Night diving - what is it like?

[AZNetEng]

My wife and I love doing night dives. Our very first night dive was daunting and was not nearly as enjoyable as the next set 40 dives later in our evolution as recreational divers. Definitely do more than 1!

 

[Satrekker]

I love night dives. It is a totally different world at night. My favorites to date were the night dives about 6 weeks ago at Isla del Coco for the white tip reef shark feeding. Amazing! Hovering 2 or 3 feet above 30+ sharks just going bonkers feeding below you is crazy cool. Cozumel is another favorite. There were only 3 of us on a recent night dive in Cozumel and not another light in sight. It was like we were the only divers in the ocean! Also, I've only ever seen octopuses at night, and they are one of my favorites. Definitely give it a try, and start at twilight as has been recommended. GL

 

[shoredivr]

Errrr okay that totally freaked me out. I wear a beanie regularly so hope creepy crawlies find it harder to get into my ears. Cause that would totally freak me out!

Get a hood, either 3ml or Lycra.
It's very relaxing knowing your ears are covered.

 

[Damselfish]

Hold your light sideways next to (not shining directly on) a coral head to attract the little buggers, then the coral will suck them in. You'll get a little revenge and the coral will get dinner.

 

[admikar]

Another thing to do when doing a night dive at Coz, especially when doing your safety stop, is turn off your light and wave your hand in front of your face. You will be amazed at the small bio-luminescent critters that will briefly flash on. Very colorful.

IMPORTANT: Notify your buddy/group you are going to do this. Night dive, I'm last in a group of five. I turn off my light, and watch bio-luminescence from their fining. Leader turns around, counts one light less and then all of them turn around and shine me like a proverbial deer in headlights. Couldn't see a thing for 10 minutes.

 

[GreggS]

IMPORTANT: Notify your buddy/group you are going to do this. Night dive, I'm last in a group of five. I turn off my light, and watch bio-luminescence from their fining. Leader turns around, counts one light less and then all of them turn around and shine me like a proverbial deer in headlights. Couldn't see a thing for 10 minutes.

Yeah, that would be important. I guess the reason I didn't think about it was that our DM told us pre-dive to do it while we were doing our safety stop.

 

[Diesel_Diver]

Yeah. Back to night diving--I have heard a big reason for doing it is that creatures tend to come out and are more active at night. These "people" in San Diego used to use their dive lights to kind of "freeze" the lobsters, making them easier to corral. Perhaps this activity there is/was illegal?
Anyway, if you night dive in Fundy are the tides more of a danger than in daytime?

Honestly I can’t say, been diving for 3 years but just started diving the bay this summer. The one night Dive I have done in the bay was a fast tidal drift! It was a group Dive and a blast . But yeah you gotta watch the fast tide . Especially if you leave something on the beach when it’s coming in. Might be gone when you get out of the water lol.

 

[rongoodman]

I love night dives. It is a totally different world at night. My favorites to date were the night dives about 6 weeks ago at Isla del Coco for the white tip reef shark feeding. Amazing! Hovering 2 or 3 feet above 30+ sharks just going bonkers feeding below you is crazy cool.

What's really impressive is when one of the big sharks appears out of the darkness to have a smaller shark for dinner!

 

[tarponchik]

To overcome your fear, start with night snorkeling at some easy spot that you know well.

 

[Berry Ke]

I haven't read the whole thread so excuse me if you've told it already but I find the way one experiences one's (first) nightdive(s) could differ a lot depending on one's experience on daydives

I had been diving mostly in low vis. (sometimes max 1m vis. Up to 3m-4m on good days), so when I did my first night dive nothing had changed much and I found the night dive even more relaxing and calm than daydives.
I did a nightdive on grand Canaria last week and we had their more visibility and warmer weather than in The Netherlands.