How was your first night dive ?

[archer1960]

I didn't get around to doing night dives until late, mostly because finding buddies for it an getting around to purchasing light etc. seemed like a lot of bother. The first one was an absolute revelation. Lobsters, eels and squid roaming about in the open and critters you never see during the day, like sand worms swimming in open water. Here was my first effort at video on a night dive from last fall.

The dive site here is a RI state park and the there are houses or parking lot lights, just you and a star filled sky. Non diving friends always comment on how spooky it looks, but to me the dark and aloness of it is awesome. Sometimes it feels like you are going into the closet to seek out all your childhood monsters and vanquish them. I bought a proper video light for this season, can't wait to see how it comes out. I only wish I could capture the night stars and luminescence the camera can't pickup.

Are you referring to Ft Wetherill? (I'm in RI).

 

[Frosty]

I LOVE night diving in the pacific.
You've had some amazing feedback My 2c worth is this.
1)try to do your first night dive when theres a full moon.
2) Wear cheap dark sunglasses on the boat for as long as you can.
Number 2 some divers laugh at.But its an old trick to get your eyes adjusted to the dark.

 

[Damselfish]

My first night dive was part of my AOW class in New England and it sucked. Buoyancy control is harder in thick neoprene, and harder at night with less visual reference, and I just didn't have it together enough yet. The second was only slightly better. But night dives became my favorites locally, because I wasn't overheating in a wetsuit in the sun, and because we often saw more stuff at night. For a long time even in warm water I used to be slightly anxious when I hadn't done a night dive in awhile, but I'd get over it as soon as I was in the water. When we travel to warm water I'm way too lazy to dive every night, but I love to get in a few. It's a whole different experience, and a night dive can really be made by a single great encounter, like quality time with an octopus or getting to watch a free swimming eel out hunting.

If you're afraid of the dark, maybe a good bright light will help - although as you you get used to night diving, you may find (especially in clear water) that you want less bright so you're not scaring off the critters you want to see.

 

[Soba]

Just did my first night dive earlier this month as part of AOW...Blue Hole, Santa Rosa NM. Was less scary than expected and went pretty well.

I did experience one small bit of disorientation during the dive. It seemed like we were starting to swim into a cave and that didn't fit into the experience from two dives earlier in the day. My mind told me that there was no cave but in the limited light it appeared to be one. Took a few seconds to catch up that it was just an overhang portion and things were normal. Lesson learned.

Overall, a great experience and I look forward to trying a night dive again in the future.

 

[v101]

my first night dive was part of the advanced open water class, it was a bit late when we got suited up, and into the water, and the light I had was a very low lumen light. It was a bit nerving at first, I stuck very close to the instructor as I recall. But after about 10 minutes, It was one of the greatest experiences I had! I really loved it, and we stayed down longer than we had discussed mostly because we were just having a good time. the low lumen lights I had were terrible, so it made it difficult to see much, but also made it fun. Now I LOVE night diving, in fact when I goto FL to cave dive I hit the caves at night for a bit of extra fun.

But anytime I hit the quarries, I do night dives, and its great, when you have a good light, and get to see all the fish. Ocean night diving is even better, due to more creatures, that come out at night, and the variety of things to see.

Suggestion - Have a good dive light, (rent it, vs buying it)
Make sure the instructor has a good dive light

Relax, and just try to get into your comfort zone, it will take each person different amount of time.
have fun.

 

[jonhall]

My first night dive was below a pier (Frederiksted Pier in St. Croix.) Had done the pier in the daytime already, so knew some of the features. The pilings under a pier help to keep you oriented and if you get lost you know one end is the shore (ask before the dive about exit points)!

Really enjoyable - neat things to see that you don't see in the daytime.

 

[thoga00]

My first night dive was on the M/V Spree in the Dry Tortugas. At the Bat Caves if i remember correctly. Very cool, lots of biumonescense, cool swim throughs and fantastic vis. If only all night dives were like that one.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[scubadada]

My first night dive, years ago now, was at Turtle Reef in Grand Cayman, a site we had dived during the day many times. The dive with my son was perfect, I did not want it to end. After the dive, my son and I had a take out dinner from Cracked Conch, courtesy of my wife and daughter, what more could you want?

 

[fjpatrum]

A. Maze. Ing. I love night diving. Of my 30ish dives I think 6 or 8 of them are night dives. I really enjoy them and, as others have said, it's such a dramatically different experience there really is no comparison. I always feel like it's "quieter" at night, though it really isn't. The sounds are just different and less familiar than what you hear during a day dive when there's more boat traffic, more people traffic, etc. I think part of that is focusing your vision so you tune out other senses more, too, and of course going slower as someone else mentioned.

If you can handle your fear well enough not to panic, night diving is truly worth it, at least a couple of times. Some folks don't find it as appealing, but for me it's just a whole other aspect of diving that is fantastic.

 

[phoenix31tt]

Advanced open water training dive. Nervous but exciting, not much to see on that dive but had fun none-the-less... have since done alot of night dives, my favorite of which was on a wreck. Recently did the UV night dive in grand cayman as well, that was pretty cool it's fun to see the anemones and coral light up and sneak up on sleeping fishes as the uv light doesn't affect them as much