Night Diving

[aquaregia]

I got certified after I moved away, but I grew up in Salter Pt and used to hang out in Swanbourne/Cott.

 

[AfterDark]

I didn't see it mentioned, I may have missed it but, what is the current like?
Jetties and currents go together like peanut butter and jelly. Could the current be taking you off course? Is there a slack period? Do you dive that slack period? If you go out hunderds of meters from the jetty then the metal pylons can't be affecting your compass that far away. I've seen submersible GPS in a pressure housing a little pricey but a lot neater than a line. All the advise about natural landmaks and sloping bottoms is right on the mark. Watch the seaweed it'll give you an idea of the timing of swells if there are any. Also for your veritcal direction watch the particles in the water, your moving in the opposite direction. I've only dived once at night at a site where I hadn't dived during the day many times. That was with someone that had dived it many times both day and night. The more you dive any site the more things you'll identify as natural landmarks. Do some day dives there. I understand they are probaly not as much fun as night diving there but you need see the "big" picture as they say.

 

[RTee]

As other mentionned, I normally use a combination of natural features (slopes, depth, current) and compass heading to orient myself. At night in not so familiar places I will dive in a clover leaf pattern...set-up a start point (mooring line, etc) install a chem light and strobe light swim a short distance away from it x referencing with compass, come back to it, venture in another direction, come back to it, etc. In the case of pylons, you may want to bring mine tape or tags/tiewrap during the day and number them so when you dive at night when you hit one you know where you are in relation to the overall area. There also nothing wrong by running a permanent line either and then tie a 100m secondary line to explore area away from the jetty

 

[rameus]

I think that best way to safely navigate through a nightdive is a good briefing and even better if you had the chance to dive the same spot before. Since when you're using your compass you are already disturbed in your normal way of moving since you need light to look at it and during that time you will not see in which direction you are swimming.
On a liveaboard for example I usually orientate on the ropes where the boat is tied on (since they're normally tied on at the reef). If there is nothing special to see I know about (like a wreck or a cave with special fish in it) I will stick more or less to the point I find there and swim a bit back and forth since in a nightdive you may be lucky and find all the stuff just next to you or you will swim for 40-50 minutes just missing all the good stuff because it was scared away from your movement or the movement from the buddy-team in front of you.

 

[Foxfish]

aquaregia

I dive Rockingham a lot but also dive Rottnest a lot and also north and south of Perth. I have done a shore dive just off Cottesloe which wasn't bad. The Swan River is a mess at the moment as a result of dredging, but would like to do some diving on prawns in better conditions.

AfterDark

The current can be a problem but I was having troubles with and without the current.

RTee

The clover leaf idea sounds interesting. I'm wondering though whether it is easier just to head in one general direction. Probably be a good idea for one of the dive shops to run a rope as a number of divers use the site.

rameus

I did a night dive recently and found that close to the boat the fish were scared off and the water silty because of other divers. Next time I thought I'd try to get away form the boat a bit more. I was diving with a photographer so we were not going fast anywhere.

Thanks again for your comments people. As I said before, I've found that with practice my skill has improved and this is not such a big problem.

 

[RTee]

Foxfish....the main advantage of diving a clover leaf or cross pattern is that you are never far from your starting point and you get back to it before heading in a new direction and then you repeat the process. This allows you to recce an area of definite dimension rather than two long straight lines and then hoping you will be back at the very same starting point with the minimum air that you have set up before the dive

 

[mpgunner]

The simple way I look at this is to do a bunch of dives during the day and become very familiar with the site. At night you'll recognize the same things.

 

[scubadiveilat]

Memory and visualization!!! Is top key including;

• Objects, Mark, Observation and Point of memory.
• A line is a good option as well.
• Team work.

As you dive at night and in the same area, Your memory and visualization triggers and the ability to navigate the area becomes easier.

 

[modzs]

I'd dive lines. Once you've laid and followed the lines several times, you'll become less and less reliant on them.