I debated about where to post this - Scuba humor seemed appropriate - btw - I am talking snorkeling - not scuba here.
My first night dive (which lasted under 5 minutes) was back in 1990. A friend invited me to join him off the windward coast of Oahu - by the marine research center (Sea life Park area) we went out in a little inflatable about 50 yards from the breakwall, no moon, and no lights to see - we had one flashlight between us. He jumps in, and as I am about to follow he starts "freaking out" turns out an octopus had latched onto his spear and when he pulled it up, it jumped onto his leg, but he couldn't see it (can't really blame him though - I would have been panicky too I think) he finally dislodges it from his leg, invites me in (I was rather leery about this whole venture already) in I go - it's about 3 ft. vis. and very murky. We can "hear" but not see the waves crashing about 50? yards away (probably 4-5 foot surf that night) we splash around for a couple of minutes and both decide it isn't worth continuing. Fast forward 14 years - I have not gone night diving since then (not having been all that impressed the first time) For the past few months I've been working night duty at a hotel in Napili, Maui - paid to walk along the beach is what I call it. The water has been like glass at night, so peaceful that I decided I'd like to try a night trip again - maybe catch a parrot fish (I've been hungry for parrot fish lately) - so a friend who has done a lot of night diving agrees to take me, and another mutual friend joins us (I found out later he had only been in the ocean to snorkel about 3 times - about a year ago. We finally get in the water and swim out - vis isn't bad - about 10-15 feet. Very calm water, though stirred up a bit. I anchor the catch bag/float and we start hunting - my friend spots a big fish (about 18 inches long) I try to tell him to leave it alone, but he doesn't get the message - Pop . . . sssssss . . . inflate . . . . puffer fish - then it sounds like a whoopie cushion as his spear had punctured it's "air sack." oh well - keep trying. We all start itching suddenly and realize it's sea fleas (I don't know if that's the technical term or not) my first experience with them - boy do they itch, but it's just more of an inconvenience than anything else. Our one friend (inexperienced one) had to leave for work - so we send him to shore and keep a close eye on him to make sure he is ok (we were only about 25 yards from shore) - but instead of going to our entry point he heads straight for shore - meaning a 100 yard walk, barefoot across a sharp lava field - OUCH! we tried to catch him, but too late. oh well at least he's safe and sound on land now. We continue amidst the itching, but there is nothing but puffer fish around (about a dozen or so - all quite large - basketball sized when inflated???) after about 30 more minutes we turn to head in and I get my first experience with a portugese man o' war. catches on my snorkel, right across my upper lip - youch. it wasn't bad though, quickly get dis-entangled, lip is feeling pretty strange about now, burning, tingling, etc.. only about 3-4 stings actually so not too bad. (I've seen a lot of people really get hit hard by those things - painful then) we get back to our entry/exit point. As we start getting out our friend that left for work earlier is still there - "I can't find my keys" he yells out (earlier I had placed his belongings in a pile together out of the reach of the waves - he had slowly spread the pile out all over the rocks) We agree to help him look as soon as we get out of the water. My friend heads in, I pick up the anchor and float, following him. He gets out - I am about to when I drop the anchor line, and it gets tangled up in the rocks - no big deal, just gotta free it. I go to set my spear down, it gets caught in a crevase, and about that time my one friend yells over to me "where did you put my keys?" I look up to answer him (big mistake) and in that moment of inattention a wave picks me up and drops me smack on top of an urchin - giving me 25-30 urchin spines in my thigh. Ok - that hurt I say to myself. And to think this was the night I decided not to wear my wet suit - it was too warm I thought. I finally pull myself, the float, tangled anchor line, anchor, and bent spear out of the water - hobble over to the keys - and hand them to him (right where the original pile of belongings had been) thus ends my second night dive. I spent the rest of the evening having my neighbors help pulling spines out (or should I say break them off ???) then crawl into bed very much ready to sleep and saying to myself . . . I can't wait to try that again - it really was a lot of fun - and the "challenges" just give me something to laugh about and learn from for next time - primarily don't get distracted when you should be focussing on a task at hand - and don't assume anything is "common sense" when you have a new guy with you (he really is a good swimmer and great guy - he just had no idea about some of the basics of snorkeling, but a little experience will cure that really fast)
My first night dive (which lasted under 5 minutes) was back in 1990. A friend invited me to join him off the windward coast of Oahu - by the marine research center (Sea life Park area) we went out in a little inflatable about 50 yards from the breakwall, no moon, and no lights to see - we had one flashlight between us. He jumps in, and as I am about to follow he starts "freaking out" turns out an octopus had latched onto his spear and when he pulled it up, it jumped onto his leg, but he couldn't see it (can't really blame him though - I would have been panicky too I think) he finally dislodges it from his leg, invites me in (I was rather leery about this whole venture already) in I go - it's about 3 ft. vis. and very murky. We can "hear" but not see the waves crashing about 50? yards away (probably 4-5 foot surf that night) we splash around for a couple of minutes and both decide it isn't worth continuing. Fast forward 14 years - I have not gone night diving since then (not having been all that impressed the first time) For the past few months I've been working night duty at a hotel in Napili, Maui - paid to walk along the beach is what I call it. The water has been like glass at night, so peaceful that I decided I'd like to try a night trip again - maybe catch a parrot fish (I've been hungry for parrot fish lately) - so a friend who has done a lot of night diving agrees to take me, and another mutual friend joins us (I found out later he had only been in the ocean to snorkel about 3 times - about a year ago. We finally get in the water and swim out - vis isn't bad - about 10-15 feet. Very calm water, though stirred up a bit. I anchor the catch bag/float and we start hunting - my friend spots a big fish (about 18 inches long) I try to tell him to leave it alone, but he doesn't get the message - Pop . . . sssssss . . . inflate . . . . puffer fish - then it sounds like a whoopie cushion as his spear had punctured it's "air sack." oh well - keep trying. We all start itching suddenly and realize it's sea fleas (I don't know if that's the technical term or not) my first experience with them - boy do they itch, but it's just more of an inconvenience than anything else. Our one friend (inexperienced one) had to leave for work - so we send him to shore and keep a close eye on him to make sure he is ok (we were only about 25 yards from shore) - but instead of going to our entry point he heads straight for shore - meaning a 100 yard walk, barefoot across a sharp lava field - OUCH! we tried to catch him, but too late. oh well at least he's safe and sound on land now. We continue amidst the itching, but there is nothing but puffer fish around (about a dozen or so - all quite large - basketball sized when inflated???) after about 30 more minutes we turn to head in and I get my first experience with a portugese man o' war. catches on my snorkel, right across my upper lip - youch. it wasn't bad though, quickly get dis-entangled, lip is feeling pretty strange about now, burning, tingling, etc.. only about 3-4 stings actually so not too bad. (I've seen a lot of people really get hit hard by those things - painful then) we get back to our entry/exit point. As we start getting out our friend that left for work earlier is still there - "I can't find my keys" he yells out (earlier I had placed his belongings in a pile together out of the reach of the waves - he had slowly spread the pile out all over the rocks) We agree to help him look as soon as we get out of the water. My friend heads in, I pick up the anchor and float, following him. He gets out - I am about to when I drop the anchor line, and it gets tangled up in the rocks - no big deal, just gotta free it. I go to set my spear down, it gets caught in a crevase, and about that time my one friend yells over to me "where did you put my keys?" I look up to answer him (big mistake) and in that moment of inattention a wave picks me up and drops me smack on top of an urchin - giving me 25-30 urchin spines in my thigh. Ok - that hurt I say to myself. And to think this was the night I decided not to wear my wet suit - it was too warm I thought. I finally pull myself, the float, tangled anchor line, anchor, and bent spear out of the water - hobble over to the keys - and hand them to him (right where the original pile of belongings had been) thus ends my second night dive. I spent the rest of the evening having my neighbors help pulling spines out (or should I say break them off ???) then crawl into bed very much ready to sleep and saying to myself . . . I can't wait to try that again - it really was a lot of fun - and the "challenges" just give me something to laugh about and learn from for next time - primarily don't get distracted when you should be focussing on a task at hand - and don't assume anything is "common sense" when you have a new guy with you (he really is a good swimmer and great guy - he just had no idea about some of the basics of snorkeling, but a little experience will cure that really fast)
