Night Diving in Roatan, Honduras

Dive Site: 

Date of Your Dive: 

Country/ Continent: 

Difficulty 

Is There A Required Certification Level? 

Don't know, but you should probably be pretty comfortable in the water.

Depth 

: 25' - 35'

Temperature 

: Bathtub water and warm air. I wear just a rash suit (.5mm) year round.

Conditions 

: No moon, calm, coral reef with drop off near by. Boat dive. Viz was perfect.

Who Should You Contact to Dive This Site? 

Reef Gliders, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras, CA

When Should You Dive This Site? 

Moonless night.

My Review 

I had never dived at night - in fact, I always swore I would never get in that "black, inky water" at night - ever! Finally, so many people told me that I was missing the best diving ever and my divemaster very kindly offered to walk me through the experience so I took a deep breath and decided to at least try it.

We went out on a boat to a large sand patch surrounded by coral reef and rolled in, with me clutching my flashlight. It was still actually a little light from the sunset, but quickly darkened. From the first moment, I knew I was going to LOVE this! The water was never "inky black" - I could see the reef, the sand and other diver's lights. There were no fish out (all asleep, I guess), but tons of things I've never seen during the day (including the biggest kind crab I have ever seen).

When we turned out our flashlights, we could see flickering phosphorescence all through the water (like looking at a starry sky) and "strings of pearls" (tiny shrimp that light up in a line, looking for a mate). These things only appear under certain circumstances - they come up from deep water and over the reef. The only word to describe this was "magical"!

Coming up to the surface, the night sky greeted us with stars of its own. My advice to anyone who is reflecting on diving at night is - do NOT ever miss this opportunity. It is a night I will never forget! Diving at its very best.

Would you recommend this to a friend? 

Natalie Gibb, Scuba Diving Guide, says:

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