night diving experience?

[knukles55]

hello all ive been certified to dive since 2007 and recently have gotten my wife certified. A very interesting question came up from my wife asking if I would try a night dive............ I didn't hesitate to say yes I would but than my brain started eating away at the answer lol...... I made this thread because I saw this awesome video I wanted to share and wanted to ask the local community if you have ever gone night diving and is it worth it compared to daytime. if you watch this video you can clearly see why I would want to night dive with a water proof radion lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53hRWEUymxc

 

[ReefWreak]

I've done it a few times. Make sure to go with a guide that knows their way around the reef really well. And have a few spare flashlights. It's definitely a neat experience once you settle in, but for me it was a pretty unsettling experience.

You get to see the corals all open and feeding, tons of mysis and other planktons swimming around everywhere, and a lot of fish nightlife that you don't otherwise see.

When I went we found a nurse shark following us. Unsettling even though nurse sharks leave people alone, just the idea of a shark following you through the dark.... I don't think I'd go again unless it was with someone else who really likes going. Or I'd do it once just to do it, as I did. But I'll stick to daytime diving thank you very much

 

[Happyschneider]

It was a great experience for me. All guided though. You see a lot of different things.

 

[ndrwater]

Night diving is awesome!! You see all kinds of stuff you don't during the day. Just make sure you don't do anything outside your comfort zone. A good way to start is diving a reef you have dove many times during the day. That way, in theory, you more or less know your way around. Trust me, you'll enjoy it.

 

[tonyftlaud]

hello all ive been certified to dive since 2007 and recently have gotten my wife certified. A very interesting question came up from my wife asking if I would try a night dive............ I didn't hesitate to say yes I would but than my brain started eating away at the answer lol...... I made this thread because I saw this awesome video I wanted to share and wanted to ask the local community if you have ever gone night diving and is it worth it compared to daytime. if you watch this video you can clearly see why I would want to night dive with a water proof radion lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53hRWEUymxc

Check out
https://www.facebook.com/Blue-Heron-Bridge-Dive-Club-291908803047/timeline/
and Pure Vida the do night dives at Phil Foster Bridge and dive trail. Very well organized , enjoyable and great way to get some night diving experience. They just had a night dive on Sat night.

 

[knukles55]

The video I posted is this fuzzed out by editing and camera effects or is this really what you see in the corals with proper flash lights at night

 

[Ebone]

Night diving is far more relaxing IMO... you kind of get tunnel vision only being able to see where your light is and relax and enjoy more of what you see (it is what focus on everything else is out of sight)... I always end up using less gas on those kind of dives

 

[marcelft]

I do night time dives off the beach at Commercial Pier all the time. Love em. Very relaxing and you see a lot of different critters than you would at day, including lobsters out of their holes many times. Last time we came across 6 literally walking single file on the first reef. You won't see the large amount of life as daytime though. Many corals are also open at night too.
So if you want to get a taste of night diving, try Commercial Pier one night. Kick out on your back to first reef, and dive down. Pay attention to current, and swim up into it (but stay away from pier) and then drift back down in zig-zag over the reef.

And in that vid you posted, they use a blue/ultraviolet flashlight, so colors do pop like that, just as they do in our tanks with blues only. I took a cheep blue LED light once and it was really cool.

 

[jimbo78]

Love night dives. It something you should definitely try. Also try turning your light off for a minute or two after you are comfortable you will see plenty of biolum

 

[nivram]

I do night time dives off the beach at Commercial Pier all the time. Love em. Very relaxing and you see a lot of different critters than you would at day, including lobsters out of their holes many times. Last time we came across 6 literally walking single file on the first reef. You won't see the large amount of life as daytime though. Many corals are also open at night too.
So if you want to get a taste of night diving, try Commercial Pier one night. Kick out on your back to first reef, and dive down. Pay attention to current, and swim up into it (but stay away from pier) and then drift back down in zig-zag over the reef.

And in that vid you posted, they use a blue/ultraviolet flashlight, so colors do pop like that, just as they do in our tanks with blues only. I took a cheep blue LED light once and it was really cool.

Great advice here. Don't forget to tie glow sticks to your dive flag and tank valves. And have at least two flash lights per person.

Checkout meet-ups to see if there are any groups going out or scuba boards Florida section. Pre-baby I used to go out with a group after work. It's different but cool.

 

[marcelft]

Great advice here. Don't forget to tie glow sticks to your dive flag and tank valves. And have at least two flash lights per person.

Checkout meet-ups to see if there are any groups going out or scuba boards Florida section. Pre-baby I used to go out with a group after work. It's different but cool.

Correct on glow sticks on flag and tanks. We also go out to the sand, deflate our BCs so we are sitting down, turn off lights and cut open a couple glow sticks...shaking them all around us. It's like a million stars surrounding you...very cool.

 

[Airtex]

Once you night dive you won't want to dive during the day anymore. It usually takes a couple of times to your comfortable with it. A lot of people lose their equilibrium on the way down the best way to avoid this is to join hands with your partner and look at each other on the way down. My favorite was photographing octopus at night

 

[SawdustInTank]

I dove the Blue Heron Bridge at night a couple times. Very nice experience. I find night diving are alot easier and safer for me on a site that I am familiar with. I know exactly where I am based on key reef structures and objects on the dive site.

https://youtu.be/TKq8msvUYcQ

 

[billsreef]

So long as you don't have issues with claustrophobia or the dark, night diving can't be beat. Turning your light out, like Jimbo mentions, is also a fantastic experience. Especially if you wave your hands about and disturb all the bioluminescent critters into lighting up

 

[brians4671]

Nope!

 

[DRThompson]

I dove the Blue Heron Bridge at night a couple times. Very nice experience. I find night diving are alot easier and safer for me on a site that I am familiar with. I know exactly where I am based on key reef structures and objects on the dive site.

https://youtu.be/TKq8msvUYcQ

I've done 2 night dives at the blue heron. There's a force-e dive shop near the bridge that hands out parking passes so you don't get towed. They also have tide and sunset info; they are a great resource for the blue heron. The night dives there are great!

 

[SawdustInTank]

i've done 2 night dives at the blue heron. There's a force-e dive shop near the bridge that hands out parking passes so you don't get towed. They also have tide and sunset info; they are a great resource for the blue heron. The night dives there are great!

+1^^^^

 

[andrewdeme]

yeah the corals are feeding and so are the sharks.

 

[Lacy]

:thumbsup: to what Andrew said.

We have done about 40 night dives when we lived in Key West. You do see a lot of cool and different things. The problem for me with night diving is I really can't see around me. I always get the creepy feeling that I'm being watched. Even on daytime dives I have a habit of glancing around to see what might be there.

This might have something to do with that I was once followed by a huge moray eel and a barracuda. Both of them a lot bigger than me and this was on daytime dives. For the barracuda I never wore anything shiny so I figured he was just curious. There were about 6 - 7 of them at channel marker 32, but only one got close enough that I could poke at him with my tickle stick. He was scary looking. He had large fishing hooks on his side and mouth with fishing line hanging down. Some scars also. Very unsettling. Swam backwards to the boat with my head in the water to watch him as he followed me. Freaked me out.

As for the moray, I was at Sand Key. There are some canyons/crevices which I was diving. The moray was down on the sand and I was about 10 - 15 feet above him. He started following me. I would turn around and so would he. I did that 3 times. After that I crossed over the reef thinking I would be ok. NOT! That fricken thing did too. He had to go about 15 feet up to get over the reef. After that I surfaced with my head still in the water. Again I swam backwards to the boat keeping an eye on him. He stayed at the top of the reef and didn't follow me anymore, but there was no way I was getting back in the water. Every time we would go back there my eyes were always peeled looking for him. Luckily, I never saw him again.

Not to scare anyone, but that is why night dives creep me out. These two instances were the only two out of tons of diving and snorkeling. I didn't really work for the 3 years that we lived there so I was in the water a lot. Usually 3 - 5 days a week. I literally lived in it. So the chance of this happening to you I would think is very, very slim.

Go out and enjoy yourself and discover a whole new world. You will love it.

 

[G_Sanab922]

:I didn't really work for the 3 years that we lived there so I was in the water a lot. Usually 3 - 5 days a week. I literally lived in it.

Sounds like you had the keys disease :beer::spin3:

Night diving can be intimidating, but you definitely get to see a lot more than during the day. Try going out during a full moon and it'll help with the visibility. If you aren't too deep it's like a natural flashlight. It's also a lot easier to drive the boat and in my opinion safer when anchored up.