Night Dive

[Coco7]

My husband would love to try a night dive while we are in Cozumel, but I'm not sure if I can work up the nerve. Is it worth doing? I guess I am intimidated about the dark and the cold (and the scarier night creatures LOL). My suit is 3mm..will it feel quite a bit colder when the sun is down? Is it mostly dark while you are down there or do the lights travel a ways? The photos and videos I see are fairly well lit, but I know they are likely using a large strobe. It's hard for me to envision what it must be like. I think it's probably beautiful if I can get past my fears.

 

[bradsab]

I did a night dive with Blue Magic in July. The DM kept everyone together, so there were 7 or 8 divers with lights all in the same area. I didn't feel isolated in the dark at all. Saw critters galore, definately worth it. Nights are warm in July, so the cold wasn't a factor. We're going back in March and I hope to do two night dives then. I think if you have a DM you're comfortable with, and a few other divers to help light up the bottom, you will love it!

 

[greylion]

Do it, most night dives go in the water at dusk and the night then envelopes you and if it's a moonlit night you'll be suprised how much visibilty you have. You'll be on a shallow dive and it won't be cold. I did one and a thunderstorm came fairly close to us, man, talk about a fireworks show, that was amazing. You'll never forget your first night dive. You can rent the lights you need from the dive op if you don't have one.

 

[Budgirl]

Do it...you won't regret it. I was very apprehensive before my first night dive and now I look forward to it! The DMs are good about keeping the group together (sometimes it is annoying how close everyone is!) There is plenty of light and depending on the moon you will have ambient light. The fish and creatures are amazing. Our last night dive on Paradise Reef we saw a moray eel hunt, kill, and eat a fish (really cool!) Just try to do the safety stop with the group the first time - that was the only part that kind of gave me the creepies...

 

[Coco7]

Your comments are all reassuring, thanks! Will most dive ops allow a newer diver to do a night dive the same day as a 2 tank dive? We will be doing 2 tanks every morning. I thought I read somewhere that someone wasn't allowed to do a night dive the same day. We've done 3 dives in one day before and are both is good physical shape.

 

[marcus8]

I understand your fear. The first time is difficult for many people. It's quite common. But once you experience it, you'll be totally hooked. For me, it just feels like floating through space meditating on the sound of my breathing and enjoying the amazing sites that come out at night. The water temps are the same, so you won't be cold wearing the same things you wear during the day. A good light is helpful. If you get over the initial fear, I think you'll be utterly amazed and transfixed by the experience.

 

[RubberDucky]

Below are my notes from my first (and only, so far) night dive. Not knowing what to expect is part of what makes it so much fun, imho. I was never cold, and the lights were plenty bright. You only live once. Go do it and have fun. It's one of those things that sounds far more intimidating than it actually is. You'll see.

[b]Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 (total # dives to date: 30)[/b]

[COLOR="Red"]AOW Dive 5 of 5 (Night Dive)[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Blue"][b]Dive site(s):[/b]	La Palapita (Villa Blanca)[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][b]Dive shop:[/b]	bluenote[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][b]Divemaster:[/b]	Jordan[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][b]Max Depth:[/b]	25 feet, 17 avg[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][b]Time:[/b]           41 minutes[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][b]Water Temp:[/b]	80F[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"][b]Dive Rating:[/b]	Excellent![/COLOR]

First night dive, purely awesome. Saw a baby starfish zipping around a rock like a spider. Saw a baby octopus swimming around another rock. Stingrays seem to be more plentiful at night. Started off right next to a large school of.. something. They were small. I've heard that you only tend to see schools of fish that are young, as the older fish tend to go off on their own.

We started the dive with about 10 - 15 minutes left of daylight, and ended with all of our lights turned off in the dark. Your eyes adjust fairly quickly, but it's still fairly dark. Near the end of the dive when we did turn off our lights, Jordan showed us the coolest thing, where you move your hand back and forth in the water, and it looks like you're shooting sparks from your finger tips. This happens because you are moving the plankton around very rapidly, and the light from above is bouncing off of it. It looks like multiple fast little flickers of white light.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Dear Coco7,

Go ahead, you'll enjoy it a bunch. I'll add that the water temp does not vary from day to night, actually it doesn't vary with depth either, being homogenous to "WAY down" as I recall. The air temp is also not going to be much different from night to day, with the main problem getting out after the dive...if the wind is blowing. Several high service shops offer warm fleece lined parkas for those conditions.

Have a great time!


Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[diver 86]

I'm a 46 year old brand new diver, 17 total dives. I do not like to be cold and do not like situations where I feel out of control. I spent the first week of December in Cozumel. I made 8 wonderful dives including 1 night dive at the end of the week, after making a 2 tank dive that morning. The night dive was possibly the best of all. Water temp is no different at night than in the day. I wore a 2.5 mil shorty, but did not need anything. If you haven't already booked your dives, you might check out Blue Bubble/Scuba Shack at Blue Bubble Divers, Cozumel, Mexico - Home Page. They are absolutely wonderful and my experiance was that all diving was in small groups. I saw other groups that would hit the water with 20+ people. All of our dives were 4-6 customers + divemasters. Our night dive was to Paradise reef, ~25-35 feet, saw lots of stuff. We had 4 customers and 2 divemasters on that trip.

Hope this helps and that you enjoy night diving as much as I did.

 

[Chocoholic]

Do it, you will love it. Try to get one of those chemical sticks or even a lighted tank marker so that you can tell which person is your buddy. Our DM had a huge light mounted on his wrist so you could easily tell which person was the DM. In Coz I saw some of the tank markers for sale at a couple of the dive shops.
I loved the bioluminescence at night, and the all the critters you don't notice during the day. The tiny shrimp eyes looked sparkly pink at night, an octopus was greenish, then blueish and also pinkish also saw a couple squid flashing at night.
I think it is normal to be a little apprehensive and everyone was really keyed up before hand but it was so awesome once you are underwater that we all forgot to be nervous. One lady in our group got a little freaked out by the swarming worms that were after our lights, but the DM showed us to hold the light against your leg to darken it and the worms went away.
Have fun on your trip.