Night diving in : Close buddy

Scuba after civil twilight — lights, buddy distance and a risk score that sits with wrecks, not with pool lanes. Night diving is recreational scuba after the reef goes dark. Parrotfish sleep in mucus tents, crustaceans walk, and a torch beam becomes the only map. The wow factor is high; so is the risk score — disorientation, boat traffic and a lost buddy are easier after sunset.

A night dive is not a first dive, not a wreck-penetration plan, and not a freedive. Kona’s manta night dives and Red Sea night reefs are famous because operators run tight lights-and-buoy systems, not because darkness is inherently safe. This chapter is orientation. It is not a briefing, not a certification, and not medical advice. The day’s wind and the boat’s light rules win.

Agency cards (PADI/SSI/federations) gate depth and gas — not Instagram. Local shops own currents, checkouts and boat briefings. Medical forms and insurance differ by country; renew before the trip. Night diving mapped for mechanisms, locale notes and limits. Night diving sits in the scuba atlas — mechanisms, locale notes and limits, not slogans.