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Black Water Drift Diving Show Notes
Today I want to share with you one of my favorite experiences, black water diving in Florida. Last year, we did an episode on black water diving in Kona with one of my favorite photographers, Jeff Milisen, please go back and listen to that episode when you have the chance. Now black water diving is when you go out at night, and get to witness the diurnal vertical migration, the largest migration of biomass in the world first hand. Amazing creatures that live at deep depths, come up every night. Many of these creatures are transparent or translucent. Many of them are the larvae form of everyday sea creatures, but others are creatures you may never see on a reef, also known as pelagic creatures.
Difference Between Kona Blackwater Diving and Florida Blackwater Diving
Now in Kona, Hawaii, when you jump off the boat you are tethered to the boat, but in West Palm, Florida, they do things differently. Off the east coast of Florida is a ripping current and off of Florida, you jump off the boat without being tethered and you slowly descend. Most of the dive instructors stay on the boat to keep a lookout for divers.
What’s interesting about how they do it in Florida, is that they have a dive rig floating with the current with a red light on top, and lights about every 10 feet down the line. The rig floats with the current in the ocean, and the divers descend and drift with the current while looking for these amazing pelagic creatures and keeping an eye on the rig so you don’t get separated.
I have been a huge fan of black water diving for the last 6 years and is one of the main reasons I keep going to Kona, but I was so intrigued to do this dive off of Florida. I had the chance to go to Orlando for a podcast conference a month or so ago, and decided to take a detour and head to Riviera Beach, to my favorite Florida dive shop, Pura Vida divers, next to the Blue Heron Bridge (which is one of the best shore dives in the world).
The Story Leading up to the Black Water Drift Dive off of Florida
I have some good friends in Florida, and I rounded them up and we reserved 5 spots on Pura Vida Diver’s dive boat for a black water dive. We had planned to dive Blue Heron bridge before heading out, but that dive got rained out, but the clouds broke apart by the time we had to meet at the boat at 7 PM.
Earlier that day, we stopped by the dive shop to check-in and purchase our glow sticks to put on the back of our tanks and get any gear rental squared away. While I was there I noticed a Florida black water diving book. I have been waiting for years for a black water diving book to come out. When I saw the book, I couldn’t believe my eyes and immediately bought it. That afternoon, I started consuming the information as fast as I could and wanted to be able to identify more creatures later that evening.
Time for my First Blackwater Night Drift Dive
When 7 PM came, we went out to the boat and I was talking to people and found out that both of the authors, Linda Ianniello and Susan Mears were both on the boat! I couldn’t believe it! I ran over and took my picture with them and got them to sign my book. These ladies are superstar celebrities in my eyes!
We got our briefing, and we watched the sun set down into the water and it was time for us to get geared up. There were about 13 of us and one by one we jumped into the water. I was a little nervous about the dive, knowing we would be drift diving with the current at night and we weren’t going to be attached to the boat. We descended, and my buddy, Mary, started having problems with her gear. She resurfaced to get it sorted. I stayed down at around 35 feet and made sure the dive rig was in my line of sight, then I started to relax.
Suspended in the Water at Night
I was in a black space, with particulate surrounding me. My body was weightless, relaxed, and felt bliss wash over me. As I relaxed, my legs spread apart behind me, and I was floating. Then came the fun part. I started to paint the darkness with my light looking for creatures from the deep. I started to see different kinds of Hydromedusae jellyfish and salps float by me. Salps are transparent and are a form of tunicate that can be found by themselves or sometimes as a chain of salps. They suck water in and out and are also referred to as ‘the ocean’s vacuum cleaners’.
Then I started to see Shrimp larva and even a paralarvae octopus. As I relaxed even further, I started hanging upside down as I hunted more with my flashlight to see these amazing creatures. Soon I started to see some of my favorite colonial zooids, Siphonophores. Some siphonophores can exceed 30 meters, and I have seen some long ones off of Kona, but on this night off the coast of Florida, I saw a Siphonophore Forskalia that made my heart sing. It’s like nothing you would see on a reef. The one I saw was a transparent tube-like creature with a colorful feather-like bottom. As it floated through the water, I was in awe.
The End of the Dive
I continued to dive and saw some larvae mollusks, more jellies, and soaked in every minute of this 90-minute dive.
At the end of the dive, I slowly ascended and when I reached the surface, I turned my light around so I wouldn’t blind the captain and held the flashlight under the water and shone the light on my body to illuminate me in the water. Soon the boat drove over to me and picked me up.
As I relaxed suspended in the water, I didn’t feel any current, which was odd. I’ve dived West Palm hundreds of times during the day time when I used to live in Florida and always remembered seeing the bottom swiftly pass by as I drifted with the current. But at night, I couldn’t see the bottom and the bottom was more than 600 feet below me. I thought to myself, maybe there isn’t a strong current tonight, I feel like I haven’t moved.
One by one we all made it on the boat and started to take our dive gear apart. One of my favorite things to do after a dive is to sit on the side and rinse off with a hot water shower. One of the ladies started passing around homemade brownies and the boat started to buzz with conversation about what we saw.
Back on the Boat
I felt the dive community come to life on that boat and started to meet more divers that were underwater with me. It turns out some of us had similar interests and were in the same circles as skydiving was my life when I lived in Florida.
Soon, I spoke to my book author idols about what we saw and compare how it differed from what I’ve seen in Kona. They told me that the captain would come around soon and let us know how far we drifted. I was guessing not very far, I hadn’t felt any current. Soon the captain came around and said that we drifted 6 miles over the course of 90 minutes. 6 miles!! I don’t even run 6 miles… but we drifted 6 miles at night without even knowing, 4 miles per hour, not bad! This shocked me because I could not feel the current while we dove.
This soon after 11 PM the boat came back, we packed up and a few of us headed out for a late-night snack, and is we rode away into the night, we belted out lyrics from my friend’s summer playlist. It was the end to a perfect day.
What Type of Scuba Certification Do You need to Go on a Black Water Dive in Florida?
You must have advanced open water or a night specialty rating in order to participate. You need your open water certification in order to get your Advanced, so you technically can start your advanced open water training on your 5th dive. Talk to your local dive shop about getting certified.
Who is the Best Dive Shop to Go Blackwater diving with?
In Florida, you should go with Pura Vida Divers, which will be a black water drift dive off the coast of West Palm. If you go in Kona, Hawaii, then you should book with Kona Honu Divers.
When Is the Best time to go Blackwater diving in Florida?
Summertime is the best time as the water is not very rough in summer and the water is very warm around 80 degrees. In winter, the dives can get canceled more often due to rough seas, plus you have to wear a thicker wetsuit then.
What Type of Gear Should You Bring?
Every diver is required to bring 2 lights, the dive shop does not rent them out in Florida, so go buy some lights! You will also need a glow stick to put your tank which is available for purchase. Also, you will need full dive gear and full-length wetsuit as there are lots of things that can sting you. You can rent gear from Pura Vida Divers and/or buy lights from Pura Vida Divers if you don’t have lights.
How Much Does it Cost to go Black Water Diving in Florida?
It costs about $80 to go on a one-tank black water dive with Pura Vida Divers, but know it does cost more to rent gear, purchase a glow stick and you should bring extra cash to tip the crew. When tipping a dive crew, I usually tip $10 per tank per person, but if it’s a specialty dive like black water, then I tip more.