I am now a Padi Open Water Advanced Scuba Diver.

Last night I dove my first night dive. It was amazing. The dive boat was a catamaran and there was a smooth ride out to the dive site at sunset. We hung out on the boat, chatted, then had a briefing as we waited for it to get dark enough to call it a night dive. Starlight reflected off the crests of the ripples in the watter as our instructor told us about the 4 wrecks we'd be seeing, and how to use hand signals with a flashlight. We giant strided into the dark atlantic ocean and entered another world. René, Phil and I were transfixed for the next 38 minutes, as we explored the nighttime world of Carlisle Bay. Wrecks appeared out of nowhere in front of us, starfish crawled magically across the sandy ocean floor, shrimp, crabs, a jillion varieties of fish and dozens of different corals appeared magically in the small cones of light produced by our flashlights. the highlight for me was answering our DM's summons and going over the top edge of a wreck to find myself face to face with a sleeping hawksbill turtle! I gasped in about half my tank of air, but the turtle slept on. Near the end of the dive, we turned off our lights and moved our hands through the water and watched as the water was lit up in blue sparkles like pixie dust, the phosphorescence of the photoluminescent plankton. It was magical. Swimming on our backs back to the boat at the end of the dive, we saw millions of stars and a small quarter moon above us. It was really the perfect dive.