Night dives
- Thread starter Waterpolo
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ScubaSteve2000
Contributor
A back-up light is a must. Maybe practice with the teather on a couple of day dives and decide if it is an option that works for you and your buddy. How are your UW nav skills? Buddy's skills?
Also don't forget to put a couple of lights on shore to shoot for in the event that you have to do a long surface swim (assuming that you're shore diving). Set up your gear while there is enough light to see what you're doing. Think about what could go wrong and how you would deal with it. Hash all this out with your buddy so you both have a good idea what the other will do in the event that things go wrong.
As to the question why? Well let's see... Getting wet, breathing under water, limited vis, cold dark water. I'M IN.
Also don't forget to put a couple of lights on shore to shoot for in the event that you have to do a long surface swim (assuming that you're shore diving). Set up your gear while there is enough light to see what you're doing. Think about what could go wrong and how you would deal with it. Hash all this out with your buddy so you both have a good idea what the other will do in the event that things go wrong.
As to the question why? Well let's see... Getting wet, breathing under water, limited vis, cold dark water. I'M IN.
One more vote for a back-up light....
You have done a night dive and you have done this site in the daytime, this is good.
Why dive this muck hole? Because it's there and who knows what you might see out at night. We have a local pond where eels are easy to find at night and the juveniles are colorful.
The beam of your buddy's light should make him or her easy to keep track of. Shunting your light against your chest to help spot his is a good idea.
Designate one diver as the leader. That will make it easier for the buddy to swim off to the side and back about 1/2 a divers length. In that position the leader can keep track of the buddy with peripheral vision due to the beam of light.
Talk it through, take it easy and enjoy the adventure.
Pete
You have done a night dive and you have done this site in the daytime, this is good.
Why dive this muck hole? Because it's there and who knows what you might see out at night. We have a local pond where eels are easy to find at night and the juveniles are colorful.
The beam of your buddy's light should make him or her easy to keep track of. Shunting your light against your chest to help spot his is a good idea.
Designate one diver as the leader. That will make it easier for the buddy to swim off to the side and back about 1/2 a divers length. In that position the leader can keep track of the buddy with peripheral vision due to the beam of light.
Talk it through, take it easy and enjoy the adventure.
Pete
emttim
Contributor
As others have said, back up light, you should have a glowstick attached to the first stage on your kit for further illumination (don't use red, those glowsticks don't illuminate jack **** compared to green or blue), two lights on land to give you a range to follow back in, and review your procedures for missing buddy beforehand.
Back up light is a must, you should also have a glow stick. It does not replace a light.
SandCrawler
Registered
I've done a number of dives in these conditions.
First, multiple lights are a must.
Second, maintaining position in the water column is a must since you may have no point of reference beyond your depth gage.
Third, in low vis, you can hide or shut off your light to find your buddy, but you will be looking for a faint glow. In 10' vis, you won't see that light if your buddy is more than two or three body lengths away.
Fourth, how comfortable are you diving alone? It is EXTREMELY easy to lose your buddy in these conditions. As stated before, both of you need to work out an amount of search time and then plan to rejoin on the surface. This means you'll be going it alone for the time to conduct the search and the time it takes to surface. Are there any currents? You'll be surprised where you might pop up if you do have to surface without reference points. You need to take surface hazards into consideration as well. Is there any boat traffic?
Don't get me wrong, I love this type of diving. In my area, there is alot to see. And low vis allows you to sneak up on life more easily. Just take baby steps when embarking on this type of dive. Try a few dives close to your entry point and on the bottom where you have a good reference.
First, multiple lights are a must.
Second, maintaining position in the water column is a must since you may have no point of reference beyond your depth gage.
Third, in low vis, you can hide or shut off your light to find your buddy, but you will be looking for a faint glow. In 10' vis, you won't see that light if your buddy is more than two or three body lengths away.
Fourth, how comfortable are you diving alone? It is EXTREMELY easy to lose your buddy in these conditions. As stated before, both of you need to work out an amount of search time and then plan to rejoin on the surface. This means you'll be going it alone for the time to conduct the search and the time it takes to surface. Are there any currents? You'll be surprised where you might pop up if you do have to surface without reference points. You need to take surface hazards into consideration as well. Is there any boat traffic?
Don't get me wrong, I love this type of diving. In my area, there is alot to see. And low vis allows you to sneak up on life more easily. Just take baby steps when embarking on this type of dive. Try a few dives close to your entry point and on the bottom where you have a good reference.
seaducer
Contributor
It does when you are tactical
OP, you really should have 2 good lights per diver. If your skills are good enough to dive the site during the day, you should be ok to dive it at night. Just pay attention (should be doing this anyway). Just make sure your buddy knows you may call the dive if you are not comfortable, and be sure to do so if that applies.
diver 85
Contributor
If it were me........I would pick another (better bottom)spot for a nite dive for now and save this spot for day diving until you have more experience ie better bouyancy..You've already stated you made this dive earlier so what's the reason for diving it again???(Did you not "find" everything there was to find on the first dive??).....good luck, keep us posted as to what you decided on........
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