I don't have anything to offer other that what has already been said. But I will share a story. While doing my AOW and drysuit certifications, one of our dives was a night dive. We were at a quarry for the weekend, and the weather was unseasonably hot and also intermittently stormy, and perhaps as a result there didn't seem to be that many people at the quarry that day. We got geared up and splashed, each of us with marker lights on our tanks, dive lights in hand, backup lights, etc. There were six of us with an instructor, a DM, and another instructor who decided to join as as a second DM.
The dive went great. Until the very end. As we circled back around to the underwater platform, we noticed that suddenly there were tons of other divers in the water. Just about everyone had on similar looking drysuits, everyone had lights that they were shining in everyone else's eyes, everyone had marker lights on their tanks (but they were all the same colors: red, green, or blue), everyone had black hoods on, and the majority of people had dark colored fins.
I was right next to my buddy as we made our way through the scrum. I was trying to keep an eye on him while also keeping an eye on the instructor and the DMs. We all did our safety stop and then they signaled to ascend. I turned my gaze away from my buddy for a split second and suddenly he had multiplied. I signaled to ascend and up we went.
We got to the surface and removed our masks and I was like "Who the heck are you?" He said the same to me! It was some random other guy. So one of the DMs said he would go back down to get my buddy, who I could see below us. The DM descended and grabbed my buddy and signaled to ascend. My buddy didn't seem to want to. So the DM signaled more vigorously to ascend, and up they went. At the surface, we realized that it wasn't my buddy! We asked the other guy why did he ascend with some stranger and he said "Well, he seemed pretty adamant that I ascend, so I did!" Meanwhile, my buddy had been witnessing this whole thing and finally decided to come up on his own. Why he waited so long, who knows.
Given the depth, how much air everyone still had left, and the fact that there were so many divers around it wasn't really a serious situation. But it highlighted to me how quickly things can get messy during a night dive, especially one where visibility isn't that great to begin with.
The dive went great. Until the very end. As we circled back around to the underwater platform, we noticed that suddenly there were tons of other divers in the water. Just about everyone had on similar looking drysuits, everyone had lights that they were shining in everyone else's eyes, everyone had marker lights on their tanks (but they were all the same colors: red, green, or blue), everyone had black hoods on, and the majority of people had dark colored fins.
I was right next to my buddy as we made our way through the scrum. I was trying to keep an eye on him while also keeping an eye on the instructor and the DMs. We all did our safety stop and then they signaled to ascend. I turned my gaze away from my buddy for a split second and suddenly he had multiplied. I signaled to ascend and up we went.
We got to the surface and removed our masks and I was like "Who the heck are you?" He said the same to me! It was some random other guy. So one of the DMs said he would go back down to get my buddy, who I could see below us. The DM descended and grabbed my buddy and signaled to ascend. My buddy didn't seem to want to. So the DM signaled more vigorously to ascend, and up they went. At the surface, we realized that it wasn't my buddy! We asked the other guy why did he ascend with some stranger and he said "Well, he seemed pretty adamant that I ascend, so I did!" Meanwhile, my buddy had been witnessing this whole thing and finally decided to come up on his own. Why he waited so long, who knows.
Given the depth, how much air everyone still had left, and the fact that there were so many divers around it wasn't really a serious situation. But it highlighted to me how quickly things can get messy during a night dive, especially one where visibility isn't that great to begin with.
My husband usually wears Force Fins and they're easily identifiable ... but he just switched fins so I might have to tag some of his stuff with puffy paint ... I'm thinking hot pink!
