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As most of the other guests turn their thoughts to leaving the beach, taking a nap and changing for dinner, Komandoo’s underwater thrill seekers gather their dive gear ready for another adventure to round off the day….on the night dive boat.

A short stroll down the jetty to the waiting boat is followed by a sunset cruise on the way to one of the exciting dive sites explored at night. Fun Giri, Latheef, Kuredu Caves and Felivaru Outreef are the favourite spots for the instructors to take the boats to after dark. Anyone familiar with these dive sites by day will see a totally different personality emerging from it once the sun has set. The daytime creatures retreat to their resting places and the nocturnal reef dwellers come out to party. Bathed in torchlight, the colours seen at night are vibrant and the creatures themselves often display quite a different behaviour to that seen during the day. By day the moray eels are seldom seen swimming, but divers on the reef after dark can witness them hunting along the reef. Snappers and trevallies use the torchlight of the divers to their advantage – smaller fish caught in the beam of light can end up being caught by the hunters!

Aside from watching the night shift predators at work on the reef, there are lots of other fascinating and unusual creatures to see – lobsters, shrimps and crabs are mesmerising to watch, especially the decorator crabs that adorn themselves with pretty much anything they can find on the reef for camouflage! Corals take on a totally different look at night – instead of looking like the hard rock-like structures divers are used to seeing during the day, they display their polyps and feed in the hours of darkness – the colours can be astounding.

Round the experience off by surfacing to a glittering display of stars that will simply take your breath away. On the boat trip back to Komandoo keep your eyes peeled for shooting stars and get ready to make a wish!