My First Night Dive Didn't Go Too Well

[daniel1948]

Thanks for your post, John. I'm a new diver, and expect to do my first night dive on my next dive trip, as part of getting my Advanced Open Water certification, after reading the Advanced manual, of course. It helps to read of your experience, so as to be aware of some of what I might face. It sounds as though, for all your disorientation, you acted correctly.

 

[charlesml3]

I take a some different approach to introducing divers to the night. I know they're going to be nervous and that's going to make everything more difficult for them. They panic easier and saying "We're going on a night dive" just scares them right away.

SO, my approach is to do an "afternoon/twilight" dive. First tank is afternoon. Full sun, nothing they haven't done before. Hour surface and then the 2nd dive. They go in with a sunny afternoon and as the dive progresses, it gradually gets darker. I find that many of them are quite surprised when they surface at the end of that dive to learn it's completely dark by then!

I usually congratulate them for completing their first night dive. Next time they're ready for a true night dive and don't make it out to be more than it is.

-Charles

 

[BDSC]

I take a some different approach to introducing divers to the night. I know they're going to be nervous and that's going to make everything more difficult for them. They panic easier and saying "We're going on a night dive" just scares them right away.

SO, my approach is to do an "afternoon/twilight" dive. First tank is afternoon. Full sun, nothing they haven't done before. Hour surface and then the 2nd dive. They go in with a sunny afternoon and as the dive progresses, it gradually gets darker. I find that many of them are quite surprised when they surface at the end of that dive to learn it's completely dark by then!

I usually congratulate them for completing their first night dive. Next time they're ready for a true night dive and don't make it out to be more than it is.

-Charles

I think that's a great idea for new divers or someone doing their first night dive. It's gotta calm some of their fears.

 

[J.R.]

Great post John... and a nice job of staying cool under pressure. I couldn't tell from your story (or may have missed it)... but were you all carrying 'marker lights' as well as your flashlights?

Small tank lights (mixed colors) can be handy for locating specific individuals or buddy teams at night and can help to give you that little bit of extra 'comfort' in knowing who's where...

Thanks for the post...

 

[SkipperJohn]

All I can say is wow. I have to tell you, something about breathing under water... I feel some of the anxiety you wrote about in all my dives (all 4 of them), and only after 20 minutes or so do I get comfortable.
I am scheduled to go to Cozumel early next year and my buddy is anxious to schedule a night dive. I am estatic at the thought but I know I will have issues I need to over come (heck, I am still working on the issues of drift diving).
Thanks for the post, thanks to all the experienced folks with their advice and thoughts.

 

[donkey]

It sounds to me like you did alright, congratulations on making a second try at it right away. Night diving certainly carries different challenges than daytime dives. I second (or third...whatever the count is!) the plan to dive a site in daylight first. It has really increased my comfort level for night dives. In my experience, sites still look a little different at night, especially since your world consists of what is lit up by your light. It also really helps in keeping a frame of reference if the boat is lit up like a Christmas tree. Lots of lights shining on the water, strobes on the down line and anchor line, etc. This is generally easier on larger boats.

 

[AZjohn]

I couldn't tell from your story (or may have missed it)... but were you all carrying 'marker lights' as well as your flashlights?

Small tank lights (mixed colors) can be handy for locating specific individuals or buddy teams at night and can help to give you that little bit of extra 'comfort' in knowing who's where...

Hi JR,
Yes 4 out of 5 of us were given those child wrist glow in the dark tubes (not sure what to call them) which were put between our 1st stage and the tank. I could see it fine on the surface but I really think between the poor vis under water and me stiring the bottom up I couldn't see them. The 3rd diver down had one of those flashing red lights in his tank. He told me (I think I heard him right) that his red color is not the best choice because that is one of the first colors to fade the deeper you go???

All I can say is wow. I have to tell you, something about breathing under water... I feel some of the anxiety you wrote about in all my dives (all 4 of them), and only after 20 minutes or so do I get comfortable.
I am scheduled to go to Cozumel early next year and my buddy is anxious to schedule a night dive. I am estatic at the thought but I know I will have issues I need to over come (heck, I am still working on the issues of drift diving).
Thanks for the post, thanks to all the experienced folks with their advice and thoughts.

Hi John,
I'm a total rookie but one of the things that was drilled in my head in my OW cert class was the rule of any diver can call off a dive without any recourse or hard feelings. Please keep that in mind regarding doing a dive your not comfortable with. If you decide to do it anyways please let the DM know your background with a little anxiety at first and I'm sure they will work with you. I learned (and believe as true) I have no reason to be asshamed of what happen to me and need to talk/explain about it with the dive con right away. Those days of being a macho man are long over for me (lol).

It sounds to me like you did alright, congratulations on making a second try at it right away. Night diving certainly carries different challenges than daytime dives. I second (or third...whatever the count is!) the plan to dive a site in daylight first. It has really increased my comfort level for night dives. In my experience, sites still look a little different at night, especially since your world consists of what is lit up by your light. It also really helps in keeping a frame of reference if the boat is lit up like a Christmas tree. Lots of lights shining on the water, strobes on the down line and anchor line, etc. This is generally easier on larger boats.

Hey Donkey,
I too think it's a great idea of diving the site in daylight before doing a night dive in the same location. The following day after the night dive we ended up at the same dive site for our last afternoon dive. This vis was still really poor (15 feet) but had no problems going down. Once my buddy and I swam around I thought to myself, this is a nice area, what the hell was I freaked out for (lol).

And last, I didn't explain in my first post that the dive con that lead this dive has dived with me maybe a dozen times or so. She knew that my favorite thing to do is the descend. Maybe I'm the only one that likes the feeling of free falling to the bottom. It just feels so cool to me. Now, I'm not saying I like to rocket down (which I ended up doing on that night dive) but we have done that "free fall" together many times when I could never see the bottom or the top becuase of the vis. She just probably never thought my brain might have a issue doing it in blackness. That is kind of why I wanted to write about the experiance.

Thanks again everyone for their posts, just some outstanding info and ideas!
John

 

[GaryABC]

John,
Thanks for starting this thread. I'm scheduled to do my first night dive tomorrow night! Now I know more about what to expect.
Great suggestions from the contributors. Thanks everyone.

 

[Tigerman]

First of all, congratulations on a learning experience.

I havent read all the posts as thoroughly so bare with me if some of what Im about to say is already mentioned.
Someone did mention that night dives and particularilly the first ones should be in familiar enviroments. It helps a lot to be familiar with the site, although it can change quite a bit during the night.
Planning the first night dive as a free ascent probably was not the best either, it should have been a shore dive or a line ascent.

As far as lost buddies on night dives goes. Although it might seem silly, turn off your light or cover it before looking around. Itll be easier to see a light, glowstick or strobe when you dont have yours on.
You may of course risk that both does it at the same time, so you might want to "go dark" a few seconds to look around, then have your light on so others see you for a while before going dark again.
The ideal is of course to be chained to your buddies, but as you have realized, the world is not a perfect place above or below the surface.

As far as "dont panic" goes, youre right that IS easier said than done, especially considering how the human brain works. If youre going to NOT think of something, your brain will first need to think of what not to think of. Does that make sense?
If someone tell you not to think of a purple tree, your brain will for a split second think of a purple tree wether you want to or not. Think of what you do want instead of what you dont want.
Dont stop breathing or never hold your breath should be always breathe, remember to breathe deep and slow or something similar. Dont panic should be stay calm and so on. Try avoiding negative words like dont and never. It may seem far fetched, but it helps a lot.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Thanks for sharing that story - we're getting ready for our first night dives soon and reading these kind of 'real-world' accounts are helpful.

@Pacific Taco: You'll be surprised how much fun our local night diving can be. The Main Wall just west of Vallecitos at La Jolla Shores is an excellent place for a first night dive. It's where I did my first night dive. It continues to be one of my favorite local dive spots. I prefer night dives over day dives there since there are a lot more critters out at night: octopus, cusk eels, target shrimp, mantis shrimp, rays, guitarfish, and sarcastic fringeheads. Every now and then a seal or sea lion will scare the living **** out of you by taking advantage of your light to grab a late-night snack.

Once you master the night dive, you should consider doing a pre-dawn dive. There are a number of local divers here who meet up at 5:30am to do a dive before work. I highly recommend the experience. It starts off as a night dive...and then finishes as a day dive. The fish tend to be pretty active at dawn, too. Ahhh, good times.