Day 3 - Night Dive with Tildens

I had scheduled for Tobi, Olivia, and I to do a night dive today. We needed to be at Isla Bella Resort at 5:45, so we left about 10 minutes prior. It was raining and we weren't too sure if they were going to cancel the dive as the dark sky seemed to stretch far into the distance. However, as we got the dive boat you could see a glimpse of hope up above where the sun rays were streaking through.

What made the dive really nice was that it was just the three of us and the instructor or divemaster. Not sure what Jacob was. We also had Larry on board who was the Captian. He captained the ship on Sunday for our dives as well. Didn't take but about 15 minutes and they got our gear, packed the boat, gave the standard instruction spiel, and we were off.

Water was flat and glassy in comparison to what it was earlier in the day. It made for a really quick ride out. While the guys were getting us anchored on to the bouy, the three us got busy getting our gear on and readying ourselves to jump in the water. Wasn't long and we were all in. It was still light out and our first dive was to be like any other. It was to show the difference when we did our dark dive.

As always, the sea is just such a magical place. The photos never do it justice. I did my best to take some shots, but the battery finally ran out. Plus, I took them with my GoPro. I did not have a case on it and every now and. then around 20-25 foot depth when I took a picture, the button would get stuck from the pressure. So much for being prepared.

After the dive, we came back up to the boat and waited for sunset. We were on the boat for about 30-40 minutes watching the sun go down. It was a beautiful sight with even prettier company. With the sun now fallen we geared back up and headed down. Jacob and Larry got us ammunitioned with some lights and we were off to the races. Luckily, Olivia checked the lights and realized that the divemaster had put in all the batteries backwards in the primary lights. Thanks Ollie!!

No pictures on this dives, but plenty of mental candy. I will not forget some of the scenery. The coral is definitely alive at night. We managed to see all kinds of creatures, including eels, octopus, nurse shark, shrimp, lobsters, massive snook, giant grouper, plenty of hogfish I would have loved to catch, and countless of fish and coral.

Definitely looking for our next night dive.