A Gnarly Night Dive

We couldn’t have asked for better conditions for our night dive! With such a small group, we had the ability to dive any site that we wanted. After discussing our options, we had decided that our twilight dive would begin with a deep dive to check out the Corsair.

After we figured out our dive plan, we began to gear up and prepare to hop in the water just before the sun set. The conditions at the Corsair were fantastic and there was barely any current. It allowed us all to enjoy what ended up being a 17 minute dive at 103ft.

The sun was setting just as we surfaced and we got to enjoy the last bits of  sunlight during our surface interval.

After the sun finally went down, we had finally decided that our night dive would be a shallower dive to Angler’s Reef. This site is known to be fantastic at night and crawling with all different kinds of marine life. It was a great place for us to enjoy some of the creatures that come out after the sun goes down.

Some of the more common sea creatures were out, like this urchin, but the reef was covered in them! We had to make sure that we had great buoyancy to avoid some of the more dangerous nightlife.

Some of the more elusive sea creatures were covering the reef as well, like this brittle sea star, but were shy when we put our torches in their direction.

My favorite, the Spanish dancer nudibranch, was even spotted! This is the world’s largest nudibranch and is spotted in the evenings. they can grow to up to a foot long! As we surfaced, we were able to turn off our torches and experience some of the bioluminescence in the water. It was a really great way to end a fantastic night dive.

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Crew: Instructor Marnie, Captain Joe, Crew Max

Conditions: 76*F water temp; 82*F air temp; slight surge

Dive Profile: Corsair max depth 103ft, 17 minutes; Angler’s Reef max 43ft, 40 minutes