100% Nite soloist 
who solos at night?
- Thread starter Doc Harry
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Charlie99
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I turn it off if I'm going to leave it off for a while. I just shield it only if it's just for a few seconds. Never had a light that wouldn't go back on, but I do have a backup light, my computer has a backlight, and on a lot of dives there is enough light from the moon to see things pretty well.Dive-aholic:
I like moonlit dives. Around 1st quarter moon is generally best for evening dives -- it will be high in the sky at sunset and there's enough moon to give pretty good light. For predawn dives, the 3rd quarter moon is ideal.
I guess it just surprises me because I've always been trained to never switch off a light during a dive. Now most of my "dark" dives are in caves and I wouldn't even think of touching that switch.
Charlie99
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Then it would probably also surprise you that a large percentage of night dives in resort areas are done with only 1 light per diver.Dive-aholic:
Or that I prefer a very strongly overdriven bulb that puts out a lot of light, even at the expense of shorter bulb life.Failure of a light has a lot different impact on a clear water reef dive than it does back in a cave.
Charlie99:Then it would probably also surprise you that a large percentage of night dives in resort areas are done with only 1 light per diver.
Failure of a light has a lot different impact on a clear water reef dive than it does back in a cave.
Actually, no. I passed along one of my backups on a resort night dive once (I dive the same harness with the lights strapped on all the time). I also dive a 10w HID can light, even on night dives.
jarhed
Contributor
I very much like the night solo dive, I usually do the Monterey Breakwater which offers lots of Octopus to photograph. occasionally a sea lion will swoop in and cause me to gulp air. Sparky's out there somewhere.....
John
John
Tassie Diver
Registered
Yep, frequent night-solo diver. Love it. No-one to scare off the critters from my camera!
Haven't seen a shark when solo at night but remember swimming over a little crevice straight over the top of a sleeping shark one night. Set the heart rate going that one.
Haven't seen a shark when solo at night but remember swimming over a little crevice straight over the top of a sleeping shark one night. Set the heart rate going that one.
only time i hated solo night diving....
we used to have to jump for moorings on one liveaboard i worked on. the capt would get us to the GPS point and then i would jump off the bow and head straight on down to about 90 ft (27m) often at 3am....
Sometimes i would spot the mooring ball right away, other times would take 10-15 mins, other times i would go back up and hang onto a line until the capt took us back over the gps point, try try try again....
i saw a couple nurse sharks, many a grey reef, and a few silvertips... luckily it was two of the other guys who ran into the tiger.. hahahah
When comin up the mooring line after tying off i would play ostrich, just look at my computer to see my ascent rate.. don't look around and you won't see that tiger staring at you...
we used to have to jump for moorings on one liveaboard i worked on. the capt would get us to the GPS point and then i would jump off the bow and head straight on down to about 90 ft (27m) often at 3am....
Sometimes i would spot the mooring ball right away, other times would take 10-15 mins, other times i would go back up and hang onto a line until the capt took us back over the gps point, try try try again....
i saw a couple nurse sharks, many a grey reef, and a few silvertips... luckily it was two of the other guys who ran into the tiger.. hahahah
When comin up the mooring line after tying off i would play ostrich, just look at my computer to see my ascent rate.. don't look around and you won't see that tiger staring at you...
My favorite night solo dive was in Vortex Spring in Florida. Having been diving there all day, I knew I was the only person down when I went in, so I headed right to the back of the cavern to relax in the dark for a while.
After several minutes of sitting there with my back to the cave, all of the sudden I felt a tap on my elbow (just like a buddy trying to get your attention). My first thought was "Control your breathing. Don't panic." I turned on my light and slowly turned to face my unknown assailant... and saw a freshwater eel face-to-mask asking me where I left the squirtin' cheese.
I *like* diving with the friendly, safe eels, but that spooked me a bit too much. After several other eels swam right into my face (bumping my mask, even), I decided that it was becoming too difficult to keep my breathing under control, and I ascended from the cavern back to open water to finish out the dive. I can hardly wait to do it again.
After several minutes of sitting there with my back to the cave, all of the sudden I felt a tap on my elbow (just like a buddy trying to get your attention). My first thought was "Control your breathing. Don't panic." I turned on my light and slowly turned to face my unknown assailant... and saw a freshwater eel face-to-mask asking me where I left the squirtin' cheese.
I *like* diving with the friendly, safe eels, but that spooked me a bit too much. After several other eels swam right into my face (bumping my mask, even), I decided that it was becoming too difficult to keep my breathing under control, and I ascended from the cavern back to open water to finish out the dive. I can hardly wait to do it again.
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