Night Diving 101: Get Started Scuba Diving at Night
Getting started on night diving requires a bit of training, a bit of kit, and a few new procedures, but it opens up a whole new world of diving.
Night diving can seem daunting for many scuba divers new to the sport. The prospect of a dive in the dark of night can be unsettling, and understandably so. In the water, we’re already out of our element, quite literally, being in an environment that we’re not created for.
We can’t move as fast as we usually can, our sense of hearing is of almost no use (due to water’s increased density, we cannot place the directionality of a sound the way we can in air), and we can’t even breathe without specialized equipment. At night, we even take our eyesight out of the equation, making it impossible for us to see without the aid of a dive torch.
However, outside of the differences, night diving is every bit as safe and enjoyable as day-time diving.
With just a bit of mental adjustment, training, and dive equipment, night diving can be an incredibly rewarding type of diving. And for many divers, it becomes their favorite type of diving.
Training for Night Diving
Night diving is part of many training organizations’ Advanced Scuba Diver courses (or similar), and formal training is a good place to start. Here, you will experience your first few night dives along with a dive instructor, who can help you get the most from the dives, and help handle any issues that may arise.
Equipment Used for Night Diving
The majority of equipment is the same for night and day dives. The main difference lies in the use of light. A primary and backup dive torch is a necessity for diving. And both should be powerful enough to allow you to find your way around the dive site, and back to your entry point.
Rechargeable torches, in spite of being more costly to purchase, have their advantages, especially if you find yourself doing a lot of night dives.
Powerful torches burn through battery fast, so a week of dive holiday with repeated night dives can cost you quite a bit in batteries. Not to mention the environmental impact.
Some dive organizations recommend that the backup torch run on standard batteries, because these tend to be a bit more predictable than rechargeables, though this is less of an issue than it used to be. But going for a rechargeable torch for at least your primary torch can be a good investment.
A snap light or a beacon light should be attached to all divers, ideally on their tanks, making them easier to see for any divers behind them. If a dive surface buoy is used, a similar snap light or beacon should be attached to this.
Also, make sure your exit point is marked somehow with a light. If diving from a boat, this should be some form of strobe or snap light suspended beneath the boat. For shore-based dives, you’ll need something to help guide you back to shore once you surface. This can be best done by placing or identifying two light sources, that when lined up guides you back to an exact point on the shore where your exit point is.
If you use existing light sources, make sure you don’t use lights from houses, car lights or other sources that may move or be turned off.
Adjustment
A good rule of thumb is to do night dives, at least the first ones in your career, in dive sites you’ve already dived in daylight. This helps with the navigation on the dive, and allows you to see the changes that happen to a dive site when the sun goes down. Also, expect to slow down quite significantly compared to a day dive.
You’ll find yourself covering a lot less ground during a night dive, compared to a day dive, giving you time to explore nooks and crannies where some of the unique, nocturnal life hangs out.
Night diving can lend a whole new perspective on diving, and can breathe new life into dive sites that you may have dived many, many times before. Doing the first few night dives with either a trained instructor or experienced night divers can help make the transition from day diver to night diver much smoother.
You can also learn more about the fun of Night Diving
Have you ever done a Night Dive?
Where was your favorite night dive? Do you have some night dive tips and tricks to share with other readers?
Comments
It’s one of those things that always fascinated me extremely, but I never got the nerves to go and do.
When I read it it sounds so easy, but just the thought of going down in pitch dark water gives me the creeps.
I like to dive during the night. For my first time I was quite anxious but I am so glad that I’ve done it! Your article is very useful, thanks!
Had a night dive (trial) amazing photographs were taken. got a picture of an octopus with its glowing wonders . And other night swimming creatures about 65 feet , from a beach entry. Met with some mermaids too along the way and took some selfies too. What an experience
I’ve always liked diving with mermaids 🙂 hehe
Yes I agree it’s an amazing chance to take really great pictures.
It has always been a dream of mine to go diving, and a friend of mine was telling me that we should try out night diving. It’s interesting that it actually slows down the dive and allows you to explore the nooks and crannies with nocturnal life. Since I want to dive with manta rays, this might be the perfect thing for that.
It’s all mental. I’m only a teenager and have been diving for a couple years. You come to realize that night diving is more hyped up to be dangerous that it really is. Everything you need to see is in the area of your flashlight. You would think that the feeling of claustrophobia increases and makes you want to freak out, but you don’t even notice the difference. The amount of cool marine life that comes out at night and the fact that night diving is the closest thing you can get to going to space without being an astronaut really prevents you from thinking about being afraid. The other thing is, your eyes adjust to the night and you can see. It’s kinda like when you wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and somehow you don’t knock into anything. Plus, if the moon is out a little bit, you can see so well in a lot of places that you don’t even need a flashlight.