Pelagic Night Dives
What are pelagic night dives?
Also known as black water dives, pelagic night dives occur in the open ocean with thousands of feet of water under the dive boat. The dives are conducted in 40 feet of water. You are scuba diving in the pelagic environment. The dive will encounter marine life that is completely different from everyday encounters in the nearshore reef environment. Jack’s Diving Locker in Kona was instrumental in pioneering this kind of diving, which they refer to as the Pelagic Magic Night Dive.
How are pelagic night dives conducted on Oahu? 
The crew will load the boat with a small group of guests, maximum of eight, and head straight out to deep water off the west coast of Oahu. Pelagic night dives are conducted on the west coast of the island. The west coast is the lee side of the island making the boat ride more comfortable. The captain will set the sea anchor once the boat is more that one mile from shore. The sea anchor keeps the boat drifting slowly. The divers enter the water tethered to the vessel for safety. In black water, with no reference, it would be easy to understand how a diver could lose track of their depth while taking pictures. The tethers are required. Diving depth is approximately 40ft. With nowhere, in particular, to go, air consumption is good and the dive can easily last one hour. Clearly, a dive light is important, and one that lets you control the light level is best.
What kind of creatures will I see on pelagic night dives?
With nothing visible in the distance, your attention will be immediately focused on the few feet in front of your mask. You will also pick up creatures visible in your dive lights cone of light. Many of the creatures will be hard to identify as they are completely out of the normal divers’ experience. It is possible to see the larval stage octopi and crabs. Sea Palps are common. Jellyfish of all kinds are present. It is highly likely that you will encounter gelatinous creatures with prismatic displays of rolling colors along the edges of their bodies, Ctenophora. Photo credit. Zooplankton, which during the day live in the depths, are abundant.
When the the best time for a pelagic night dive?
Short answer is when the moon is not up. The full moon gives the night creatures another source to focus on (we think), so the creatures are less thick around the artificial lights we are providing. After the full moon the moon phase is waxing, and rises later and later until the next half moon, the “last quarter”, when the moon rises around midnight. Since we dive right after sunset, any time about 4 days after the full moon until the new moon is good. After the new moon the waxing sliver of the visible moon gets bigger each night. It is in the sky when the sun sets. So after the new moon, more than a day or two, you are get moon interference with your diving.
How do I book pelagic night dives on Oahu?
Currently, we are conducting pelagic night dives on Saturday evenings. The boat is in Waianae Small Boat Harbor. Oahu Dolphin Divers is a sister company and runs this charter. However, we can conduct the dive any night with a minimum of four guests. Transportation is not provided for this activity. Use the calendar below to check availability or call 808 478 1104.
It is not offered the day I want to dive it
We can create an availability for you any day, but we require four guests. We will put it on the calendar below and make it available to the public, If you are willing to put the money down. It might be cancelled due to lack of partcipation. Of course, your group can pay for 4 spots to make sure it happens. If others book on, we can refund the extra you paid to make the boat go out.