Where was your deepest, most interesting, and/or most challenging night dive?

[Maredsous]

I'm sure there are plenty of interesting night dive stories out there. We did one in Grand Turk going inverted straight down a sheer vertical wall into the blackness, all while being consumed by swarms of crazy blood worns. Everyone seemed to have trouble maintaining their depth amidst all the excitment, and we kept sinking and sinking; definately one of the more unnerving dives I've been on. Also did one in Belize in very heavy current where I kept repeatingly getting run over by the same newbie. She ended up getting separated from us and surfacing with a totally different group - her husband had to clean-out his shorty after that dive. Frederiksted pier in St Croix was another pretty interesting dive to do at night; very surreal.

So, where were some of your more memorable night dive experiences?

[tracydr]

Had a very shallow night dive in Africa, off Pemba where the current changed and got pretty stronge. Visibility went way down. We all got separated into a huge gaggle and one of the newest divers, who didn't have a backup light, lost her primary. Her buddy didn't understand what she was trying to tell him and continued diving. Luckily, he was diving with a huge video camera, lighting up the ocean for her. She kept her head and everything went well.
We all had a pretty long swim back to the boat, due to the crazy currents but overall, it was an amazing dive. Octupi, Spanish Dancers free swimming, just all kinds of good stuff.
Pemba Island had amazing diving, although the currents could be unpredictable and crazy. Not a lot of huge stuff or pelagics but tons of beautiful rays, eels, octupi, tropical fish and nudibranchs.
Generally, we try to keep night dives pretty easy. We usually use a dive we're familiar with as a day dive, an easy entry, relatively shallow, especially since its usually a third dive or more of the day. My usual experience with night dives is that they are a wonderfully, relaxing, "Xen-like" dive, great way to end a good day of diving. Plus, all the best stuff is usually out. My most recent one in Catalina Dive Park-saw tons of lobster, a huge black sea bass and a Blue shark swam right underneath me when I was on the surface at the end.

[g1138]

Channel Islands near Santa Barbara, California with the Truth Aquatic's Aggressor fleet.

We did a night dive off of Santa Cruz Island, 80ft below the boat and 20ft off the anchor.
The entire dive group descended off the anchor line which was at a 45 degree scope. Since most people were new to night diving or new to diving in general, they all clung to the anchor line while negative, including my buddy. Despite the briefing and repeated encouragement by me and the boat crew (I was a paying customer) to not hang on the anchor line, pretty much everyone did just that with no air in their BC.

The anchor line ended up bobbing up and down, sometimes as much as 15 ft. During my descend and ascent I had to repeatedly put input into my BC because I couldn't dial in my buoyancy. I remember having a slight runaway ascent in the beginning of my dive because I lost all reference.

During the actual dive my buddy would hang real close to me and continually drift into me. She actually managed to get her inflator hose tangled into my bungee necklace. Every time I moved away, she'd somehow drift over and on top of me; quite annoying especially considering there was no surge what so ever.

Our ascent was absolute hell by my books. I stuck with my buddy as she clung to the anchor line, ahead and behind us were several buddy pairs, and we ended up bobbing from 15ft to 24ft at our safety stop, simply because everyone was putting tension on the line then letting go when they surfaced. That or they would swim up, then stop kicking to hold their depth and end up dragging the line down with them. The dive by far topped my least favorite safety stop of all time.

The bioluminescene and after-dive cheesecake made up for it though. :D
Overall this wasn't my deepest night dive (35ft), but it was the most challenging.

[dmoore19]

My first night dive included getting my mask knocked off, getting my reg knocked out of my mouth and getting kicked squarely in the jaw with the result being seeing stars.

It was also my 10th OW dive and was perpetrated by the same person. I was "attacked" by the same person who was intent on getting in to see what the DM was pointing out all 3 times. The attacks came from above and behind me, I never saw it coming until it was too late. I recovered and cleared my mask, my regulator and managed to keep my wits about me. Is that exciting enough? It was certainly memorable for me.

[Laurie S.]

My most memorable night dive was in Raiatea in French Polynesia. The sea was a tad rough and we were in a small boat with the dive shop owner and DM. When we finally got in, it was on a gorgeous wall with tons of fish and other marine life. I got some of the most amazing photographs that night. I'll also remember walking back on the cruise ship with my dive buddy (me in my wet suit) both sopping wet and getting some really strange looks from other passengers. We didn't meet the dress code. LOL

[supergaijin]

Shore diving with friends on a moonless night at about midnight. Surfaced and the electricity had gone off on the island. It took a long time for us to see some candle light to know which way we had to go back as nobody had brought a compass :)

And this is how we learn....

[Scuba_Noob]

Most challenging night dive was probably at Kelvin Grove (near Vancouver, BC), when I was still quite new to diving. We went down to about 100fsw, when I realized that I was extremely narc-ed, likely a combination of it being night-time, pretty cold, and down to 100fsw.

I signaled to my buddy that I was going to ascend a little, and we ascended about 10ft. Symptoms went away, and I felt clearer. Nothing really dangerous happened; it was just the most narc-ed I'd ever felt. We did a second dive after to around the same max depth, and I didn't feel narc-ed much. I probably just got more comfortable with all the environmental elements.

[NWGratefulDiver]

Not challenging ... in fact, quite an easy dive ... but memorable. When I was a pretty new diver my (then) wife and I took a trip to Bali. We didn't own much equipment at the time, so except for our regs and masks (prescription) everything else was rental gear. The dive guide showed up with four little Q40 lights that we would be using for the dive ... one for each of us, and one spare that he tucked inside his waist strap. About 10 minutes into the dive, the first light died. A few minutes later, another ... then, another ... and finally, about 25 minutes into the dive, the last light went out. The moonlight filtering down through the water was sufficient to make out silhouettes and shapes, but little else. We navigated back to shore underwater, using the glow of the lights from the resort as our guide.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[DivemasterDennis]

Most intersting: manta ray night dive off KONA- spectacular at about 55 feet. Close second, off a liveaboard near Statia: 70 feet, lots of sleeping turtles, active night feeders, and the most intense bioluminescence I ever saw! Deepest: 110 shore dive off Buddy;s reef, Bonaire, just to say we did 110 at night to see that it is REALLY dark at that depth.
DivemasterDennis

[FinnMom]

My first night dive under the ice: a cold night (17F) with a huge moon and brilliant stars, plus some HUGE old cannister lights placed on the ice surface shining down. Stunningly beautiful! Our club had shoveled big arrows in the snow pointing to all the exits (intended plus 2 extras). In the areas where the ice was still covered with snow you looked up and saw the air trapped under the ice surface, moving and flowing like you were inside of a giant green lava lamp. From dark areas without snow you could look up from 12m and see the stars and moon way, way far above.

Since then I've learned that the night sky always looks amazing from below the ice, but I've never again seen the fabulous light show created by having so many big lights shining down from the surface. That I would really love to see again.

[AfterDark]

My most memorable night dive was at "the house on the dumplings" Jamestown, RI a shore dive with some work a nice boat dive.Three of us were diving for bugs on the channel side of the rocks. We all got bugs, I hit our turn around pressure so we headed back. I set a course for us directly back to the egress which was different from the way we came out.One of the divers, Mike swam out head of us. He told us later he needed to pee and didn't want to go in his suit so he paced it up.

Unknown to us there was a monofilamentgill net that had broken loose from somewhere and drifted into shallow water where it became snagged (anchored) to the bottom and half-assed deployed. Mike swam full tilt right into it! He became seriously entangled. We all had less than 1000psi by this time I was down to 500psi, which was about where I should have been for where we were by that time. I made the decision to risk my own entanglement with low air and began to cut away the net. Mike, a longtime dive buddy knew what to do, he kept very still and maintained his buoyancy. The third diver also a longtime dive buddy went to stand-by holding his light and Mike’s light that I was able to pass to him. I kept my light positioned so I could see whatI was doing. In the meantime the tide changed. Before I could get Mike out I was caught. Dave, swam over to me and looked at my SPG, he knows I use a lot of air, 300psi. He cut me out quick I wasn't entangled badly. He gave me the up signal, I flipped him off. I was staying until I needed to blow and go it was only 20fsw a piece of cake, just keep out of the net! We got Mike out, surfaced and got the heck outa there. Mike pissed himself. :) That was 30 years ago I remember it like it was last week.

[Maredsous]

My most memorable night dive was at "the house on the dumplings" Jamestown, RI a shore dive with some work a nice boat dive.Three of us were diving for bugs on the channel side of the rocks. We all got bugs, I hit our turn around pressure so we headed back. I set a course for us directly back to the egress which was different from the way we came out.One of the divers, Mike swam out head of us. He told us later he needed to pee and didn't want to go in his suit so he paced it up.

Unknown to us there was a monofilamentgill net that had broken loose from somewhere and drifted into shallow water where it became snagged (anchored) to the bottom and half-assed deployed. Mike swam full tilt right into it! He became seriously entangled. We all had less than 1000psi by this time I was down to 500psi, which was about where I should have been for where we were by that time. I made the decision to risk my own entanglement with low air and began to cut away the net. Mike, a longtime dive buddy knew what to do, he kept very still and maintained his buoyancy. The third diver also a longtime dive buddy went to stand-by holding his light and Mike’s light that I was able to pass to him. I kept my light positioned so I could see whatI was doing. In the meantime the tide changed. Before I could get Mike out I was caught. Dave, swam over to me and looked at my SPG, he knows I use a lot of air, 300psi. He cut me out quick I wasn't entangled badly. He gave me the up signal, I flipped him off. I was staying until I needed to blow and go it was only 20fsw a piece of cake, just keep out of the net! We got Mike out, surfaced and got the heck outa there. Mike pissed himself. :) That was 30 years ago I remember it like it was last week.


WOW!!! I almost pissed myself just reading this. Glad everything turned out okay.

Fascinating stories; keep them coming!

---------- Post added ----------

A guy I know relayed an interesting story about his most memorable night dive. He said that they had gone out and tied-off at a location on a reef somewherez in Belize. The boat capitain was also the DM on this particular dive. They finished what was apparently a pretty standard profile only to surface and find that the boat had come loose from its' mooring and drifted off out of sight. They were stuck way out away from shore for several hours before finally being picked up by another boat that just happened by in the dark - pretty crazy!

[Nami]

During my AOW 11 years ago was my most challenging and deepest one. We were 2 students and did not receive the PADI Manual during the class (bought it later when I went to the US). Our instructor gave us each one a divelight, and since we did not have the manual we did not know that we should have a back up each. After 10 minute dive, my light went out. After 15 minute dive, my buddy's light went out. The only light left was the instructor's which I used to read what depth we were at: 90 ft. So, OK. We continued to follow the instructor until I saw that his light was getting lower too!! I tugged at my buddy and signaled that we should go back to the surface. So with the help of a dim dive light and hugging my buddy really tight, we went up. The instructor later was a bit mad at us because we ended the dive instead of him. But lesson learned: I am always checking my gear before each dive and don't trust anybody else to do it.

My AOW dives were all quite challenging - another story is my AOW deep dive: to 190 ft. More lessons learned on that particular dive.

[ktkt]

Ahhhh, night diving is absolutely my favorite :)

My very first night dive, I found an octopus out in the sand while it was my turn to practice navigating.

Some other favorites:
1) Awesome octopus shows in Roatan. One dive we found three of them, and they all put on their skin-changing-flashy routine trying to disguise themselves. Another dive, we found only one, but he was huge and stayed out on top of the reef adjusting his position and coloration for at least 5 minutes while we just looked in awe.

2) Flashlight fish in Tulamben! Once we got carried a bit far watching them and had a longish surface swim back. The next night was perfect, and they hung out flashing forever. I held hands with my guide and we just stayed watching them until air supply told us time to turn. Also found an enormous spanish dancer on that dive. The flashlight fish are a new favorite for me :)

[scubadada]

Lea Lea's Lookout, Little Cayman, July 8, 2010, 50 feet for 66 minutes. Huge lobster, octupi, turtles. big hermit crabs, conch, reef sharks, huge school of squid. Most amazing night dive.

Good diving, Craig

[kwinter]

Most interesting or memorable are good things to ask. But please refrain from ever asking about "deepest" dives. It sets depth up as a milestone, and that can be dangerous. Dive as deep as you need to in order to see what you want to see to make it memorable. But do it safely within your limits.

As for my most memorable, by the time I completed my deco and got back on the boat, my buddies had finished all the beer. Make that "my former buddies."

[Maredsous]

Most interesting or memorable are good things to ask. But please refrain from ever asking about "deepest" dives. It sets depth up as a milestone, and that can be dangerous. Dive as deep as you need to in order to see what you want to see to make it memorable. But do it safely within your limits.

Never any intention to set milestones here. Please do not infer that simply asking a question in anyway implies endorsement.

[lmorin]

Our most memorable night dive took place in Roatan where we did a night dive with 14 other folks. The boat anchored over a shallow reef 17 ft below. The wind, instead of declining in the late PM as usual, steadily increased producing 6-8 ft seas. The boat was pitching severely and tossed 2 gear-laden women right onto their faces. Upon entering the water, I was immediately thrust to the bottom by the surge, lacerating my ankle on the lettuce coral. It was a madhouse around the boat with massive surge and dive lights flicking and bobbing everywhere. My wife and I latched onto each other, found the DM and followed him around the reef where we saw 2 shrimp. The return to the boat featured a long lineup at the ladder. Boarding took sufficient time that the first folk back on board had plenty of time to become quite seasick, me included. The entire venture was an unfortunate mess, but made us better divers. Nobody enjoyed the dive and, IMHO, the DMs should have known the conditions well enough to cancel the dive.

[coldwaterdufus]

west coast of Canada, night dive playing with the sea lions, they were captivated by the lights and kept wanting to swim through the beams of light, followed us right through our safety and the whole length of the surface swim back to shore. I'll never forget that one

[TomZ]

Milford Connecticut, 1971 or 1972, night dive. Tide was running, looking for lobster, drifting along the breakwater. Back then good viz was 5' to 10', it's gotten better in recent years I'm told. Didn't have a depth gauge, but the spot's about 25-30' IIRC.

My buddy was right next to me... until I stopped for no apparent reason. He continues to get carried by the current, and can't get back to me. Nothing is touching me. Nothing. However I can't make any down current progress, no matter how hard I try. Tide is running too hard to reverse into it. Flashlight is now wildly swing around trying to see what's stopping me. OK, let's go up and end this dive. Ascended about 3' and stopped cold again. Now the rational mind has gone on vacation: either an octopus has me by the tank, or a shark has bitten off my legs, and I'm in shock and can't feel the pain. I was 16 or 17 yers old, it's night time, my buddy is out of sight and sea creatures are ending my life. Finally my flashlight picks up the rope lodged between my USD CAM E-Z Pack and tank. It's attached to string of lobster pots in a no lobstering area. Of course this being the 70's I had a foot long USD knife strapped to my leg, which made quick work of the rope. I was wearing a horseshoe vest, and popped the CO2 cartridge. I was in 100% panic mode.

We went back the next day at slack tide and cut every lobster pot free. I don't know how I survived to 25. Dumb. The funny thing is I didn't realize that was my first drift dive until this was written. The 35+year SI must have made me even dumber. The dives from that time were long ago and I didn't keep a logbook. I don't even count them.

[asha]

My most memorable was last December, soon after I had moved to San Diego. We were shore diving at La Jolla Shores, and from the beach we could see a huge congregation of cormorants and other seabirds a couple hundred yards offshore. We swam out to it and dropped into water so thick with squid, I could barely tell which way was up. It turns out the squid were running, and it was incredible. They were attracted to my canister light and my camera strobes. There were several moments where I'd feel a tug at my camera, and a squid would be attached to one or both strobe arms (attempting to mate with it?). When we were following the bottom contour back to shore, hundreds of squid followed me across the sand. I felt like the pied piper of squid. So cool!

Some photos and a video on my blog here: http://www.ashleyhauck.com/blog/2012/03/11/san-diego-california-the-running-of-the-squid/

[dwhthediver]

During my AOW 11 years ago was my most challenging and deepest one. We were 2 students and did not receive the PADI Manual during the class (bought it later when I went to the US). Our instructor gave us each one a divelight, and since we did not have the manual we did not know that we should have a back up each. After 10 minute dive, my light went out. After 15 minute dive, my buddy's light went out. The only light left was the instructor's which I used to read what depth we were at: 90 ft. So, OK. We continued to follow the instructor until I saw that his light was getting lower too!! I tugged at my buddy and signaled that we should go back to the surface. So with the help of a dim dive light and hugging my buddy really tight, we went up. The instructor later was a bit mad at us because we ended the dive instead of him. But lesson learned: I am always checking my gear before each dive and don't trust anybody else to do it.

My AOW dives were all quite challenging - another story is my AOW deep dive: to 190 ft. More lessons learned on that particular dive.
Numerous standards violations... hope he isn't an instructor any longer.

[Tropicalwolf]

Most memorable was probably a night dive in the Gulf of Mexico back in 1992. Middle of tropical storm, ten foot swells, lightning striking the water. You could see the lightning flash and pulse through the water at depth. It was amazing to see.

[TSandM]

My most memorable night dive was also one of the worst dives I've ever done.

It was shortly after I had taken my GUE Fundamentals class, and I was avid to get out and practice. My instructor, Steve, was running the occasional Wednesday evening dive at a local site, and he had sent out an e-mail that he was doing one that week. Two dives were planned, one at 3:30 and one at 6:00. It was January, and 6 pm in Seattle is pitch dark at that time of year, so I was planning on attending the first dive, until I saw the list of people coming. They were ALL far, far more experienced than I was, and I was severely intimidated. But I squared my shoulders and told myself that everyone has to be a beginner, and the purpose of the dives was to get out and polish skills and learn, and I had as much a right to be there as anyone else.

It was a bad beginning, and nothing got better. I arrived at the site, to find that one of the scheduled divers had been delayed, and we were waiting for him. I thought I should simply repack my gear and go home, but I decided to play it by ear, and see just how low the sun was when he arrived.

It was low. I should have gone home, but I had all my gear out and ready to put on, so I thought I would give it the old college try.

The plan was to get in the water, go down to about 15 feet, and do a round of air-sharing drills. I was assigned a buddy with about 300 dives (to my 65 or so) who was in double tanks and had some technical training. I was feeling very unsure of myself, and it only got worse when we tried to do our drills, and I could not maintain buoyancy in the dark water. Up I went, and up my buddy went, until he actually went over backwards. We surfaced, and I could tell my buddy was frustrated and furious. The instructor came up to us and asked, "What's going on, guys?" I offered, "I'm having trouble, and Charles is very frustrated with me." The instructor looked at us dispassionately and said, "Well, you don't HAVE to do this. You can just go diving. But this is what WE do; we start the dive with drills." Of course, at that point, I was going to get the damned drill done or die trying, and we went back down and muddled through it.

Off we went on the tour portion of the dive. I was rattled and shaken and not very happy, and I got disoriented in the dark and had buoyancy issues, and ended up hanging onto a piece of structure, trying to get myself back in order. The end of the dive couldn't come soon enough, and I was deeply relieved when the other team signaled that it was time to ascend.

They were going to shoot a bag, and we were all going to do a stepped ascent, stopping every ten feet. Once the line was there as a reference, we started up -- at which point I found out that I could not read my computer well enough to see my depth in the dark. (It had been okay earlier in the dive, when it was just dusky, but once it got pitch-black, I was out of luck.) I drifted off the line, and found myself in inky black water, with no visual reference at all, and no depth gauge. I started yo-yoing violently, and my buddy was eventually completely overwhelmed, and the instructor came in and physically controlled me and my ascent, and got me to the surface . . . at which point my weight belt fell off.

I had to tell the instructor, who sighed (thinking, I am sure, "Why did I ever get involved with this woman?"). And then I informed him that it hadn't gone to the bottom, but was caught on my crotch strap (a nice thing about crotch straps). So he had my lie on my back with my legs spread, and he dove underneath me, and caught the weight belt and rearranged it. All the time I was thinking that about the only thing I could have thought of to make the dive worse than it was, was to have my instructor fumbling between my legs to fix my gear . . .

I got out of the water, and walked up to the sea wall and sat down, and desperately tried to control my tears. My very sweet dive buddy sat down with me and talked pleasantly about his father and growing up and trying to do things well. I appreciated his kindness, and the kindness of the instructor who helped me get my gear back to the car.

I could not even exchange pleasantries with my buddy of that night for several years, until he asked to attend an event I arranged at my house. At that event, I spoke to him about that night's dive . . . and he did not remember it at all. An experience that had made me avoid him for years had not even registered on his radar. I was truly nonplussed.

I have since learned to love night diving, and even learned to do, and enjoy, night skills dives.

[dumpsterDiver]

My most memorable night dive was also one of the worst dives I've ever done.

It was shortly after I had taken my GUE Fundamentals class, and I was avid to get out and practice. My instructor, Steve, was running the occasional Wednesday evening dive at a local site, and he had sent out an e-mail that he was doing one that week. Two dives were planned, one at 3:30 and one at 6:00. It was January, and 6 pm in Seattle is pitch dark at that time of year, so I was planning on attending the first dive, until I saw the list of people coming. They were ALL far, far more experienced than I was, and I was severely intimidated. But I squared my shoulders and told myself that everyone has to be a beginner, and the purpose of the dives was to get out and polish skills and learn, and I had as much a right to be there as anyone else.

It was a bad beginning, and nothing got better. I arrived at the site, to find that one of the scheduled divers had been delayed, and we were waiting for him. I thought I should simply repack my gear and go home, but I decided to play it by ear, and see just how low the sun was when he arrived.

It was low. I should have gone home, but I had all my gear out and ready to put on, so I thought I would give it the old college try.

The plan was to get in the water, go down to about 15 feet, and do a round of air-sharing drills. I was assigned a buddy with about 300 dives (to my 65 or so) who was in double tanks and had some technical training. I was feeling very unsure of myself, and it only got worse when we tried to do our drills, and I could not maintain buoyancy in the dark water. Up I went, and up my buddy went, until he actually went over backwards. We surfaced, and I could tell my buddy was frustrated and furious. The instructor came up to us and asked, "What's going on, guys?" I offered, "I'm having trouble, and Charles is very frustrated with me." The instructor looked at us dispassionately and said, "Well, you don't HAVE to do this. You can just go diving. But this is what WE do; we start the dive with drills." Of course, at that point, I was going to get the damned drill done or die trying, and we went back down and muddled through it.

Off we went on the tour portion of the dive. I was rattled and shaken and not very happy, and I got disoriented in the dark and had buoyancy issues, and ended up hanging onto a piece of structure, trying to get myself back in order. The end of the dive couldn't come soon enough, and I was deeply relieved when the other team signaled that it was time to ascend.

They were going to shoot a bag, and we were all going to do a stepped ascent, stopping every ten feet. Once the line was there as a reference, we started up -- at which point I found out that I could not read my computer well enough to see my depth in the dark. (It had been okay earlier in the dive, when it was just dusky, but once it got pitch-black, I was out of luck.) I drifted off the line, and found myself in inky black water, with no visual reference at all, and no depth gauge. I started yo-yoing violently, and my buddy was eventually completely overwhelmed, and the instructor came in and physically controlled me and my ascent, and got me to the surface . . . at which point my weight belt fell off.

I had to tell the instructor, who sighed (thinking, I am sure, "Why did I ever get involved with this woman?"). And then I informed him that it hadn't gone to the bottom, but was caught on my crotch strap (a nice thing about crotch straps). So he had my lie on my back with my legs spread, and he dove underneath me, and caught the weight belt and rearranged it. All the time I was thinking that about the only thing I could have thought of to make the dive worse than it was, was to have my instructor fumbling between my legs to fix my gear . . .

I got out of the water, and walked up to the sea wall and sat down, and desperately tried to control my tears. My very sweet dive buddy sat down with me and talked pleasantly about his father and growing up and trying to do things well. I appreciated his kindness, and the kindness of the instructor who helped me get my gear back to the car.

I could not even exchange pleasantries with my buddy of that night for several years, until he asked to attend an event I arranged at my house. At that event, I spoke to him about that night's dive . . . and he did not remember it at all. An experience that had made me avoid him for years had not even registered on his radar. I was truly nonplussed.

I have since learned to love night diving, and even learned to do, and enjoy, night skills dives.

I still enjoy reading how terrible you were....

---------- Post added ----------

Possibly my most memorable night dive was my first. I had just been certified (at 13 yrs old) and had done maybe a dozen dives , a few were solo. So I set out on my first solo night dive in a very dark lake in Vermont off the dock of a cabin we were staying at. The bottom was 3 foot thick fine silt with heavy weeds and the visibility was maybe 8 feet and the depth was 12-15 ft.

I had no lights on shore, no compass and was pretty nervous. It was a very dark night with no moon. I went down the dock and got into the water and was doing ok, but it was a little disorienting with no real visual reference to follow up or down or in or out, just mud and weeds and a few fish. It was quiet and still with most of the fish "sleeping" except for a catfish or two..pretty spooky.

I may have been down 5-10 minutes and I bent over to touch something and when I straightened up, something was slamming me from behind!!.. I was totally freaked and spun around frantically looking for what was hitting me on my low back. There was nothing behind me, but whatever it was, was still hitting me in the low back.

I spun around again and again with my very bright (10-D-cell allen light) and saw nothing. I probably spun around a few more times, and then kinda got a grip.... SOMETHING was wedged under my backpack.....

I bent down a little and litterally felt the fish pop out of there. Apparently when I bent down, it opened up a gap between the backpack and my lower back and somehow a large sunfish instantly shot into that gap and because I had a suit on, I didn't feel it, but when I straighten up, it trapped the fish perfectly in the arch of my lower back...which totally freaked the fish out .. and no amount of spinning and looking behind would dislodge it... until I bent over and released the pressure.

It sounds ridiculously silly now, but at the time, it scared the hell out of me for a good 45 seconds.. How the heck does something like that happen?

[NWGratefulDiver]

I still enjoy reading how terrible you were....

... it was even more fun experiencing it ... :D

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[CaveMD]

One of my favorites was the first time I came out of Jackson blue at night. I had been down for close to two hours and had about an hour of deco in the cavern. The way the spring pool lights up with a 21w hid reflecting off the surface was picture worthy. I had a lot of fun entertaining myself making shadow puppets against the wall...you do silly things to entertain yourself when you have an hour of deco and no one else around.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

[OzGriffo]

I'll never forget my first night dive. I had done a couple of dusk dives, so was keen for a proper, true night dive off a boat.
I was so violently ill on the ride to the dive site however, I struggled to assemble my gear. I only jumped in as I thought it would lessen the sea sickness.
I then spent a miserable 40 minutes following people trying my hardest not to feed the fishes.
Back the boat i was then violently ill again, and dropped my regs and broke them.

My next night dive was a dream however, I felt a special level of satisfaction when the instructor remarked how well I held my buoyancy on the stop while shooting the SMB. Thanks gue :-)


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[divin'dog]

I remember doing a night dive somewhere in the Caribbean... It was a full moon and the plan was to go down with our lights on, but then at the signal we would all shut our lights off for a while and let our eyes get used to the dark. It was like being in a darkened room with the street lights coming in. Amazing what you could see by the light of the moon. It was creepy at first, but when I got used to it, I loved it. Now I shut off my light on every night dive for a while, sometimes diving by the light of others. Other times I'll cover my light just enough to see what's there with the light coming through the cracks of my fingers. It feels more natural when my light is off and that I'm less intrusive with the creatures that live down there. Still creepy though when you look back into the black abyss behind you... brrrr...

[1thumper]

About ten of us took a trip to Maldives, staying at Reethi Beach Resort. Overall, the dive center and the diving there were underwhelming but the highlight of the trip was a shore-based night dive we decided to take in the lagoon.

As background, every day in the late afternoon the resort staff conduct a stingray&shark feeding from the shore (no comment about the ecological correctness of this, but it was very popular with many "land people"). There would be about 30 very large stingrays and a handful of nurse and reef sharks that would attend, they come up to eat and then disappear

A buddy and I decided to do a night dive in the lagoon, as it happened not far from where this feeding is held. First 10-15 minutes of the dive were quiet, cruising over the sand and small reefs look for macro subjects to photograph. Then somehow as we got deeper (about 5 meters) we wandered into the night cruising area of the rays. We quickly understood what it must have been like in WWII on a ship under a massive dive bomber attack. Every minutes or so from various directions, rays would rapidly come cruising out of the darkness. Maybe because it was night, they had zero fear of us and would not divert at all from their path if we happened to be in it. These were big stingrays, mostly 1.5-2 meters in diameter. They would go over us, under us, or literally brush as they passed at the same depth. We had relative tight-beamed lights, so their appearance would be sudden and close. They came in singles, or in formations of 2-3. The most dramatic case encounter was when my buddy was about 12 inches off the bottom shooting video with his compact camera in one hand while spotlighting some rays with his light in the other, when a large ray came in and then right beneath him. Ok, there is 12 inches between his chest and the sand, and a 2 meter ray with a body depth of maybe 8-10 inches is squeezing under at some speed...thoughts of Steve Irwin clearly in his head, the arch that my buddy suddenly made to make some clearance was amazing...kind of like watching a high-jumper arc over the bar. The action went on for about 45 minutes, at which point we had been sucking gas so fast that we were low on air and had to retreat.
128006
Amazing, and of many night dives it's the one we could never forget.

[soltari675]

My most memorable dive is pretty simple, but it stuck with me. The very next weekend after I did my OW we went to Mermet Springs in Illinois. For those who don't know it, it is a very large quarry that has planes, firetrucks, train cars, and all kinds of other stuff down there. If you've seen US Marshals, the 727 they crash in the movie is in this quarry. They also pump music under water which is pretty cool.

So on this weekend, a buddy working on his dive master asks who wants to do a night dive. I've never done one before and I am a little unsure. He asks me if I want to go, and says he will be my buddy and that we will stay above 30ft and keep the dive short, since I am so new. So I jump on the opportunity. There are three of us and we decend onto a 15ft platform and then begin our dive. I notice our third is way above us, possibly on the surface. I can only see her glowsticks. We haven't gone far at all, so we go back to the platform and my buddy tells me to stay still while he checks if she is ok. No problem. I am on a platform hanging onto a rope attached to the buoy. I am good.

While he is checking on her, I get curious. I get myself completely neutral in the water, where I am not touching anything, or moving at all. I am proud of myself for doing that btw. Then I shut off my light for a moment. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon is playing and I am floating completely weightless in pitch black nothingness. No moon that night, so I can't even see my hand touching my nose. It was ..... surreal. It's the closest thing I can imagine astronauts feel like. Perfect music for the moment as well. I only did this for a few seconds, and turned my light back on so my buddy would not look or come down and freak. But that moment is the most memorable to me in diving. It was that moment I knew I found a hobby I would never willingly give up. I was addicted.

[Bubblehead628]

I love night dives, I have two memorable ones. My fist one was doing my AOW in 1976 (yeah I know). Anyway we did a shore dive at “Cannery Row” in Monterey Ca. At that time the canneries were closed and the area was not the tourist attraction it has become today, actually it was kind of run down (if memory serves). We went in at dusk, I think I had maybe done a dozen dives prior to this, my light was more water resistant than water proof and my buddy’s light was less so (he had it in a plastic baggie). The plan was to surface swim a little ways and dive along the cement pier. I don’t remember where the other divers and instructor were, we were scattered about I just know it was just me and him (can’t remember his name). During the surface swim we encountered a sea otter mom showing her pup how to crack open an ab, really cool. I didn’t realize how big they were until I was five or so feet away from them. We went down maybe 20-30 feet and had a bit of a fright from the get go, this dark shadowy thing came hurtling at us and veered off at the last second. Of course it was a seal having fun at our expense; remember what year “Jaws” came out? Nuf said. Shortly after that my buddy’s light went out (no surprise there). He was a big guy in his early 20’s, a student at UC Davis and I was 17 in high school, so I looked up to him as the mature one (my bad). When his light went out he was out of there, he surfaced and swam back to shore fast, not bothering to tell me or anything. I surfaced, it was fully dark now and I couldn’t catch up with him. Actually at first I was a bit disoriented and my light was fading fast. I figured that the street lights indicated the shore and kept the pier to my left side, but I couldn’t judge the distance. I know we weren’t very far from shore, but it looked a long ways away in the dark. I started heading to mostly snorkeling. It seemed to me to be a long swim, I kept looking up and see the lights but couldn’t determine how far out I was from land. I was wondering when it would be shallow enough to stand (I couldn’t see anything). I was chugging away, when I heard my instructors’ voice tell me that I can stand up now. I was not a happy camper and let my buddy know, I didn’t have the guts to say anything to my instructor a retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt.. Overall the experience had some good (otter & seal) parts and some not so good parts (disappearing buddy). I survived and it didn’t deter me from doing more night dives.

The second memorable night dive was also a shore dive, this time off of Hollywood Beach, Fl near the Commercial Street pier in the mid 1980’s. My college roommate Bret and I did a dive to the second reef system, about 60 or so yards away. It was a full moon and lights were almost unnecessary, vis was great depth was 20-30 feet. We had not one, but two encounters with octopi. The first one was a rather large one (basketball size) just resting on top of a coral head, as we approached she (I thought of it as a she) came to us and let us touch it, she was rather friendly touched us back and showed no fear, finally she tired of us and jetted off. Shortly after that we met another one, much smaller (softball size) and almost as friendly. As we headed back to the beach, we were in about six feet of water when I heard my buddy scream through his regulator and he was hightailing to the beach, practically walking on water. Apparently a fish got lodged in the vent of his translucent fins and was slapping his leg trying to extricate itself. He had no idea what was hitting his leg, but it scared the poop out of him. Remember when Jaws 4: the Revenge came out? Nuf said. At about the same time (as I was trying not to laugh too hard) I fell back into the water near the shore when a small wave hit the back of my legs. It was about two feet deep and when I landed on my butt I braced myself with my hands and my right hand landed on a rock. I grabbed the rock to see what it was and it turned out to be a Slipper/Shovelnose lobster, hard to find when looking for one. It was an interesting night dive and none has come close to that ever since.

[RonFrank]

One of my favorite night divers was my first Ocean dive, and my first Ocean shore dive with Marvel and Jenny and Matt at LBTS. It was a twilight dive that turned into a night dive. We saw nothing outrageous except I was new so it was all outrageous! Parrot fish, Trigger Fish, Blenny, Bass, an Eel and all the usual like Loobsters, and Crab and urchins ohh my! I also experienced bio-luminescence for the first time UW at night. It was my Birthday and what a great day it was.

[XS-NRG]

Only ever done 3 night dives but it's the best diving I think.

1 Was at Sidney Marina in Victoria, BC (my first ever). The amount of crabs we saw and the anemones were just amazing!!! The dive wasn't very deep but it was exhilarating. The full moon was out but there was some clouds so we couldn't just moonlight it.

2nd was at Ogden Point again in Victoria and after all the confusion of getting in, walking the boardwalk only to find a fierce current going out to the ocean, walking back and then doing our dive it was extremely shallow, extremely short and wasn't that great. I think the cluster-you-know-what we had with the entry and walk sure makes it memorable but not in a good way

3rd way just this past weekend and was awesome. 60ft was the max depth and was 30 mins but half way through the dive we found the treasure we were looking for (1960's Ford Meteor car wreck). Great dive and at the end we did our safety stop in pitch black with our lights turned off.

Need to get this card. It is on my dream list for the next one to get!!!

[Seaduced]

My night dives generally aren't deep or challenging, but some are interesting. One that comes to mind was in Bonaire, last February. I was trying to take some pictures, but tarpon were using my focus light to spot 'dinner' and would swoop in and eat my subjects. I got mad and turned off the light. I was mesmerized by the bio-luminescent trail the tarpon left in the water. I had never seen anything like that before. I hung motionless for 15 minutes just watching the twinkling trails crisscross back and forth. Its one of the coolest things I have discovered underwater. Now, I regularly turn off my lights and look for critters that flash or glow.

[IDS_Bill]

For me it was Subic Bay, Philippines. We were doing one of our trimix check-out dives and got started late so it was a night dive. At 175fsw the instructor swam off, moving the guideline to the anchor and left the 4 of us students on the wreck. We had to do a free ascent/deco from 175 at night, in a current, in shipping lanes. We followed procedure and surfaced about a 1/2 mile from the boat and when we got to the boat, we found the instructor on the boat, on oxygen. He told us he got bored and decided to end his dive early and "finish his deco on the boat". We learned a lot from that guy about what NOT to do :).

[SeahorseDeb]

[QUOTE=g1138;6380359]Channel Islands near Santa Barbara, California with the Truth Aquatic's Aggressor fleet.

We did a night dive off of Santa Cruz Island, 80ft below the boat and 20ft off the anchor.
The entire dive group descended off the anchor line which was at a 45 degree scope. Since most people were new to night diving or new to diving in general, they all clung to the anchor line while negative, including my buddy. Despite the briefing and repeated encouragement by me and the boat crew (I was a paying customer) to not hang on the anchor line, pretty much everyone did just that with no air in their BC.

I'm sorry, what am I missing.....We jump off the boat with our B/C inflated......

[tracydr]

My husband and I did a very memorable night dive with a full moon off Oil Slick in Bonaire. I'm not sure if it was the full moon but there were so many creatures out that night!

[Jim Lapenta]

Deepest was a solo to 110 feet in the lake we used have available for training. So peaceful and relaxing knowing there was no one else near me.
Most memorable was off the dock at Divi in Bonaire. Got far enough away to not see the lights from the resort and turned my own light into my chest. Closed my eyes to let them adjust and when I opened em the bioluminesence exploded like millions of stars. Would love to see that again.

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