thedivelife News, Events and People of the Padi Diving Society

A Night
Dive
for Two
Natalie Chabierski and
Tim Hunt Live the Dream
by ta ra b ra d l ey

T
he sun is setting and divers are gath-
ered around PADI Course Director
Tim Hunt as he begins his briefing.
“One amazing site during the day
can become a colorful scene from Alice in
Wonderland during the night,” he begins.
“Some species of fish sleep while others
are waking up to feed. Look for polyps
and tentacles stretching out to catch drift-
ing food, and if you cross your light into

far left: courtesy Natalie Chabierski; left: Jim Watt

coat of many colors Left: Tim and
Natalie after a dive. Right: A squid puts on
a full display for night-diving visitors.

the shadows you might see the glowing
eyes of crustaceans.”
Tim talks about the creatures they will
encounter with the enthusiasm of a trea-
sure hunter as his wife Natalie Chabierski
grins looking on from the bow. She’s heard
his briefings before and each time he gets
more excited than the last.
For many newlyweds, the evening is
a time for walks along the beach and can-
dlelit dinners. But for PADI Diving Society
members Natalie and Tim, a romantic eve-
ning is a night dive. The two met in Thai-
land where he was completing his PADI
Rescue Diver course and she was the one
instructing it. You could say it was love
at first dive. Tim ended up staying and
earning his PADI Divemaster certification.
From then on, they have been traveling the
world from Canada (his home) to Australia
(hers), and even to Grand Cayman (where
Tim became a PADI Course Director) — all
the while continuing their PADI education
while helping others with theirs. Today
they are back where it all began: Chalook
Baan Khow in Thailand, managing PADI
Five-Star Gold Palm Dive Center Sunshine
Divers. And ultimately doing what they
love to do, instructing.
As their most recent students, David
(from Spain) and Asbjorn (from Norway),
get ready to jump into the black water, they
do their regular buddy checks with Tim
and Natalie, grab their torches and start
their descent. The international visitors are
on their way to completing their PADI In-
structor Course, and the PADI Night Dive
specialty is one step further. With navi-
gation being a special challenge without
light, they almost feel as if they are getting
two specialties at once.
Once beneath the surface, Tim senses
the comfort in his students and signals to
them to turn off their dive lights. The dark
becomes darker, but it is only a moment

20 May 2007 spor tdive r.co m

 sport diver DiveLife

before the divers’ eyes adapt and silhouettes Project Aware

of coral heads begin to appear. Tim then
moves his hand from side to side causing
the nearly microscopic animals in the water
The Heat Is On
Make your dives count toward conservation
column to phosphoresce in the wake.
By Tiffany Leite, Program Specialist, Proj ect AWARE Foun datio n
After Tim’s underwater disco, the
divers turn their lights back on and head
for the pinnacle where they uncover small
nudibranchs in a striking mix of blues
and yellows. Ironically, the beams of their
lights display more color on the reef than
the sun does during the day. And appar-
ently the new colors on the coral aren’t
the only pluses to diving at night. A timid

continuing education
JG<:@8CKP;@M<I

Get your Night Diver specialty.

For more info, go to padi.com.

porcupine puffer skirts the outside of the

light as Natalie signals the group to look
toward a large sleeping turtle. Not far
away, elbow crabs and small scorpion fish
wait motionlessly for their prey. Near the
edge of the light, a jet-like eagle ray grace-

jim watt
fully flies over the sand in its hunt for
food. After successfully navigating their

way back to the boat, the divers hit the
surface where they’re greeted by a cloud-
less sky speckled with stars. The warm
night air is quickly filled with words of
congratulations. Tim and Natalie’s enthu-
siasm is contagious, and it isn’t any won-
der they have permanent grins on their
faces — they do what they love.
“There is nothing more satisfying
for an instructor than to witness her/his
student divers getting reintroduced to the
passion of diving through a specialty such
as night diving,” says Tim. And with the
suntanned smile of a passionate diver and
a happy newlywed, Natalie agrees.
Top 10 Night Dives
» Manta Ray Night Dive, Hawaii
»P  rince Albert, Roatan
» Coral spawning in Curaçao (Aug 31-Sept
6 and again Sept 29-Oct 5)
» Diving with whitetip reef sharks off
Manuelita Island, Cocos
» The Coral Queen wreck and its colony
of flashlight fish, PNG
» Frederiksted Pier, St. Croix
» Coral spawning, Texas Flower Gardens
» Town Pier, Bonaire
» Columbia Shallows Drift Dive, Cozumel
» SS Yongala, Great Barrier Reef
I
t’s no longer a hot debate: Scientists all
agree that climate change is happening,
bringing with it rising ocean temperatures
that kill, or bleach, corals.
When bleaching occurs, corals lose
symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae), which live
inside coral tissue and supply the coral
with energy. This loss leaves coral trans-
parent and reveals the white coral skeleton
underneath. This potentially fatal process
yields the “bleached” appearance.
Coral reefs are essential to ecosystems,
human health and coastal economies, but
new research discussed at the U.S. Coral Reef
Task Force meeting in St. Thomas, USVI, indi-
cates that more than half the world’s coral reefs
could die in less than 25 years — with climate
change and human activities taking blame.
Make Your Dives Count;
Monitor Coral Reefs
Many questions remain regarding bleaching
and recovery patterns, and the severity and
duration of bleaching events.
The Project AWARE Foundation and
CoralWatch are seeking answers by joining
forces with divers and snorkelers to imple-
ment a large-scale monitoring program using
simple, noninvasive techniques.
CoralWatch monitoring charts display
a series of colors representing different stages
of coral bleaching and recovery. Divers can
match the color of the coral with the cor-
responding color on the chart and record
information for reefs over time.
Data collected and entered online is
analyzed by coral scientists to help answer
questions critical to coral survival. Using
this online database, volunteer groups can
track the health of their dive sites over time
and compare them to the condition of reefs
in different regions of the world.
Project AWARE aims to implement 200
new monitoring sites in the United States, the
Caribbean and Latin America by 2008, and
we’re well on our way. Divers can get involved
by searching the list of Project AWARE Coral-
Watch Dive Operators conducting regular
monitoring programs at projectaware.org or
by e-mailing information@projectaware.org
for a free Coral Health Chart.
Show Your Support
for Coral Reefs
Join the Project AWARE Foundation and
know that your gift helps protect fragile reef
environments. Your donation of $25 can
help Project AWARE establish one new coral
reef monitoring site, providing monitoring
tools and education to volunteer divers. Join
Project AWARE online at projectaware.org
and make a lasting difference today.

22 May 2007 spor tdive r.co m