Big Island Black Water Dive?

[natalieinca]

I'm heading to Hawaii over Thanksgiving and am considering the black water dive. I'm comfortable night diving and blue water diving, but I have never done a black water dive. I also won't be bringing my own buddy, so I will have to get paired up by the shop. (I understand you are all tethered to the boat as well).

Just wondering if the dive is worthwhile - it seems like you could see a lot of bizarre stuff, which would be great, but it also seems like you could be floating out there for 45 mins and not see much at all.

Has anyone done that dive and not seen much? Also interested to hear about good experiences. Is most of the stuff you see jelly-like or are there all kinds of creatures?

Thanks!

 

[TSandM]

You really don't have to worry about your buddy on this dive, at least the way Big Island Divers does it. You're on a tether, and you can move up and down your tether but not sideways very far. I can't remember if I could have gotten to someone to share gas, but we couldn't have ascended that way without releasing someone.

I thought the dive was really fun. Everything we saw was gelatinous and many of the things were fairly small, but they were weird and wonderful, and glowed in the dive lights. It's a very different dive experience. I don't think you could do it and not see anything; you're basically floating in a jelly soup!

 

[CooperGR2]

I didnt do this dive on the Big Island but I did it on Oahu. I would say go for it. When you do any "ordinary" dive you look at stuff and say ok thats a fish or a shrimp or a shark, but on the Black Water Night dive you see these glowing things floating past you and you say "what the heck was that"?!?! It was definetly very interesting seeing the different deep water species that come up to feed. We also went lights out for about 5 or 10 minutes and seeing the bio-luminecence (spelling) was pretty remarkable. As for the buddy situation I'm not sure how it would be done there but theres 4 different people tethered off to one rope and your pretty much on your own (our dive i didnt go below 20 ft) but the divemasters are able to get to you within seconds. Hope you do it and have a blast!

 

[Thalassamania]

Do it!

 

[Kryssa]

I saw my first seahorse on that dive! Then I saw my 2nd!

You don't worry about your buddy very much, other than maybe a quick buddy check before you jump in. You are all tethered and are close enough to reach if you needed to share air. However, nobody is getting lost and the boat is never more than 40 feet away. Big Island really does a great job. I was a little nervous going in so I was the last one in the water, and by the time I was down, everyone was shining their lights around and it wasn't scary at all. Because of the lights, you can see all of the other divers on the dive, so it's never you alone in the darkness, like I've felt on Nor Cal night dives before.

We saw a lot of jellies, baby fish, baby crabs, and invertebrates on the dive. The highlights were the seahorses and this amazing ribbon thing. I'll post a couple of pictures, but keep in mind both my camera and skills are terrible, so when you add the fact that it's a night dive and I was moving... well... forgive the quality.

 

[koozemani]

Sounds like a great experience. Please post a report, I'll be out there next summer.

 

[Thalassamania]

They are really neat dives, I think that in the science community we've have a much better tether system. I've been thinking of running a free seminar for local instructors to show them how we do it and let them try it. Customers will be happier, one staff member can effective supervise four divers, supervision and control is better yet the divers are less constrained.

---------- Post Merged at 08:55 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:54 PM ----------

They are really neat dives, I think that in the science community we've have a much better tether system. I've been thinking of running a free seminar for local instructors to show them how we do it and let them try it. Customers will be happier, one staff member can effective supervise four divers, supervision and control is better yet the divers are less constrained.

 

[rgbmatt]

FYI, there's a company on Oahu that's doing this too. Not sure if there's a difference between what you'd see on the Big Island vs here, but either way it's cool.

These kind of animals have been observed for years by local fishermen, who put out lights at night to attract plankton which, in turn, attracts fish. All kinds of interesting things come up to the light, many of which are juvenile forms of what we see on the reef every day. It's nice that people have noticed this and are able to share it with tourists.

 

[scottitheduck]

smellzlike fish has done a great job of categorizing what we have been seeing here on Oahu:

Check our site out for more info: Dark Side Oahu

and Jeff's at: http://milisenphotography.yolasite.com/blackwater.php

With regards to the operations on the Big Island I say go for it. I could do it every night for a year and find new stuff! Crazy UFO's and Space Aliens!

 

[tracydr]

I've always wanted to do this dive. I've watched a bunch of Jack's Dive Locker videos of it, it looks amazing! Do it!