Posted by Karl S. on January 07, 2003 at 15:54:07:
In Reply to: Very cool posted by seahunt on January 06, 2003 at 19:44:08:
Half our group, about 7 divers, was up for one night dive at The Fiji Islands. We went to a pinnacle in the Somosomo Strait called locally The Ledge. The depth around the pinnacle is about 200 fsw and on the pinnacle its 65 fsw deep.
The water was crystal clear, vis about 75 feet at night. The D/Ms hung a light on the downline, which pointed upwards, and acted like a beacon that we could see from any point on the pinnacle.
There was virtually no current, since the winds normally drop at night, and so the ocean currents drop as well at night. We all descended quickly in a group, and met below the beacon light at the downline, and then played follow the D/M leader all around the pinnacle from there.
The only new thing we saw at night was a lionfish, red, with "feathers" displayed like a peacock. He was about the size of a basketball.
We saw a fair amount of crabs at night, more than in the daytime.
When the water is crystal clear, diving at night is not much different than diving in the day. You can see pretty good all around you, the beacon, the other divers, and the objects in your own beam of light.
I shut off my light for awhile and followed the others, till I got clanked on the head by one of the other divers who didnt see me. The glow stick I was given didnt work, unfortunately.
I will visit Cozumel in the summertime, and then compare Fiji with Cozumel. I have been told that these two are the most beautiful scuba sites in the world. Like I said, Fiji is not an easy dive, since you have to fight the currents because they tie off the dive boats to the reefs, rather than drift with the divers.
I am looking forward to Cozumel. Warm tropical diving is a walk in the park compared to cold water diving here back home in California. However, our beautiful kelp forests dont pale at all compared to the warm water coral reefs. And night diving here in California is no walk in the park either.
So its true, if you can dive in California, you can dive anywhere else in the world quite easily.