bubblemonkey
Guest
mine was a bit rubbish, only saw a few squirrel fish, was on the perhentian isles.
Tell me about your 1st Night Dive
- Thread starter debfife
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
JacobK
Registered
debfife:
Well.. I have not done a night dive yet, but I have come very close.
Laguna Beach at 7am in a red tide. Vis about... 4 feet. ;-)
And that was my very first scuba dive! Did not know that OW certification included a no/low vis dive for the first dive ;-)
My first night dive was dive number 11 (7 post certification). We were headed to Oahu for a week so my wife and I decided to take the advanced course.
I would quite possibly never have taken a night dive if I din't take the AOW course. At the time it was required. I had a preconceived notion that you would be surrounded by black and literally see only a tunnel of objects within the beam of light.
The dive operator took us out to a sand patch in the turtle canyon area off south Oahu and dropped a light over on a rope so we'd be able to find the boat. We then dropped in.
Looking back now it was a very lame dive/dive site, just a sandpatch and dead reef with a small patch of live reef maybe 8X17 feet.... I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever done in my life. We went out in the sand patch and ran a reciprocal course and a triangle and then basically circled the patch reef for 20 minutes or so and then went back to the boat. It was fantastic for me. I loved seeing the shrimp come out over the course of the dive - at first they were 5-6 inches back in all the cracks and towards the end of the dive they were probably 2 inches back in the cracks. My wife didn't actually start noticing shrimp 'til our 3rd or 4th night dive.
I have since done literally a few hundred night dives and every one of them is special, even if we don't find what we were looking for. They are generally quite relaxing and oh so much fun.
I would quite possibly never have taken a night dive if I din't take the AOW course. At the time it was required. I had a preconceived notion that you would be surrounded by black and literally see only a tunnel of objects within the beam of light.
The dive operator took us out to a sand patch in the turtle canyon area off south Oahu and dropped a light over on a rope so we'd be able to find the boat. We then dropped in.
Looking back now it was a very lame dive/dive site, just a sandpatch and dead reef with a small patch of live reef maybe 8X17 feet.... I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever done in my life. We went out in the sand patch and ran a reciprocal course and a triangle and then basically circled the patch reef for 20 minutes or so and then went back to the boat. It was fantastic for me. I loved seeing the shrimp come out over the course of the dive - at first they were 5-6 inches back in all the cracks and towards the end of the dive they were probably 2 inches back in the cracks. My wife didn't actually start noticing shrimp 'til our 3rd or 4th night dive.
I have since done literally a few hundred night dives and every one of them is special, even if we don't find what we were looking for. They are generally quite relaxing and oh so much fun.
O'Malley
Contributor
my 1st night dive...and 12th dive post OW certification...was in Cozumel and Wow! Did another the following night...gotta love that feeling of being in a Sci-Phi movie as another group of divers drift over a nearby reef. Somehow, night dives in the local qaurry just don't seem to compare 
night diving is great. use a flashing tank light to keep track of your dive buddies. I am always impressed how your focus is more intense on a smaller area (where the flash light beam is directed) seems like the smallest things are so much more interesting when you cant see all the other things aound you. have alot of fun!!!
cje20171:
Having a flashing light on your tank will not help you keep track of your buddies, but it may irritate them enough that they know where you are all of the time.
I can't decide wich I hate more, flashing tank lights or the sub duck.
Divingnthedark
Contributor
My first night dive was in the Bahamas in 1990 from a Black Beards liveaboard off the wreck of the Panther. My newly certified dive buddy, also my bestfriend of going on 27years now, was quite anxious and I could tell this when he raised his voice at me and said, "Damn It you're crazy! You've never been diving at night, we are in the middle of the ocean and you want to be the first off the boat?". I recall saying Yup, you're right and I'm sure we are going to love it so lets go!" Oh yes, it was awesome, we saw a leopard flatworm crawling across a brain coral....haven't seen one since, the largest sea turtle I have ever seen was sleeping tucked up under the wreck and a shark swam by a couple of times. I love night diving and taking underwater macro shots. I once convinced my sister to stay up all night 2 nights in a row and shore dive off Bonaire with me... The only time I ever ran a tank down to 200lbs was on a night dive at Paradise reef in Cozumel...I was chasing puffers and everytime I had the shot lined up he would swim off my hand =(. I want to go diving right now it's 1:20 AM any body ready???? LOL
I did my first blue water trip to Cozumel earlier this month. I had 13 dives when I got off the airplane and none of them were salt water.
I was a bit nervous about the first night dive, but also very expectant since I had heard so much about what I would see. There were 10 of us plus the DM and we dove Paradise Reef off a boat. It was dusk when we dropped in, but couldnt see much but everyone else's lights as we drifted down and all did an OK check. Then off we went. We used Dive with Martin and David was our DM for that first night dive. He did an excellent brief concerning communication at night, hand signals, etc.
I never had any concern and it was fantastic to see different life than during the day. I particularly enjoyed seeing octupus, crab & lobsters moving about instead of just wedged under some coral. My buddy & I and another pair (all of us friends) learned how to work together to light a subject and got some decent photos.
I liked it so much that we did three night dives that week. Each was fantastic. We were just getting tired toward the end of the week or I think we would have done one every night.
I did loose my light on the last dive while heading back to shallower water and our safety stop. Switched hands with it and thought I put the lanyard on my wrist, but .... A few minutes later when I went to check my SPG again, it wasnt there. Looked back and there it was sitting on the bottom about 30 yards back facing up shining away. Too close to the end of the dive and too much current to fight to go back and get it, so I hope someone else found a good light.
Willie
I was a bit nervous about the first night dive, but also very expectant since I had heard so much about what I would see. There were 10 of us plus the DM and we dove Paradise Reef off a boat. It was dusk when we dropped in, but couldnt see much but everyone else's lights as we drifted down and all did an OK check. Then off we went. We used Dive with Martin and David was our DM for that first night dive. He did an excellent brief concerning communication at night, hand signals, etc.
I never had any concern and it was fantastic to see different life than during the day. I particularly enjoyed seeing octupus, crab & lobsters moving about instead of just wedged under some coral. My buddy & I and another pair (all of us friends) learned how to work together to light a subject and got some decent photos.
I liked it so much that we did three night dives that week. Each was fantastic. We were just getting tired toward the end of the week or I think we would have done one every night.
I did loose my light on the last dive while heading back to shallower water and our safety stop. Switched hands with it and thought I put the lanyard on my wrist, but .... A few minutes later when I went to check my SPG again, it wasnt there. Looked back and there it was sitting on the bottom about 30 yards back facing up shining away. Too close to the end of the dive and too much current to fight to go back and get it, so I hope someone else found a good light.
Willie
It's one of those things that everyone feels apprehensive about initially and then discover is cool.
I did mine on a wall and it was kind of a drift dive, which was a little weird buoyancy-wise plus we had to constantly look out for coral outcroppings, but it turned out great. Looking back I would've probably preferred a place where I could identify the bottom, just for comfort. Think I had 15-20 odd dives under my belt at the time. We just grew used to the drifting after a few of them.
I did mine on a wall and it was kind of a drift dive, which was a little weird buoyancy-wise plus we had to constantly look out for coral outcroppings, but it turned out great. Looking back I would've probably preferred a place where I could identify the bottom, just for comfort. Think I had 15-20 odd dives under my belt at the time. We just grew used to the drifting after a few of them.
miketsp
Contributor
I was quite surprised by most of these posts that talk about going in totally in the dark on a first night dive. Sounds like very few of the posters actually did a course.
Most of the LDSs/Operators I know make a point on night diving checkouts of getting to the site just before dusk and doing a first dive where you enter while it is still light but come out in the dark, and then a second dive in the dark. This seems to be a much less traumatic experience for many students.
Most of the LDSs/Operators I know make a point on night diving checkouts of getting to the site just before dusk and doing a first dive where you enter while it is still light but come out in the dark, and then a second dive in the dark. This seems to be a much less traumatic experience for many students.
Similar threads
