Pelagic Blackwater Diving in Hawaii

For this adventure, I’m floating in the middle of the night, over 3,000 ft (900 m) of open ocean, attached only to a single rope, with strange creatures of the deep rising all around me!

So how did my husband and I end up out here?

The honest answer…I happened to see a single picture of a tiny squid on a Facebook diving page and it sent me into a months-long obsession.

Before I get into the actual dive itself, I should say this: the craziest part wasn’t the dive necessarily. It was the months leading up to it.

Watch the full adventure or continue reading below!

Blackwater Diving in Hawaii: The Most Alien Creatures I’ve Ever Seen

On this trip, my husband and I went on a pelagic blackwater dive in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – floating over 3,000 feet of pitch-black ocean to see the world’s largest ocean migration. This is by far one of the most surreal dives I’ve ever done!

The Backstory

While living in Hawaii, I joined a scuba diving Facebook page. One day while scrolling through posts, I came across photos taken in pitch-black water with the most adorable orange squid I’ve ever seen floating in the darkness — and then the second photo next to it was a cool looking red one.

Instantly I thought, I have to do this dive.

I reached out to the person who had posted it and learned it was called a Pelagic Blackwater Dive, done in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. We chatted for a bit, and to my gratitude he gave me some really helpful tips for photographing the tiny pelagic creatures we might see — which was huge for an amateur underwater photographer like me.

My own research of the dive uncovered that there were only two dive dive shops offering it. One unfortunately required 50 logged dives, which my husband and I were a bit short of and we were on a limit to achieve since we would soon be moving from Hawaii. The second dive shop required Advanced Open Water certification, a minimum of 25 logged dives, and that you must complete a manta ray night dive with them before they would approve you for the pelagic dive – though they really had to twist my arm to convince me to do a manta ray dive first. 

At that time, both my husband and I were only Open Water certified. I already had more than 25 logged dives, because I received my Open Water a few years before my husband had. My husband was just short of that number. Our first step was to get Advanced Open Water certified, which we completed over two weekends on Oahu.

After that, we started doing as many practice dives as we could. From night dives at Electric Beach to daytime dives at Shark’s Cove, we continued to dial in our equipment, buoyancy, and experience. 

We didn’t take this dive lightly. The dive is challenging mainly because it takes place in the open ocean over a 3,000 foot (900 m) drop-off. This means there is no ocean floor or reef wall to reference your depth against, something most divers often subconsciously rely on. Without that visual reference and in completely black water, it can be very easy to lose your sense of orientation and depth. 

The drop off is what allows the magic. With that depth, comes the largest marine migration in the world. This vertical migration starts when the dark sets in and billions of marine animals travel to the surface to feed and then descend back down in the morning to avoid predators.

Even though I explained above it’s difficult due to missing reference points, for safety, during this dive, you are tethered to the boat to ensure no one sinks to a dangerous depth. Even so, it is still important to have the proper experience or you’ll spend the entire dive being yanked up and down by the movement of the boat.

Pre-Trip Preparation

The dive set up is actually relatively simple. It consists of 60 foot (18 m) ropes with a weight at the bottom to keep them vertical in the water column. These lines hang at intervals along the side of the boat so each diver has space.

There is one longer line with a powerful light far below us as another precaution to know if somehow you are unhooked and drifting far from where you should be. Lastly, the Dive Master almost always stays below us but above the light, checking in with each of us periodically throughout the dive.

Once arriving at the dive site, there was something surreal about gearing up knowing there’s no reef, no bottom, just open black water. The cool night air and the gentle rocking of the boat helped me get in the zone, as I went through the familiar and calming routine of preparing and double checking my gear.

Chase and I also set our dive computers to alert us at 80 ft (24 m). In theory there should be no way we reach that depth unless something goes wrong or we somehow become unhooked from the line.

After entering the water, the Dive Master clipped a tether line to my BCD and while on the surface, then led me to the boat rope I’ll be diving on. He then attached the tether from my BCD to the boat’s line attached to the boat with a carabiner system. This allows me to drift up and down the boat line freely, but prevents me from descending deeper than 60 ft (18 m) while still allowing me to go to the surface with no restrictions if needed.

After adjusting my camera grip, turning on my GoPro, signaling to my husband, I began to descend into the darkness.

The Dive

Considering this is a pitch black night dive with no reefs or bottom to reference, I had no clue that I was about to dip into what felt like chaos.

It took probably a full 20 overwhelming minutes – yes I am aware that is around half the dive time – to get used to the surroundings. Water was rushing past at a surprising speed, carrying with it millions of mini particles called marine snow, its own underwater blizzard. 

Everywhere I turned my light, there was this blizzard of marine snow along with creatures ranging from the size of my arm to the size of my pinky nail speeding by or lazily drifting in the currents. 

My eyes were on a constant swivel, trying to figure out which thing to lock onto, the marine snow making it hard to distinguish the smaller creatures. I had to swivel around looking for the small, as well as, capture the larger creatures before they got spooked by our lights and took off.

I’ve attempted to ID some of the marine creatures we saw using the Jeff Milson blackwater books and Mears Photo website, as well as google, but there is definitely a possibility that I’m wrong. I’m not a marine biologist!

By the way — this is only my fourth time filming and taking photos underwater. My camera setup wasn’t ideal with too wide of a lens, and our GoPros didn’t have the macro attachment, so some clips are blurry in the video and it did take quite a bit of editing to zoom and clear out the marine snow from the pictures, but honestly… These critters are still incredible to witness!

Clapper Jelly: This clapper jelly was one of the stars of the night. It’s much larger than most of the tiny critters we saw, so we actually got to watch it drift and pulse around us for a bit.

Comb Jelly: This was hands-down my favorite — a comb jelly in full feeding mode, tentacles stretched way out. For once, having the wrong wide lens actually worked in my favor!

4-Connected Salps: These four salps were connected in this perfect little square — I sent the footage to our divemaster afterward and even he said he’d never seen a formation like this.

Venus Girdle: And right when I was supposed to ascend, I spotted this Venus girdle drifting by — and our divemaster literally waved for me to keep filming. Caught it just before it curled into its signature spiral.

The Honest Part

After 20 minutes of adjusting to the chaos, the rest of my dive was spent chasing tiny critters of the deep, as far as my tether would allow of course. 

It wasn’t until I got the flashlight signal from our divemaster that I knew it was time to ascend. It was here in the absence of the other dive lights that I looked down and saw the black water all around. I looked up and saw the blurry edges of the boat. All I heard was the bubbles releasing from my regulator.

What a strange and beautiful place the Lord has built for us to enjoy, to explore, and to steward.

In the silence of the black waters, listening to my breath and bubbles, I know He is with me. I may not know his will for my life but I trust in Him and I will continue to follow what lights my life on fire, my passion, my heart, and trust He will lead the way. 

Every adventure I’ve done has the same pattern — obsession, preparation, suffering, and then this moment. The moment where the world goes quiet and I feel closer to God than anywhere else. This blackwater pelagic dive was no exception.

If You Made It This Far

It’s funny how a cute little photo of a squid led me here.  What’s one moment in your life when you stepped into the unknown? Whether it was a dive, a trip, or a calling — I’d love to hear your story in the comments below!

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