What do you have in mind when you hear the words night and dive?
Many of us would think that these two words should not go together but apparently, night dive is one of the most thrilling experiences I have had in 2021.Now that we are getting nearer to the end of the year, I know I have to share the story in Connect.
As I have shared in Connect previously, I have been diving in several places particularly in my hometown Lampung, Indonesia. It is also the place where I got my diving certificate in the first place. So Lampung will always have a special place in my heart. Those diving spots are abundant and I wish I have enough time and energy to explore them all.
After all those times, diving since 2011, I finally managed to try night dive for the very first time. I know it took too long a time for me to try this and since I have been moving around a lot due to my assignments, I just managed to take another test in Diving which require a night dive session. And I really looked forward to it. Super excited and a bit scared too, as a matter of fact.
It was planned together with my family’s visit to Green Bay resort, In Tanjung Putus Island, Lampung. I have shared my experience here in my previous posts and you can read it here. So together with my family, we stayed in this resort for one night and two days with five diving trips and unlimited snorkeling trips as long as you are strong enough to do it all day long LOL. Talking about sunburn and getting super tanned.
After taking two dives in the morning and in the afternoon, we took a rest and got ready for the night dive. As my dive master explained, night dive is absolutely more complicated, more dangerous and therefore requires more preparation and understanding about the expected circumstances. Before you can get your advance diving certificate, night dive is part of the requirements. I have been working on the required course for my advance diving certificate and this night dive will be part of my diving log and sort of the test to get my next certificate.
As scheduled, we got ready at 7 PM. We all got light meal and got all the equipment ready. On top of our usual diving gear, I had some additional items such as 2 flash lights that will work well underwater (we brought 2 just in case on is broken or our buddy needs it) and dive knife (the last thing you need is getting tangled in the bottom of the dark ocean). I still bring my camera and I also set it with extra flash in order to ensure it will help taking pictures and record properly underwater.
Then when everyone was ready, we had the briefing from my DM who again reminded us about the do’s and the don’ts for night dive and some handy tips to make the dive enjoyable. Just close your eyes and the darkness is just like that, with the additional of cold water around you. But you have to remain calm, ensure the flash light and everything works, stick to your buddy, and you’ll be fine. For this night dive, we didn’t go too deep. And never too long.
Then I took the dip. The water was warm and thankfully all our equipment worked well and then we dove. It was pitch black but thanks to flash light, everything looked fine.
I have to say it felt different.
Magical in an eerie way.
You can imagine being in the water, about 10 – 12 meters, which is not that deep compared to my other dives, but everything was dark unless the area covered by your flash light. Then by the time we have adjusted to the new surroundings, my buddy and I started exploring the area.
Taking pictures and recording the sea bed and all the creatures around it t night is indeed a different experience. Well, not all pictures or video are good or clear but it’s still fun to do that.
It was fun to see some giant hermit crabs, the sleeping fish (they are sleeping with eyes open but steady swimming), the dancing eel moray (or more likely, annoyed by our group), sea urchins in different spikes, colors and size, pipe fish, cleaning shrimps and more.
Check out the video I had here where I get more footage and hope you enjoy it as much as I do. The beauty of deep, dark sea.
So all in all, it has been a wonderful experience for me.
The spot where we dived is in Green Bay, Tanjung Putus Island, Lampung. I have reviewed this place as well.
Well, I will be back with more stories about my diving trips and other adventures I have. Meanwhile, stay safe, healthy and happy, wherever you are.
