks to their dive lights. We saw all sorts of things including an octopus and a couple of huge crabs that we would not have seen during the day. The highlight of the dive, though, was where we turned off our lights and just floated for a few minutes while we saw the plankton glow around us. Very cool! We would definitely do a night dive again.

[Zaixon]

After reading this thread I am really interested in night diving. Sounds like lots of fun, what are these tusa reef lights some have mentioned? i'd like to be well equipped for the situation and have a good light that would not scare away the marine life, any other recommendations

[lulubelle]

After reading this thread I am really interested in night diving. Sounds like lots of fun, what are these tusa reef lights some have mentioned? i'd like to be well equipped for the situation and have a good light that would not scare away the marine life, any other recommendations

It is this one. It was recommended to me and I love it. It is good during the day to look into nooks and crannies, and plenty bright to use as a primary at night in OW environments. I like that the beam is a bit wider than most smaller lights. I can see more that way.

Tabata USA, Inc. - NEW : TUL-300 LED DIVE LIGHT [TUL-300] (http://www.tusa.com/shop/tul300-dive-light-p-94.html)

[Scott L]

My first night dive I was a virtual Ramora clinging closely to my instructor. 2-3 dives later I was trying to lose the pack for the solitude and peace...

[jc63_]

I took some friends on a trip to the Japanese Seaplane in Guam 2 weeks ago. We did 2 day dives on it (one to find it, the other to do some extra exploring...). We came back 12 hours later and did another dive on it at night...it was eerie coming up on it with our lights! There was a nice sized boxfish in the fuselage, a turkeyfish in one of the drop tanks, cleanershrimp ALL over it, almost swam right into a jellyfish on the way to our safety stop, and a nice black and white striped eel hanging out next to a conspicuous sea cucumber...one of the best dives yet! I'm planning on taking them out to the Tokai Maru/Cormorran in a couple of weeks!

[knowone]

Another good reason to be in the Navy.

[Sas]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your night dive lulubelle :) I love them myself, and do about a third of my dives at night as I often do a dive after work during the week.

There's lots of things that come out at night like more cephalopods, and I like the fact that it is spookier. Some nights the bioluminescence is amazing too so we switch off our lights and wave our arms around to make it shine. One night dive I did had such clear viz that I could see the moon and stars at about 10m deep :)

[beautybelow]

My favorite night dive spot out of many. This was all from one dive and every time it was the same...

Night Dive on Maaya Thila, Maldives (http://beautybelow.com/video_maaya_night.html)

[lulubelle]

My favorite night dive spot out of many. This was all from one dive and every time it was the same...

Night Dive on Maaya Thila, Maldives (http://beautybelow.com/video_maaya_night.html)

Very cool Jon, wish you had been around to shoot our squid!

[Jersey]

Me too! My first 'night dive' was to have been a 'twilight dive', but gear issues and kitting up put us in the water an hour after schedule, with 2 little critter pointer lights that barely illuminated gauges. No discussion about signals, or what not to do (like shine your light in your buddy's eyes) as it wasn't a planned night dive. 10 minutes in it was pitch black. I too was the remora firmly affixed to my buddy amazed I lived 45 minutes. Never again I said. Six months later, proper planning, some decent lights, back ups, strobes, tank markers and I was a convert. I now suggest the night dive! Last trip we had the pleasure of introducing a newb to night diving. I could tell Frank was anxious as he kept asking questions through out the day. I buddied him up with my normal buddy, a 20 yr+ veteran, and had a thorough planning session and review. After a 45 minute dive I asked "Well?" ~ the answer "One thousand times better then expected." He expected not to be able to see his hand in front of his own face. You never know until you try it.

[Peter Guy]

I am NOT a fan of night dives, especially here in Puget Sound. It is just too dark! The junk in the water soaks up the light and, well, it is just too dark for me.

Tropical night diving can be interesting, and sometimes a much better dive than a daytime dive but because of the clarity of the water, the overall darkness isn't as bad.

I use a 21 watt HID to help cut the dark but it just doesn't work as well in open water as it does in the more confined spaces I sometimes enjoy.

[NC Wreck Diver]

Its not only a good idea, its even in the standards for the PADI AOW/Night diver to have dived the site for night dive during the day to be familiar with it..

Sounds like an intelligent idea. When I did all my NAUI certs years ago, they didn't have all these specialty courses offered today. I can see the training is much better now. When we dove at night, we geared up with lights and cyalume sticks and jumped in. Similar with Drysuit training...........rent one, get a 15 minute talk from the shop owner, and try it out in the quarry for a few dives until you felt comfortable.

I believe the class approach trains people better for these areas of diving. But I don't know the PADI AOW/Night Diver verbatum.

[jc63_]

I am NOT a fan of night dives, especially here in Puget Sound. It is just too dark! The junk in the water soaks up the light and, well, it is just too dark for me.

Tropical night diving can be interesting, and sometimes a much better dive than a daytime dive but because of the clarity of the water, the overall darkness isn't as bad.

I use a 21 watt HID to help cut the dark but it just doesn't work as well in open water as it does in the more confined spaces I sometimes enjoy.

Hmmm, I'm transferring to Bremerton in 2 months...gonna have to give up the tropical paradise I know for that cold water!!!

[Herk_Man]

I absolutely love night dives! My first one was the same night of the day I got certified, and it was at a spot I've been to twice during my "discovery" and cert., and was just amazed by how incredibly different it was (animal and plant life). Strangely enough, I found it extremely relaxing swimming in the dark... I sort of favor night dives over the day for that reason. I must admit, I got way creeped out one night though... I was happily swimming along, looking forward for a while, then I pointed the light towards my right side, and there was a huuuuge turtle cruising along about a foot away from me. It scared me at first, but turned out to be incredibly awesome! He followed along for quite a while, too!

My first night dive was also my two sons' first night dive and we will never forget it. Bari Reef in Bonaire. Tuling along looking at this and that when my I can suddenly hear my younger son audibly yelling through his regulator. As I turned to look at him a huge Tarpin smoked in over our shoulders and zoomed down in the beam of light from our [very modest] dive lights to snap up a fish. Just an awesome adrenaline rush!

[Hoomi]

I thought I would be at least a bit nervous on my first night dive, but since I was diving with a good group in an area I was already familiar with from day dives, I relaxed quickly and really enjoyed the dive. I've done one night dive in Mexico and one in Fiji so far, and both were great experiences.

I might have felt much differently, though, had I been with buddies that left me behind and dealing with strong currents.

[JTinSD]

A 4am in the water time assures plenty of life will be out as the dusk divers have been gone for 8 hours. And you can clean gear in the daylight.

I have a "night" dive Thursday 8pm on the Yukon. It's the tenth anniversary of its sinking this week, so lots of Yukon related things going on here. This particular dive, from the Humboldt, features an accompanying squid light boat with 30K wattage.

I'm curious to see what effect that kind of illumination will have at 65'-100'. Daytime viz on the Yukon has been reported at up to 40' lately.

[AfterDark]

Night diving is a tough act to follow. My 2nd decade of diving was almost all night dives. Friday nights if conditions allowed we'd dive after dark. The ocean comes alive at night. The light returns the colors to objects and creatures. Here in NE we see colors and creatures we'd never get to see during the day. I've only done 2 night dives this year:( both solo. It seems that people are still diving Friday nights but I work Friday nights:depressed:and I can't find anyone that is free to dive either Saturday or Sunday nights. Solo night dives worry Mrs. AfterDark and being the good husband I don't tell her when I go solo anymore;). I'd strongly recommend to anyone that hasn't done it yet to dive after dark, you'll be hooked. Even if the 1st attempt doesn't workout try it again good choice lulubelle!

[DiverBeth]

The first time I dived at night I was a new diver on my first dive trip. Not having lights yet I rented a light for diving. The thing quit on me a couple of times and only by hitting it did the light come back on. I didn't freak that my life went out but I was mad because there was so much cool stuff I was seeing and then not seeing for a few seconds. As soon as I got back from the trip I bought a set of lights.

AfterDark is right about being hooked. I rarely pass up a night dive.

[BrianOrange]

I did my first and only two night dives in Belize on a liveaboard earlier this month. I was unsure just like yourself and sat out the first two night dives. Once I did get in the water it was totally fine. No issues. You might think it's pitch black down there but it's not. You can see the outline of the reef or whatever. You won't need a light to see around - you need the light to illuminate fish. But it's not pitch black. That's the one thing that kind of stuck with me.

Overall, it was okay. Personally I like seeing the blue of the water so night diving obviously takes that away. But it's a unique experience. Give it a try. Have a good buddy, stay shallower. Usually night dives are shorter too so if you don't like it, you wont be down there long.

[NC Wreck Diver]

The first time I dived at night I was a new diver on my first dive trip. Not having lights yet I rented a light for diving. The thing quit on me a couple of times and only by hitting it did the light come back on. I didn't freak that my life went out but I was mad because there was so much cool stuff I was seeing and then not seeing for a few seconds. As soon as I got back from the trip I bought a set of lights.

AfterDark is right about being hooked. I rarely pass up a night dive.

Hi Beth:

I assume that you have purchased two or three lights of your very own by now. It's always the case, if you do a night dive with one light (or penetrate the wreck with limited ambient light), that light is always going to give you trouble.

I posted before, depending on conditions, I will turn my light out (with a cylume stick in the back of my rig), just to see what it's like in total darkness. I won't do that as I'm in a ripping current down the St. Lawrence Seaway, or a wreck dive off of Jersey, but I do enjoy this on a reef. It's fun, a little spooky, and I know I can turn my light back on quickly, or go to one of my two other back-ups I carry. Have fun & Safe Diving.

[Krenath]

My first night dives were on a liveaboard cruise in the Bahamas. The first one was on a wreck called the Miami Rita. We spent a nice, long dive in the shallow water exploring it during the day, and when we came back after dark, the layout was familiar, but it was like someone had completely redecorated, as the wildlife and plant life looked completely different. After exploring the wreck again, I turned around and shined my light into the blackness. Thousands of tiny points of light shone back like stars. Each one of them the eyeball of something looking back. I also covered my light and looked back at the wreck to see the lights of the other divers swimming around the wreck.

Another dive was on a wreck called the Hesperus, which was at maybe 19 feet. Our first dive was late in the day so we watched as it got steadily closer to dusk and stingrays and barracuda started coming to the wreck in masses. After our surface interval, we hopped back in and found numerous sea turtles had crammed themselves into nooks and crannies of the wreck to sleep.

Despite being told by the boat's divemaster not to shine lights directly in the eyes of the sea life, the other divers converged on one large turtle and proceeded to try to burn its brains out with their dive lights. It woke up and, dazed and blinded, headed directly away from all the lights and practically ran me over as I was the one diver not pointing a light at it and probably looked like the only exit.

On a night dive last summer, my buddy and I apparently stayed down so long that the boat's anchor line strobe ran out of battery power. We could see two nearly identical lights above us. One was the dive boat and one was the full moon. Rather than risking picking wrong and being in for a really long swim, we did a free ascent in the dark and ended up about 300 yards behind the dive boat.

On a night dive under a bridge in West Palm Beach, I was chased by a mating pair of horseshoe crabs for nearly an hour. Whenever I'd stop to look at something interesting, they'd trundle on up and try to bonk into my dive light. I also had a spotted moray swim between my legs while it was out hunting.

[NC Wreck Diver]

[QUOTE=Krenath;5358491]My first night dives were on a liveaboard cruise in the Bahamas. The first one was on a wreck called the Miami Rita. We spent a nice, long dive in the shallow water exploring it during the day, and when we came back after dark, the layout was familiar, but it was like someone had completely redecorated, as the wildlife and plant life looked completely different. After exploring the wreck again, I turned around and shined my light into the blackness. Thousands of tiny points of light shone back like stars. Each one of them the eyeball of something looking back. I also covered my light and looked back at the wreck to see the lights of the other divers swimming around the wreck.
__________________________________________________ __
I did the Miami Rita night dive on Blackbeard's. Cool Wreck. Your post is something that we did too. Lots of fun.............

[idocsteve]

If you time it right you can gear up and drop into the water just as it starts to get dark so you don't have the hassles of prepping your gear in complete darkness.

The fish act differently, they're not so quick to swim away from you, you'll see aquatic life that you probably won't ever see during the day especially crabs and octopus, and if you have a powerful dive light you'll see much more color than you do during the day.

A night dive is about the only way to really spice up that same old site that you visit all the time.

During our recent Curacao trip we did a few night dives and as I was swimming along shining my light under ledges I saw a distinctive pattern that stood out from everything else. Took a second to realize I was looking at the foot of a large turtle sleeping and tucked under the ledge.

Sorry to say I woke him up and he lazily lumbered away. The picture isn't all that good because of all the debris and resultant back scatter, but you get the idea.

http://i26.tinypic.com/dm32i0.jpg

[keyshunter]

One piece of advice I would offer is to leave your bright lights at HOME. My first night dive last week my buddy had a really bright light and did not want to dim it. That sucked. My second one my buddy and I both had a small TUSA reef light and were dimming it often. We saw SO much more on that dive...


lulubell,
I agree wholeheartedly. I have done quite a few night dives on LC. The very simple concept that many people (particularly the macho types) do not grasp is that "if the water is clear enough for 100'+ visibility in the daytime, it is usually just as clear at night". Thus one does not need the brightness of a cave light. Despite admonitions by divemasters in pre-dive briefings, they go merrily along, blasting their powerful lights into the eyes of sea creatures--not to mention other divers.

Although it is not necessary to go that small, on LC I use a pair of small Princeton Tec lights, each powered by 2 AA batteries. One light for backup. At times, when moving close to a creature, I block out part of the beam with my fingers. I try to make sure that my buddy(s) (I will not buddy with someone with a blaster light) and I are last off the boat. That way we can determine which way the "herd" is going and head in a different direction.