My First Night Dive!!!!

[TTT]

Last night I was schedualed to go on my first ocean dive for my dry suit certification. Because of heavy traffic I did not reach the dive shop till almost night. I thought that were going to call the dive then and say come back another time, but instead we decided that we go ahead and make it a night dive, that would count for both my dry suit cert. but also as an adventure dive towards my AOW.

Wow diving at night is amazing...it was a cloudy night..so it was REALLY dark! At first I was pretty nervous but soon as we got wet it was great. The dive its self was farily uneventfull, a nice wall with your typical PNW life..but towards the end we came across the most amazing bio- luminesence (sp?) I had ever seen!!! swimming along felt like flying through space with stars flying past me! it was incredible

If I didn't have the diving bug beofre I definitly with out a doubt have it now! I can't wait to dive again! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!

just thought I would share that with you guys..and girls!

cheers!

 

[Tractor Tom]

...I haven't done one since I started back diving again. My last night dive was in 1978! But we are headed down to the Gilboa Quarry in Ohio tomorrow after work and will be doing a night dive there tomorrow night. I can't wait for it'll be an adventure.

 

[saying]

Here, here.

A friend and I are doing the diving portion of the SDI night class this Saturday. I'm a little nervous that I'm not more nervous about it. I'm actually outright scared that I'm excited for it.

You see, I don't expect any bio-luminescence. I don't expect to see octopus out hunting. I doubt we'll see any coral blooming.

We've been told that in the local quarry we might see a catfish and that it's possible to make the undisturbed silt look like it's breathing. Big fun.

I pretty psyched anyway.

 

[Rick Inman]

We make night dives all the time... In the day! It gets quite dark in some of our lakes once you pass 40', and, no light, no see!

 

[tleemay]

Down here in SoCal we have a very good reason to do more than our share of night dives.

Lobster season... which starts in 15 days or so.

If you ever get down this way in the next 6 months, seek out a night dive charter and be prepared to have a lot of fun!

 

[Rick Inman]

Wayyyy back in the 80s, we used to night dive Palos Verde for Lobsters (before the sea urchins took over) and the fish and games guys would hang out and wait for us at our cars to see if we were poching by robbing lobster traps. Back then, the lobster fisherman would put florescent powder on their traps, which would get on the lobsters. When we got to the car, the F&G guys would shine blacklights on our bugs to check for glowing powder. Do they still do that stuff??

 

[ScottyK]

Night diving in my neck of the woods rocks!!! We see eels, squid, bioluminescent jellies and too many crustaceans to list. we also get swarms of either copepods, ghost shrimps or plankton depending on the time of the year.

Since Jen and I work days, half or more of our diving is at night. Besides the interesting dives themselves, we get less traffic, less surge and less people around when we do day diving.

Scott

PS- Around here, if the lobstermen catch you messing with their pots, consider yourself lucky if they only kick the $%&^ out of you. I've heard stories of them firing warning shots and sinking boats.

 

[scubasean]

I love diving at night...The sea life is totally different....I haven't done many of them, but am trying to set it up to do again soon.

Quite cool....

 

[tleemay]

Rick Inman once bubbled...
When we got to the car, the F&G guys would shine blacklights on our bugs to check for glowing powder. Do they still do that stuff??

Not that I have ever seen nowadays, but I have heard about it from years past.

F&G nowadays scope out the beaches and shores along the coast and the front side of Cat looking for divers catching bugs before 12:01 AM opening night. They then will put a diver into the water from a blacked out boat and suprise the divers while they hunt and even search their boat (if they are using one) for previously caught before 12:01 AM or short hidden bagged bugs. I see more of a problem of short lobsters being brought back than early taken lobsters.

A couple years ago, there was an officer of some type who flashed a badge underwater to a hunting diver at 12:13 am forcing him and his two lobsters to surface. He filed a complaint with the officer's captain that the officer endangered the diver by forcing him to surface quickly. Last I heard, the charge of taking bugs early was dropped and the officer and agency was on the defensive for endangering the diver.

Ever since that particular incident, I have never heard of something like it happening since other than opening night boarding and searches.

As to commercial bug fishermen trying to catch divers stealing from their traps, well, let's just say that the commercial guys all look out for themselves and are divers themselves. They can tell when one particular trap has been tampered with and which traps in their rig collections has the higher chance of being robbed. The thought of buckshot coming from the muzzel of a Mossberg is not worth any lobster to be taken from a commercial trap. Besides, it's just plain stealing when the trap is legally placed and baited. Someone told me that the powdert that was being used years ago on previously caught and placed bugs was not enviromentally safe or some other reason.

I will, however, with MHK, be the first to tell you that divers do raid commercial traps. One particular diver we both know was caught with his hand in the trap at San Clemente Isle a few years ago. There he was bending the door af a trap open and bagging the legal sized ones and releasing the shorts. Of course, he swore up and down the diver we saw was not him, be we of course knew better since he was the only diver to return from the dive with a day limit of bugs when others didn't see one legal sized one the entire day.

It a sad thing to see I know, and even sadder when a diver denies it after being caught.

 

[nessum]

Woooo!
I dunno, I prefer doing lazy day dives to night dives, most of the time.
But night diving around here is excellent!!!
My second to last night dive we encountered a hunting seal (too busy to play), a small, purple octo (very cool) & unbelievable bioluminescence. It was crazy! I was snorkelling along on our surface swim & glanced over @ my buddy (beneath the surface) & he was just this massive, glowing comet-trail in the shape of a diver!
So while they are not the type of dive I favour, they are certainly a type of die I will never give up.
Cheers~