My first night dive revealed a hidden world of glowing plankton

Seeing that ethereal light show erased all my pre-dive jitters.

3 comments

3 Comments

You actually saw plankton that glows in the dark? I always thought that was something exaggerated in nature documentaries. How did it feel to be immersed in that ethereal light? And it completely erased your pre-dive jitters just from witnessing it? That sounds like a transformative experience, almost hard to believe until you see it yourself.

lane.cameron3h ago

Wait, it completely erased your pre-dive jitters just like that? That's the part I'm stuck on, because my nerves would be screaming even surrounded by magic. Guess @brooken89 is right that you really have to see it to believe that kind of shift.

reesethompson52m ago

Brooken89 hit on something with the jitters disappearing. I read a marine biology paper that talked about how bioluminescent displays trigger awe responses in humans. It said that overwhelming beauty can short circuit fear pathways in the brain, which is exactly what happened to me. My first night dive had me clutching my regulator until that green-blue glow surrounded me, then pure wonder took over. That paper called it aesthetic analgesia, where beauty literally numbs the fear. So yeah, seeing it absolutely rewires your head in the moment.