First Night Dive

[TheHuth]

Did my first night dive last night. Wow, that was so much fun. We did a dive earlier in the day. Visibility wasnt that great. So it was easy to lose your buddy. Spent most of that dive just trying to keep within a few feet of your buddy. Then came the night dive. Since everyone had lights, it was much easier to keep track of everyone.

Saw lots of fish, and some crabs. California has no shortage of Garibaldi. But the thing I loved the most is it was so peaceful. Not allot of surge. Since the water has warmed up a bit it almost felt like I was drifting through space. Just calm, quiet, and picturesque. It made all of these training dives worth it.

I'm still working on buoyance control, but I can tell that I'm getting much more confident and comfortable diving. I think its just like any other physical sport. Once you've learned to work with the terrain (the ocean in this case) instead of fighting it, it becomes 100 times more enjoyable.

 

[undrwater]

Where'd you dive?

 

[TheHuth]

Shaws cove, Laguna beach, ca

 

[Storker]

Night diving is one of my favorite types of diving. There's something about hanging there, surrounded by black nothingness, the only things in the whole universe you can sense is your breath, the stuff in your light beam and your buddy's light out on the flank. It's weird, it's intense, it's surreal.

BTW, low viz issues improve with practice. Me and my regular buddy, we do this almost instinctively. Close contact, even holding hands, when viz is truly crappy, and some more distance as viz improves with depth. We don't even think about it anymore. One of the great things about having a regular buddy. You just have to watch out so you don't kick your buddy's reg out of their mouth or their mask off their face

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

Sure is beautiful at night, but scary for me, I was practically up my instructors butt for fear of losing him. I didn't care much for swimming around but totally dug it when we stayed still and watched the show. Watching the phosphorescence was magical! Do you shore dive often? Have you dove this site in the day?

 

[Reku]

Night dives are awesome! So much fun

 

[Lorenzoid]

Sure is beautiful at night, but scary for me, I was practically up my instructors butt for fear of losing him.

Ha ha. I know what you mean. My first night dive was part of the AOW course, which I did in Utila, Honduras. My instructor had me and two other students with him, but at the same site there must have been 20 other divers in the water, and between us crossing paths with other groups, and all the light beams swinging all over the place, it was chaotic and disorienting. I was so focused on trying not to lose my group that I don't know if I saw any of the things one is supposed to enjoy seeing on a night dive. I can't say I enjoyed my first night dive.

Nowadays, I love night dives. But the less crowded the site, the better.

 

[certified in 1976]

Night diving is an amazing experience. We used to night drift dive in the St. Lawrence River regularly - double your fun drifting at night. It was an absolute blast. A boat would follow above and follow our lights. Every dive was different and you just rode the currents down the river. Also did a lot of spooky night dives on Lake Ontario wrecks. But the most amazing night dive was on the Great Barrier Reef when a group of sharks starting circling us. Now that was scary.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

My first night dive was during my AOW class. It was late spring, and so the plankton made the water pretty murky. I clearly remember how things just kept looming out of the darkness, often times very close by, when I shined my light on them. It was scary, thrilling, exciting ... and totally amazing. My instructor's first words upon surfacing ... "Bob, you're a nice guy ... but I never want you that close to me again".

I've since come to love night diving. My all-time favorite time to dive is early morning, get in while it's still dark and watch the "shifts" change as dawn puts ambient light in the water ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Bob DBF]

I've since come to love night diving. My all-time favorite time to dive is early morning, get in while it's still dark and watch the "shifts" change as dawn puts ambient light in the water ...

Or night dive on a full moon. or close. If you solo, don't turn on the light and let your eyes adjust, otherwise use the smallest light available. Did several on a "lobster" trip in the the Channel Islands in SoCal with 50' viz, and after I got away from all the lights, it was spectacular.


Bob