Dive #23 - Rich Torkington's Dive Log
© Copyright 2010 Rich Torkington Mesa, Arizona

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Bottom Time to Date:

16h
10m


Dive Info:

Dive Start:
9:00PM

Bottom Time:
31 minutes

Maximum Depth:
56 feet

Safety Stop:
3 minutes

Beginning Air:
3000 psi

Ending Air:
1900 psi

Weather Conditions:
Night 80°F

Surface Conditions:
Calm

Surface Water Temperature:
80°F

Bottom Water Temperature:
78°F

Visibility:
70 feet
23
TITLE
* * *½
July 7,
1998
SAND DOLLAR DOCK
BONAIRE, N.A.
NIGHT SHORE DIVE
 
Linda (buddy)
Rich
Brilliant orange cup corals on the dock pilings
Photo by Myron Johnson in Bonaire 1998 
Dive Journal: Linda and I are ready for one more dive, and so we grab our gear and trek down to the Sand Dollar dock around 9:00PM. This is another special dive for Linda and me, because it will be our first unescorted night dive. We enter the water and proceed down over the reef slope. At night, the scene is again markedly mysterious, punctuated by the flash appearances of sleek tarpon and snook in our dive lights. As we examine the reef, a curious greyish-blue fellow emerges and begins to follow us around. Wherever I shine my light, he follows and buries his face into various nooks. At one point I even grab his tail just to see what he'll do, but he is quite unafraid. I later identify this guy as a greater soapfish. This name is derived from a soap-like toxic mucus they secrete.

At one point, Linda and I are around 35 feet deep and we decide to turn off our dive lights. In the blackness, it is downright eerie and an exercise in sensory depravation. We quickly notice, however, that bioluminescent beings are all around us. Whenever a hand or fin is waved, the bioluminescence glows, and so we start playing with this effect, throwing 'streamers of stars' at each other and creating starry wakes. Before we know it, both of us bob to the surface in the middle of nowhere. The distraction has caused us to completely lose buoyancy control! How embarrassing! Fortunately, our ascent rate was relatively slow (as later indicated by our dive computers), and we descend again to the reef to begin a slow swim back to our entry point. Our dive is only about 35 minutes, but it feels good to complete this dive on our own and intact.

It's been another great day in paradise but we are very ready for some sleep.

More
Dive
Info:
Fins:
Mares Avanti Quattro
Computer:
U S Divers Matrix
Tank:
80 ft3 Al
BCD:
SeaQuest Spectrum 4
Dive Type:
NIGHT SHORE
Body of Water:
Caribbean
Mask:
U S Divers
Protection:
3mm shorty
Regulator:
SeaQuest
Spectrum XR2
plus Oceanic
Slimline octopus
Weight:
8 lb
Water Type:
Salt
Video Equipment:
None