Our favourite night dive site is Laughing Bird Caye Drop Off on the east side of Laughing Bird Caye National Park and World Heritage site, part of the Belize barrier reef and one of the nicest dive sites in Southern Belize. Other locations could be used if weather conditions favour another spot for night diving, and other night dives can be arranged on request to dive sites on the Belize barrier reef.
We do not schedule night dives and require a minimum of 8 divers and/or snorkelers for the trip to be viable. Often guests “sell” the idea of a night dive/snorkel trips to other guests to make up the minimum.
Trip Plan
We leave Placencia at 4:00 pm and arrive at Laughing Bird Caye 30 to 40 minutes later, unless we spot dolphins in which case, we arrive at this beautiful caye a little later. We spend about an hour on the caye to explore the beaches and enjoy the sunset. As it gets dark, we review safety and night diving procedures and how we will conduct the 45-minute dive. The arrival time back at Placencia is at about 8.00pm to 8:30 pm.
Dive Sites
The nighttime scuba dive starts at 15 to 25 feet/5-8 meters on the sandy bottom and then goes to a coral wall which slopes down gradually to about 80 feet/24m. We usually don’t go deeper than 40 feet/12m to be able to spend more time exploring. At night octopus, lobsters, squid, and nudibranchs come out of hiding and roam the reef looking for prey. The reef itself changes at night as coral polyps open for feeding. Some of the fish you see are the same ones as in the day (do they ever sleep?) and some of the fish you see will be sleeping such as parrot fish (please do not wake them up!).
Two tank night dives or a combination of day and night dives can be arranged on request by Splash Dive Center.
This dive counts as an adventure dive and can be used as a credit towards the PADI Advanced Open Water.