As the sun sets an entirely different mood shrouds the environment and the Auckland Scuba night diving crew. The daytime bustle and colour seems drowned by the oily black darkness and stone cold silence, apart from the crash of a breaking wave or the splash of a fin cutting the calm solitude surrounding us. Diving at night to some might sound a daunting task, I can understand why it could be conceived as intimidating, or maybe for some mysterious. But feeling the allure of descending into the depths with nothing but a torch and a group of divers you know and trust, is invigorating, exciting.
Once we had descended to around 8m and gained neutral buoyancy on the bottom, after what seemed like an eternity which in fact had been mere seconds we began signalling ok, we all preceded to turn our lights off as per our Instructor Doyle’s command. I felt unusually comfortable, motionless, submerged surrounded by pitch darkness, as the last of the lights faded, the thought of nobody being able to see you and vice versa installed a sense of serenity. I found the whole experience of diving at night a sensory overload, the clicks of marine life, the rush of baitfish following every waiver and sway of your light across the sand and reef. My buddy Callum and I then followed on the wing of our 10 or so strong group as we weaved a maze over, under, and around the reef system, following Thomas the second instructor who charged into the blackness like a veteran who knew too well the nuances of this weird and wonderful world, few navigate even though this watery macrocosm encompasses 71% of our earth’s surface.
What interested me was the insight the torch gave me to this underwater world, dare I say busier, full of life, colour, and sheer movement than its daytime counterpart. The sharp beam of the torch gives you a concentrated picture of one small circle no bigger than a person sized illumination, wherever you wish to point it, unlike at day time where you have this 120 degree field of vision by simply peering out of your mask. You see more intense colour, you can focus on the details, the small red phosphorescent corals, the leathery leaves of kelp swaying in a windless gale, things that would be otherwise overlooked swimming past with the sun piercing in moving rays through clear waters of daytime. All of these reasons culminate in why I would recommend doing a night dive, to any diver it opens up a world you just don’t get to see or comprehend, and a hit to the senses that you don’t feel in a day dive. After almost an hour enjoying the dark, somewhat hidden world of the deep, it was time to ascend, I might add on a very different darkness, without the colour and excitement I experienced under the lapping waters of Goat Island. I think many divers have an over-imaginative brain at night and worry about the potential monsters of the dark, my advice is to try and relax, embrace it, and I can assure you there will be few dives that rival this unique and surreal event. I left with a sense of achievement and I would like to thank Auckland Scuba and my instructors for sharing this world with me, because it was an unforgettable adventure, so few leagues under the sea at night, under the brightness of a burning torch.
I am looking forward to more night dives to come on the PADI Divemaster course and even leading my own mysterious night dives with customers in the future.
Ryan Hooper, Auckland Scuba