Unsure about night diving?

[lulubelle]

I just don't want to bother getting all geared up and then cleaning everything up afterwards that late.

I got lucky on this account, we were at a dive resort in Little Cayman, so our BC/Regs/tanks were taken care of for us, we only had to rinse out our neoprene and hang it up. Which reminds me, there is a bag of not quite dry gear downstairs to clean again.

He showed us stuff that you would never see in the daytime including two types of lobster that only come out at night. One of the lobsters, small and reddish orange with claws, he had never seen. And this is a guy with over5000 dives, lots of them at night. I also liked the luminescence and other little critters in the water which you can't see during daylight. It was really relaxing to do these dives. I would do more but at my age a couple dives in the morning is usually all I need. I wish I had the stamina to do more.

I struggle with energy levels. My travel mates didn't see much of me at the bar or pool OTHER than diving. We did 4 dives some days. The diving was easy to do at this resort, we just showed up at the boat with our wetsuits, booties, mask, and fins, and the rest was taken care of. And they carried our gear to the dive platform and back each dive. I got spoiled, let me tell you.

What's a night dive?

Yeah, there were a couple of people with those big ass lights. I had to wonder why they were even on a night dive if they needed to light up the ocean brighter than it was during the day. All that did was ensure that they saw nothing as the critters just hid. We split off with our little TUSA reef lights and saw a TON.

 

[drbill]

Last summer most of my dives were night dives. I love to see the changing of the guard as some species retire for bedtime and others come out to hunt.

 

[Doubler]

One of my best dives ever was a night dive on the Toki Maru in Guam. Full moon, flat calm, vis 100 plus. Got down to the wreck and turned out our lights. After our eyes adjusted to the dark we did the main deck sans light. Beautiful. Never saw my buddy leave a phosphorus trail before. You could see large animal shadows out in the distance.

 

[MiamiMike]

Wow. The stories sound exciting. I have my first night dive ever (AOW cert) scheduled this coming week out in Key Largo. I'm so excited. Can't wait.

 

[Selchie in LB]

OMG thanks for the post! I can't wait to go night diving now. The bioluminescence must be spectacular first hand. I've only ever seen it in video clips. I have a friend who petrified to night dive. I'm glad I read your accounts!

 

[lulubelle]

One piece of advice I would offer is to leave your bright lights at HOME. My first night dive last week my buddy had a really bright light and did not want to dim it. That sucked. My second one my buddy and I both had a small TUSA reef light and were dimming it often. We saw SO much more on that dive and the squid play was simply awe inspiring. I was really happy that we had time to play with the squid on our own before the second encounter when I had got the attention of the group who all came over and shone their bright lights at the squid who promptly left.

And always leave some time for total darkness.

 

[Cave Diver]

Yeah, there were a couple of people with those big ass lights. I had to wonder why they were even on a night dive if they needed to light up the ocean brighter than it was during the day. All that did was ensure that they saw nothing as the critters just hid. We split off with our little TUSA reef lights and saw a TON.

Typically we just carry our LED backups on night dives, unless it's on a wreck. A lot of times I'll even turn that off during part of the dive if we're in open water. There's usually enough ambient light to see by and it makes for a really interesting dive.

 

[FuzzyNutz]

I absolutely love night dives! My first one was the same night of the day I got certified, and it was at a spot I've been to twice during my "discovery" and cert., and was just amazed by how incredibly different it was (animal and plant life). Strangely enough, I found it extremely relaxing swimming in the dark... I sort of favor night dives over the day for that reason. I must admit, I got way creeped out one night though... I was happily swimming along, looking forward for a while, then I pointed the light towards my right side, and there was a huuuuge turtle cruising along about a foot away from me. It scared me at first, but turned out to be incredibly awesome! He followed along for quite a while, too!

 

[farsidefan1]

Two ideas to help enjoy night diving. My primary light has a red light or white light. The red light does not seem to bother the fish. If I need to see more I'll switch over to the white light but then of course the critters react. Bright lights are needed for some situations but critter watching is not one of them. The other idea is a UV light. it makes the coral and some crustations light up like a black light in a bar. Very interesting although you need the yellow visors to make it work.

 

[lulubelle]

Typically we just carry our LED backups on night dives, unless it's on a wreck. A lot of times I'll even turn that off during part of the dive if we're in open water. There's usually enough ambient light to see by and it makes for a really interesting dive.

I sure wish you could have convinced my buddy on that first dive to do that. Poor critters were lit up like Christmas. I use my little LED light to find something interesting or to get from A to B and then either cover it or turn it off entirely. There is much more to see in low light. It was pretty cool to feed bloodworms to the coral with the light though.

Two ideas to help enjoy night diving. My primary light has a red light or white light. The red light does not seem to bother the fish. If I need to see more I'll switch over to the white light but then of course the critters react. Bright lights are needed for some situations but critter watching is not one of them. The other idea is a UV light. it makes the coral and some crustations light up like a black light in a bar. Very interesting although you need the yellow visors to make it work.

One of the divers had some sort of blue cap on his light, was that the UV light? I've also seen yellow and red covers for lights but I don't know if those are easily found. I generally just use my hand to block out most of the light if I just need a tad.