Are you considering adding some training to your dive experience? If you’re like most divers, you surely are. With that in mind, what courses should you take? Certainly, course like nitrox, navigation, and rescue diver are always good ones to pursue. However, there is one course that is overlooked by most divers that provides a wealth of great information and experience for just about any diver out there. That one course is Night Diver and here are five convincing reasons that you should seriously consider taking it.
Extend Your Dive Day
While a large percentage of diving happens during daylight hours, you cannot discount adding a few extra hours to your dive day. Does your local dive spot offer camping? Grab a quick dive after dinner and before time around the campfire! On a tropical vacation? Some of the most captivating diving in the tropics can be found after dark. By taking a Night Diver course, you can have the training and confidence to venture underwater by the light of the moon!
See Cool Stuff
If you’ve never explored underwater while the world sleeps, you are certainly missing out! After dark, different species of marine life come out to play. In the ocean you can see luminescent invertebrates, as well as nocturnal hunters and prey. In freshwater, the larger catfish and largemouth bass come out to hunt and play, oftentimes using the diver’s light to guide their movements.
Learn Proper Use of Lights and Signaling Devices
In your basic open water SCUBA course, you learned hand signals and how to visually communicate with your buddy and other divers. Do you know how these signals translate in the dark? In a well taught Night Diver course, you will learn how to communicate using a dive light as well as how to use other illumination and signalling devices to have a fun and safe dive.
Increase Your Buddy Skills
Night diving adds another concern to diving, less ambient light and visibility. This requires increased dive planning and diligence on the part of the entire dive team. A Night Diver course stresses these skills not only in theory, but also in practice during the actual night dives that you will complete under the watchful eye of your experienced instructor.
Gain Experience
As a diver, it is important to regularly gain experience in varied dive conditions and environments. A Night Diver course is a great avenue of gaining experience while under the supervision of an experienced SCUBA instructor. In addition to the above mentioned “hard skills” you will learn in a Night Diver course, you will also gain confidence and comfort in your own personal diving abilities, and that is key to a safe and successful pursuit of diving.
As you can see, taking a Night Diver course is not one simply for “card collecting” but a valuable use of time and logged dives. You will gain skills, experience, and confidence, while having a great time exploring your favorite dive site in a whole new way. Are you ready? Give us a shout, we regularly offer the Night Diver course and would love to show you what the underwater world looks like after the sun goes down.