Night Diving

Night diving is a fantastic experience. Many creatures that are not visible during the day come out of their hiding places and can be seen at night underwater. For example, basket stars are feathery creatures that are found in the Caribbean and can only be seen at night. Lobsters also, come out of their holes at night to explore the reef. The colors of the reef are much more intense under your flashlight.

The best underwater torch they is the smallest light with the most intense beam. You don't necessarily need a large light to see well underwater in the dark. There are many excellent lights today that take two to four "C" cells. The new LED lights are quite good.

Generally speaking, you should select a light that sinks rather than floats. That way, if you need to put the light down, it won't float off to the surface. It's also always essential, to carry a backup light with you on any night dive. The back-up can be a smaller light than the primary.

Of course, your light(s) should be equipped with a lanyard.

If your light goes out while making a night dive, all that should be necessary is to do is to switch to your backup light. Keep in mind, that it is rarely completely black underwater at night. There usually is some light from the stars and possibly the moon, especially if you are diving in shallow water.

Any place where you make a night dive should be a location where you have previous diving experience. If there is a drop-off you should know where it is so you can avoid it. In addition, you should be able to sense an increase of pressure as you need to equalize your ears and know that you are moving deeper. If the site is too advanced for your skills, you may need to sit out a particular dive.

There's no special advantage to making a night dive during a full moon, unless you want to see how much you can see when your light is turned off. It will take your eyes a few minutes to adapt to the dark.

Diving always presents some risks, and night diving is no exception. To begin, you should never make a night dive at a location were you have not been diving during the day.

Some of the risks in night diving include the possibility of getting lost underwater, as well as the difficulty of assisting a buddy who is having a problem underwater. To help avoid getting lost underwater, you must be well trained in underwater navigation and the use of a compass, which you will learn in your underwater navigation course.

You should only make a night dive with a person with whom you are familiar. You need to know where all of their equipment is located and must practice your emergency skills together.

Prior to participating in night diving, you should complete a night diving specialty course.

In addition to seeing basket stars and lobsters, you will see many other creatures at night underwater. For example, you may see certain fish sleeping that are very active during the day and are normally not approachable. In the tropics, you may see tiny worms that spin in the water around your light. It all depends on what part of the world you are diving.

Turtles usually sleep at night and if you're in the right location you may get to see them and approach them quite closely. I made a dive on a small, remote wreck in the Caribbean where there were more than half a dozen very large turtles sleeping.

Bioluminescence is a chemical reaction that occurs within certain types of plankton (microscopic sea creatures) that causes them to emit light when they are moved. This phenomenon can occur in both cold and warm water, at different times of the year. When bioluminescence is present, you can turn your light off and wave your hand through the water and see these flashes of light outlining your hand or other equipment.

If you're diving from a charter boat, they will normally hang a flashlight or flashing beacon off the anchor line, which will help you to orient and return to the boat at the end of your dive. Keep in mind that the boat may swing on its anchor and be 180 degrees out from where it was when you started your dive, even if the anchor is in the same place.

I once made a night dive from a small boat where we did not have a flasher on the anchor line. When we surfaced at the end of the dive, there was fog on the surface, and we could not find the boat right away.

If you're diving from the shore, and there are waves, you need to be cautious when you are moving through the surf. You've got to make an extra effort to get out of the water quickly so you don't take a tumble in the surf line.

Before you enter the water for a night dive, the divemaster will require you to have either a chemical light stick or battery powered marker light attached to your snorkel. This will help the boat operator to see you if you are unable to swim back to the boat for some reason. You can also swing your light back and forth on the surface and the boat will see it.

It's helpful to have a light mounted on your camera, or your head, so you can operate the camera controls without having to hold the light. Get as close as possible when you take your photos, especially if you have only a small camera with a built-in flash. You should be no more than 3-5 feet from your subject, maximum.