NIGHT SNORKELING – It was a blast!

This is something worth writing about.

Tonight, I had my second successful night snorkelling in the Panagsama beach, Moalboal, Philippines. In my first night snorkeling experience some years back, I was afraid after 15 minutes in deep waters, so we gave up and returned to the shore.

Snorkeling with maximum exposure to the sun is always fun, but the night snorkeling offers a different and an equally exciting experience. So I bravely faced the darkness on my second attempt.

With a flashlight, my fins, snorkel and mask and of course my life vest (since I am not really a swimmer), we set out into the dark sea.

A few minutes after plunging into the darkness and switching on my flashlight, in very shallow waters, I found a sleeping file fish. There it was just floating near a sea grass. Even if you disturb the water a bit or move the sea grass, it continued floating in upright position.

File fish

My apologies to the readers, I did not take any photos because our underwater camera conked out  some days before we did this night snorkeling….But below are photos from previous dives of my hubby...just so you will have an idea of how the sea creatures looked like.

As we moved further away from the shore, there were many other creatures that stood out. Here are some of the creatures we saw:

• A harmless decorator crab that looked really scary but even when I placed it on the palm of my hand, it did not even scratch me. I played with it for about 1 minute. 
• A large sponge crab. It is precisely called a sponge crab because it tries to hide beneath a dead sponge on top of its carapace. You will notice that it is not a sponge because it is inching stealthily on top of rocks and sea corals.
• Other kinds of crabs in various sizes hiding underneath rocks. You will be surprised to find medium-size crabs even in the very shallow waters.
• There were a lot of active hermit crabs inside small and big shells…
• We saw one shrimp – an active nocturnal sea creature...which is a rare find.

  

  Shrimp

• And it was interesting to see different kinds of sea urchins, especially the one with long, conical shaped spindles (Phyllacanthus imperialis, a cidaroid sea urchin) and the smaller ones which do not have those needle-like stinging spindles, but rather have the whitish short blunt spines (flower sea urchin).  

  

  A sea urchin

• And my, my, the feather star may look a bit different at night – but it is still beautiful.
• Then there were different kinds of starfish –and I particularly liked the one with a beautiful brown and white design that moved gracefully along the sand and the rocks…
• There were a lof of apogon or cardinal fishes…some were still active and some were already sleeping.
• We also saw a lizard fish which is quite long and narrow in shape. 

  

  Lizard fish

  
  

  

  Apogon or cardinal fish

• And one rare find was also the sleeping leaf fish – floating near a rock…
• We saw three puffer fishes, one of them was obviously sleeping and there other two were still actively prowling the seabed. 

  

  Puffer fish

• Some blennie fishes were also still active, while others were already at rest.
• There were schools of cat fish in different sizes still jittering through crevices and narrow openings…
• And then there were the sleeping pipe fishes on the sand – many of them literally lying down in pairs on the sand. Pipe fishes look a bit like the seahorses...they belong to the same family...

  

  Sleeping pipe fishes

• And don't forget to switch off your flashlight (if you ever have the chance to do a night snorkel) and then disturb the sea with your hands, you will see the magnificent planktons brightly glowing....it is really AMAZING to experience this in the dark! No more fears, just fun and inspiration!
• The sea anemones were amazingly pretty as their slender tentacles were elegantly swaying. 

  

  Tube anemone

• On our second nigh snorkelling in this trip, we also saw what looked like large sea slugs or sea hares.



Decorator crab

• And viola just before reaching the shore and getting out of the shallow waters – we saw a beautiful baby lion fish and we think it was sleeping as it was just there floating in upright position…I was shouting for joy!

  

  Lion fish

Sponge crab

These are just some of the interesting creatures we saw.

One main difference between a night and daytime snorkeling is that – sea creatures that are active at night time or nocturnal creatures can be easily seen at night time. Furthermore, the darkness makes creatures in focus stand out. You see more clearly aspects of nature that you would otherwise have missed on a daytime snorkeling. There is simply so much noise and distraction when you are viewing kaleidoscopic shapes underneath the water’s surface in broad daylight. The expanse and array of colors and shapes may take your breath away at daytime, while concentrating on a single object at night is also a breath-taking, awe-inspiring experience.

Just a few more friendly reminders and lessons that we have to keep in mind:

• Minimize disturbing the creatures by poking at them or pursuing them when they run away.
• Bring an underwater flashlight that is functioning properly and can illuminate the dark reefs well.
• If you are not an experienced swimmer, wear a life vest.
• Go with an experienced swimmer or diver, who also knows the terrain and who knows what to touch and not to touch, even lightly.
• Do your night snorkeling on a day wherein there is no strong wind blowing and the sea is really calm.
• Protect and respect nature. Be a graceful guest in this vast ocean that provides us with our daily sustenance!

Here is a late afternoon shot of the sunset in Moalboal, Philippines!