Black Water Night Dive – Hawaii – Big Island

Site Overview

The Kona Black Water Night Dive is a unique pelagic drift experience where divers float in open water observing bioluminescent organisms, larval creatures, and deep-water species that rise from the depths under dive light illumination. This extraordinary scientific diving experience attracts researchers and photographers from around the world documenting species rarely seen by human eyes. The dive occurs in 500+ meters of open ocean depth where you observe the vertical migration of microscopic life forms creating bioluminescent displays. Comb jellies, larval fish, deep-water squid, and pelagic shrimp create an alien underwater universe visible only at night. The experience has contributed to scientific discoveries including new species descriptions. The scientific importance of this dive cannot be overstated as it provides access to the mesopelagic zone organisms that migrate vertically each night. Many of the creatures observed have never been photographed in their natural environment and some represent entirely new species to science. The experience attracts marine biology students and documentary filmmakers seeking to document this hidden world. The dark conditions create an intimate connection with the bioluminescent organisms as they respond to your dive light creating trails of living light in the water column around you. The underwater environment supports extraordinary biodiversity making every dive a rewarding exploration of marine ecosystems and geological formations unique to this location.