Night Chills

Finally conditions look good for a night dive! I got my gear together and trekked out across the long expanse of sand exposed by the low tide, trying to ignore the wind biting through my wetsuit. Mask on, gun loaded camera running and I flop face down into the shallows and get under way. The first thing I notice is that it's very cold, and very clear which is a huge relief as this mark is often a real disappointment in terms of visibility. The second thing I notice is that there is a fish at the edge of my torch light, I freeze and slowly inch forward, it's a Bream, who unfortunately for him is coming home with me for dinner.

After a wrestle in the dark with the fish I realise it's a Gilthead Bream, I've never caught one before but have heard good things about them (and indeed when cooked the next day it was one of the tastiest bits of fish I've ever had, superb!).

It's a great start, followed by an hour of seeing very little, I head off around an island and see some mullet (which I leave to fight another day) but very little other life. In fact I start to get a little spooked out there alone in the dark. The human brain is a funny thing, despite knowing there is nothing to be scared of it still doesn't like being out in the sea in the dark :) At times like this I clamp down on those feelings and don't let them get the better of me.

When I come back into the shallows nearly where I started suddenly the sea comes alive again, in amongst the fields of sea grass, string weed and kelp I come across a fantastic cuttlefish, always one of my favourite creatures to encounter. As I was watching it I notice something big moving in the kelp underneath it and my adrenaline spikes, just for a second I think it's the mother of all Sea bass and I'll be eating well for a week. Then a big old Bull Huss emerges from the weed, certainly the biggest I've ever seen, about 3ft long. I'm torn for a moment between filming the fish or the cuttle, but in the end manage both. What a treat :)

On the final stretch, I encounter lots of crabs, also the area is dotted with mermaids Purses (dog fish eggs) and I also encounter a lovely shoal of Sea trout, rounding off a really fantastic night.

I had a dream, which was not all a dream

Night diving has become a passion of mine, not only do a lot of interesting creatures come out after the sun sets but the calm, quiet and solitude I love about diving are amplified. It can be nerve racking however, the first time I tried it especially, but pushing yourself outside your comfort zone is part of the allure.

Safety is always the first consideration, I can't stress this enough. In case you read this and decide it sounds like a good idea here are some ground rules for night diving. Firstly don't go alone, secondly make sure someone knows were your diving and when you're expecting to leave the water. Always dive somewhere you know very well from day dives, you must be familiar with the shoreline, the currents and the underwater terrain.

Make sure you dive somewhere with lights on the shore to help you navigate back to land in an emergency. Check all of your gear, take a watch with a light, a main torch and a backup torch, keep the rest of your gear to a minimum.

Check the weather report!

When diving constantly check your bearings and finally stay close to the shore, you don't need to go offshore at night as the beasties come into shallower water in the dark.

I have had some fantastic experiences night diving, it is a great opportunity to see unusual sea life and get closer to them than you normally would during the day. Common sites include baby and adult squid, dogfish, baby conger eels, red gurnard, sea trout and my personal favourite – cuttlefish. How people can kill these amazing creatures is beyond me, like Octopus they have an advanced nervous system and are able to change their skin colour and texture not only to camouflage themselves but to communicate.

When I encounter them I can happily watch them for the entire dive, they often wait on the sea bed camouflaged against the sand (they are ambush predators) making them hard to spot. But occasionally you see them on the move, drifting across the sand, their motion like that of a hover craft. Even rarer is to find them swimming in open water, here they are reminiscent of UFO's drifting hypnotically in the dark/ They are captivating creatures and often inquisitive, one night I was surrounded by three cuttlefish and they happily explored my equipment while I hung motionless watching them.

If you happen to alarm them they will often raise two of their tentacles as a warning signal and change to a darker pattern, if you get closer they will glide away from you. Their last resort, like the squid is to release a cloud of ink and jet away.

Sometimes I turn off my torch and submerge in the pitch black, when the conditions are right every motion will set off swirls of phosphorescence creating a ghostly outline of your body as if you have been replaced by a cloud of tiny fireflies (the programmer in me thinks of particle systems).

On clear calm night I also like to lie on my back just floating there watching the stars, it is at these moments I feel most at peace.

Sometimes my (very brave) girlfriend accompanies me, she is developing an interest in underwater photography with great results, she has kindly let me use some of here pictures from our last night dive together to illustrate this post.