Night Diving
The reef doesn’t sleep—it changes shifts. As darkness settles over familiar dive sites, a different cast of characters emerges. Octopuses hunt in the open. Lobsters march across the sand. Parrotfish wrap themselves in mucus cocoons. Under your dive light, colors that disappear at depth suddenly glow with startling intensity.
This collection documents night dives from shore entries to calm reef slopes, typically between 20 and 70 feet. These are the dives that happen after the sunset surface interval—when the boat traffic fades, the current drops, and the water often settles into surprising stillness. What you’ll find here are the creatures that own the night, captured as they actually behave when the sun goes down.
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Mandarinfish in Lembeh Strait: Color, Camouflage, and Calm at Dusk
Mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus) are shy, reef-dwelling fish that emerge at dusk, showcasing their vibrant colors through a rhythmic movement. Filmed in the Lembeh Strait, known for its biodiverse habitats, the encounter captures the serene beauty of a solitary mandarinfish, highlighting its unique morphology and remarkable cyan pigments.
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Fluorescent Friday : Hurghada Departure
Some underwater creatures can absorb light and re-emit it at longer wavelengths. Scuba divers and photographers use yellow filters on masks and lenses to observe and capture these phenomena during night dives in the Red Sea, Egypt. Additional camera setup details for capturing fluorescent images are provided in the content.
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Fluorescent Friday
I have always been intrigued by how and why some creatures fluoresce above and below the waterline. Biofluorescence is the absorption and reemission of light from living organisms. Fluorescent organisms have proteins built into their skin or other tissues that absorb energy from light and reemit it as a different colors. This results in a…
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Wordless Wednesday : Sea Creature
During a night dive off the coast of Curaçao, a cornetfish was observed and photographed. The species identified is the Atlantic/Blue-spotted Cornetfish (Fistularia tabacaria), commonly found in the southern Caribbean, highlighting the region’s rich marine biodiversity.
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Short Underwater Clips
Social distancing, quarantine, and isolation has forced me to clear out my DVR, clean my crib and organize some of my digital files. Going through a lot of digital files has brought back a lot of great memories from a few spectacular dives. The clip above is from my first trip to La Paz, Mexico.…
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Night Diving in Komodo
During a week-long trip aboard the Indo Aggressor in Komodo National Park, Indonesia, nightly dives revealed unique marine life, showcased in a video featuring animals like the Decorator Crab and Blue-Spotted Stingray. The author expresses interest in night diving, noting its ability to unveil creatures typically unseen during the day.