Best Pelagic Magic Night Dives to Add to your Scuba Diving Bucket List
What is Pelagic Magic Diving, Anyway?
You've seen the photos — tiny, alien-looking creatures with a colorful "glow" set against a pitch-black background — but what are these crazy underwater critters, and where do you go to dive with them? Arguably the most famous place to experience the small underwater animals is Kona, Hawaii, at the famous Pelagic Magic night dive, but there are other destinations where the encounter is on the dive roster as well.
For the most part, these dives begin just after sundown, and dive groups are tethered to the dive boat and suspended underwater to wait for the pelagic creatures to rise from the depths. Sightings are most often varying species of zooplankton and jellyfish, though some of the animals can only be described as "gelatinous masses." Floating over hundreds of feet of black water may be intimidating at first, but trust us — you won't regret taking the plunge. So to get you ready, here are two of our favorite destinations for pelagic night diving.
More of the World's Best Night Dives
Anthony BerberianDuring this night dive in Tahiti, scuba divers are connected by tethers to a boat while these tiny, glowing creatures rise from thousands of feet below the ocean's surface.
French Polynesia
One of the most unnerving experiences in the universe of night diving has to be the infamous black-water drift dive. Pioneered in Hawaii but quickly spreading through the Pacific, including French Polynesia, the process is simple — suspend divers under the boat on tethers over water that’s thousands of feet deep. The goal: Watch for larval organisms that rise each night to feed. The sights: too strange to describe. Otherworldly creatures with transparent bodies, glowing parts and bizarre appendages float in the water column for divers’ delight. Just try not to think about the other marine life that prefer to hunt for larger prey at this same time of night. Thankfully the experience is worth any level of heebie-jeebies you might feel.
Go Now: tahitiitidiving.com
ShutterstockTiny, glowing creatures rise from the bottom of the ocean during pelagic magic night dives in Big Island, Hawaii.
Big Island, Hawaii
Local operators, including Jack’s Diving Locker’s Pelagic Magic dive, pioneered this type of diving in the deep waters surrounding the volcanic island, where all manner of strange and beautiful jellies, zooplankton and other creatures ascend from the black each night to astound divers.
Go Now: jacksdivinglocker.com
