Best Fluorescent Night Dives

It's an underwater rave! Fluorescent dives offer a unique night diving experience that is out of this world. The otherworldly glow of the reef is a spectacular sight for underwater photographers as well as scuba divers who just want to enjoy the show. Grab your black light and let's glow!

Bonaire

A bearded fireworm glows during a fluorescent night dive in Bonaire.

Barry B. Brown

For divers accustomed to the night who think they’ve seen it all, fluorescent diving in the dark offers an entirely new view on the reef and its inhabitants. When illuminated with a specialized ultraviolet light and viewed through a yellow mask filter, critters that once looked mundane under white light will glow with neon-bright, psychedelic patterns. Corals, anemones, fish, worms, crustaceans — just about everything under the sea looks wildly different and more exciting. As the technology spreads across the globe, the opportunity to view the underwater world in this special way will be more accessible. Until then, Buddy Dive in Bonaire has been offering the specialty night dive for several years, and can provide the equipment and lead you to the coolest sights. “A fluorescent night dive is a trip to another world,” says Buddy Dive operations manager Augusto Montbrun. “The secret world of the glow-in-the-dark creatures we normally don’t see during a regular night dive unveils a fantastic show that is there waiting for us to discover.”
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Cozumel, Mexico

Coral polyps glow under a black light on a reef in Cozumel

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Cozumel is home to current-swept reefs rich with coral growth. This tropical Mexican island boasts consistently warm waters rife with biodiversity, many of which will pop with color under ultraviolet light.

Dahab, Red Sea

A bit of the old ultraviolet causes this fish to fluoresce in the Red Sea.

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The rich waters of the Red Sea are home to more species of soft corals than just about any other body of water on the planet, making it prime territory for a fluorescent night dive during which the entire reef flows.

Koh Tao, Thailand

Fluorescent dives offer a new way to view the underwater world — such as with this coral in Thailand.

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Forward-thinking dive operators in this international divers' hot spot embraced the fluorescent night-diving trend early, giving divers plenty of options for experiencing Thailand's nocturnal light show.