As a parallel line of discussion, would anyone here have experience with the cousin of "blackwater" diving, shallow bonfire dives (light-trap dives ) as regularly organised in macro-friendly locations such as Anilao or Lembeh, for instance?
 

I'd imagine the actual shooting parameters are similar, with the major difference that this is done in shallow-water, with a set of lure light placed on the sand, mooring line or float, to create the "bonfire" and attract critters by recreating the planktonic food chain.
 

There's a nice interview of NAD Lembeh's Simon Buxton, covering mostly bonfire-type dive organized there:
 

 

and there's also lots of footage  coming from various locations on Youtube.

 

Not requiring a boat and reaching deep-water, this type of planktonic night diving is logistically much easier to organise.
While it will most likely not bring out as many pelagic/deep water migratory critters as diving off-shore over deepwater (and also lacks the thrill of the unknown 😄) I'm curious about the bonfire setups people have encountered, and their experience compared to actual deep-water blackwater dives.
 

While this clearly depends on location, underwater topography and current flow (rich macro locations and locations with deep water access being particularly suitable), based on footage it can be quite interesting - and in certain areas it's actually common to encounter quite a few of the marvelous larval/post larval (deep) "blackwater highlights" in the shallows, such as the amazing wunderpus post-larval stage (Mars Attacks!), which can be spotted in as shallow as 7m of water, along with other larval cephalopods, etc...

Easier logistics (often a simple shore dive) would also make it a good way to practice shooting small critters in the water column on a more regular basis. Something to look into!

 

I've also seen this type of diving refered as "light trap" diving, mostly in Japan, where I've seen some very nice pictures/footage coming from these types of dives, from Okinawa and also locations with deep water access like Toyama or Osezaki.
When I was working on Hachijo island in Japan (fairly remote, 300km from the mainland and bathed by the powerful Kuroshio) we would get things like larval dolphinfish / mahimahi in the harbour bays on night dives...

 

cheers

 

ben

Edited September 6, 20241 yr by bghazzal

I found this:

 

 

 

This one is also quite nice:
 

Anilao and Lembeh seem pretty consistant, lovely stills as well

1 hour ago, Davide DB said:

I found this:

 

 

 

 

From what I can see @ 2'58" they put the lights as in a normal BW and, given the shallow depth, the seafloor gets completely enlighten.

 

Is the only difference between bonfire and black water whether you can see the bottom? 

 

To me, “bonfire dive” is when they put lights on the bottom to attract life, like the manta dive in Kona, Hawaii. It’s in around 60 feet of water with lights on the bottom to attract plankton to feed the mantas. All black water dives have lights on a line, for a location reference and safety as much as to attract critters. 

Yes, there's no real difference, other than that for traditional black water are usually done over deep water, so as to attract deep-dwelling critters during their theoretical nightly migration from the depths.

Bonfire dives, whether on a line (mooring line, or shallow suspensions) or on the bottom (lights placed on the sand, creating a light "bonfire") are generally stationary night dives with a lure light, done in the shallows, often on shore dives.

In this sense it is indeed similar to the light-pooling night dives like the mantas (Hawaii) /whale sharks (Maldives)/mobulas (sea of Cortez) etc, with the major exception that the focus here is not to try to drag in large planctonic feeders but, as in traditional deep black water diving, to recreate the food chain (micro-plankton eating zooplankton coming to feed, etc)

 

The main difference is depth - you are not diving offshore around a suspended line), as this is done in shallow water. Your also not drifting in the current, the light source is stationary.
You do not need a boat, logistics are much simpler, cheaper (poor man's blackwater? 😉).

As for the difference in critters showing up, it's really location (topography, current, upwellings, moon cycles and general fauna) dependent - with the clear caveat that some true deepwater (Nautilus for instance) critters will almost certainly not be around, and that there will probably be more swarmies.

In a sense, "bonfire", light-pooling, light-trap night dives are all shorthand for shallow, usually stationary "blackwater" ( planktonic and larval focused) diving.

cheers

Edited September 10, 20241 yr by bghazzal

I found this definition:

Blackwater Diving vs Bonfire Diving

So as not to confuse the terms and to establish a clear difference, there is “Blackwater diving” and “Bonfire diving”.

Blackwater diving is done in the open ocean; it is NOT an ordinary night dive with a subject photographed in the dark. Blackwater diving is done where there is no bottom, over very deep water, using a downline and lights to attract larval and pelagic subjects.

Bonfire diving is done over a shallow area by using torches planted in the sand or hanging them in the water (or both) facing deeper water. During a Bonfire dive, one can expect to see subjects that are still larval but closer to the settling stages of their lifecycle. Bonfire style dives are also a great way to learn the dive skills, hunting skills and photo skills needed for blackwater diving but without the stress. 

Both styles of diving are equally important to gain a better understanding of the marine world. Both will expose divers to a variety of jellyfish, salp, comb jellies, pterapods. shrimps, octopus, squids, the list is endless…

Source: https://www.uwphotographyguide.com/art-of-blackwater-photography
 

Edited September 11, 20241 yr by bghazzal

I've added some observations based on recent "bonfire-style" tests in this thread:

some are quite video specific, but there are also general observations based on my experiments with this type of diving, which is certainly different from "true" deep black water diving, but also great practice... 🙂

cheers

ben

Edited October 5, 20241 yr by bghazzal

As a sidenote to this thread, current and bonfire-type dives don't mix 😅

 

I had an interesting experience yesterday evening, current stronger than expected.

To put it simply, the majority of critters can't seem to be able to keep up with the current and stay close to the static lure (which isn't so much of  issue with blackwater diving since both the lure and divers are drifting).

Yesterday's dive was pretty empty, with lots more fish than usual, and some of the usual suspects, but not much of a build-up.

 

cheers

 

b

Edited October 8, 20241 yr by bghazzal

As an  update, I've been experimenting with bonfires in east Bali, and recently had very interesting exchanges with a real master of bonfire diving, currently pushing the boundaries of bonfire dives in Anilao.

This has led me to change the spot I was using to a more enclosed bay, which does seem to help concentrate plankton and predators. I still use moorings, as this is just convenient and allows for a little depth under the cone of light, which is more comfy.
It's easy peasy, just swim on the surface up to the mooring, descend,hang the lights between 3 and 8 meters, and the do the same thing in reverse, surfacing on the mooring itsel.

On the light front, nothing new, but lure / bait light temperature (warmer) and light colour are important, and current explorations are leaning on existing coloured lights designed for anglers and cephalopod, which is really interesting.
These lights are designed to be powered by a boat mounted battery, so a little DIY is in order to ad a watertight battery compartment.

Also - and this is a little counter intuitive - in terms of light power, more isn't necessarily better - there's a max number of lumen after which the lure / bait lights actually repel plankton and critters, 2.5K to 5K lumen being the optimal range (which doesn't mean you can't have more lights to increase the lit up area, but more than 5K is not necessarily recommended.

I'm still a long way from this, but getting acceptable results with my basic setup - tonight I'm trying a different disposition, inspired by Japanese bonfire dive setups.

 

I'm making do with what I have, but even a ridiculously low lumen setup like this gets results in good locations.

However, more powerful lights would be better (and allow me to use my Backscatter MW4300 as a focus light...), especially video lights more than simple dive lights, but hey, it's better than nothing.

With this setup, more than light power, it's actually battery life which is an issue. It's better to let the site "cook" for a minimum of 30 minutes before the dive starts, yet I run out of battery power after 80 minutes, often when things are picking up!

 

cheers

 

ben
 

Edited October 24, 20241 yr by bghazzal

For those of you with Facebook, here is a clip from an Al-Jazeera feature on...
🔥 bonfire diving in the Philippines 🔥 presented as a new dive-tourism opportunity (though I do have my doubts regarding its appeal for beginner divers, given the imaging focus and buoyancy control needed to enjoy diving with small critters, regardless of depth)

 

This is time-related, but in certain fruitful locales, people holding regular bonfire sessions have mentioned over 80% of species observed in deep blackwater have also been spotted in bonfire-style shallow light-baited dives  (which, on the other hand, have more predation focused outlook, so quite a different feel for baited open-ocean drift dives).
The chances of seeing pelagic, deep water species are naturally higher on a BW dive, but the relation to depth seems quite complex, and also linked to life cycle considerations and environmental factors.
 

On a related note, speaking of deep vs. shallow water, here are some pretty amazing planktonic photographs mostly shot while... snorkeling
https://www.instagram.com/gilkoplovitz/

all this makes one wonder, when it comes to planktonic diving, are shallows the new deep?

Lastly, Japanese photographer Ryo Minemizu copyrighted the term "Black Water Dive", but apparently in reference to an actual bonfire-style setup, described as follows:
 

Black Water Dive® is a kind of night diving. We are setting up underwater lights of high-color rendering on the sea bottom of night that while considering tides, times, places. The creature which appears is mainly juveniles and larvae. All is fascinating, and it's not to be seen at daytime or regular night diving. It will be your first experience.
 

"BWD" uses a lot of underwater lights, but its purpose is not to illuminate the underwater brightly without limit. The brightness of each light is limited to a maximum of 1500 lumen, which is about the same brightness as a commonly used underwater light.
Then why use lots of underwater lights? It's for create a space of suitable light. Creature's phototaxis has nothing to do with light intensity.
That is, even if it is not a strong light, Creature will gather sufficiently. Of course, if you are going to put together squid of pelagic, light needs to be strong. 
Creatures have finished floating stage period and are coming to the area to approaching to shore. We only need the minimum brightness to make it easy to find it. In fact, they are coming there even without that light. 

The important elements are thoroughly the tide, time, and place.

*"BWD" stands for Black Water Dive®.
*Black Water Dive® is a registered trademark of Ryo Minemizu.
 

Source: https://www.blackwaterdive.net/
 

Here is a clip presenting his current setup:
 

 

Here is additional information on bonfire history, light power and setup, and also environmental concerns from Ryo Minemizu's site - pretty fascinating stuff!

 

History

It was around 1990 that I was interested in these unknown creatures. Christopher Newbert's photo book "Within a Rainbowed Sea", which I purchased for the first time as an underwater photograph photo book, it was introduced a lot of beautiful coral reef landscapes and creatures, but the most interested thing among them the golden shining octopus and Blenniidae with red pectoral fin.

All, most of the body is skeleton creatures. Since all were black backgrounds, I understood what was filmed in the sea at night. I was doing diving guide at the Izu peninsula in Japan at the time, so when I dive in the ocean of the night, I tried to see skeleton creatures like that in the photo book. In those days, when speaking of underwater lights it was a time when there were only Toshiba halogen lights that to put four D batterys. 
 

A lot of elongated larvae of the mantis shrimp was crowded before the lights when I was trying several times only a Toshiba-light put upward from the bottom of ocean. In those days it was still film camera era and I was not able to take larvae of the unpredictable moving the mantis shrimp as a decent photographs, but I was very excited about the creature I saw for the first time.
I tried secretly on several times, and I could also find Tholichthys stage of the Butterflyfish and juveniles of the Pearlfishe (at the time, I was thinking the larva is Congridae's). Yes, even Toshiba-light, which isn't bright, there was enough fish-gathering effect. T

he an era has changed, gradually a new type of underwater light come out.
The groundbreaking was Apollo Sports made a lead battery type underwater light (still halogen). It was much brighter than Toshiba-light, and the battery was large capacity, so I could keep a long lighting time. And underwater lights using the HID bulb appeared, I purchased the CANNON 100 light made by Underwater Kinetics and tried it.
This was a light of 12.5 watt HID bulb / 450 lumens, it was a well bright epoch-making at that time, and from now on I thought that the age of HID will come even to the world of underwater lights. With HID light, the amount of plankton gathered increased, but the ignition lighting was unstable and it was a weak point of HID. After that some new HID lights were released, but none of them was satisfactory.

Soon the age of LED underwater lights came. It's much smaller than HID light, and stable lighting, but the brightness is no way inferior. Immediately I bought FIX LED 1000 DX which FISHEYE released, after that changed to FIX LED 1500 DX later, I bought the FIX AQUAVOLT 7000 too.

Because I was thinking to take effect that brighter is better. The AQUAVOLT 7000 boasted the largest brightness of 7000 lumen at that time, and stable lighting for more than 2 hours was possible at 4900 lumen when reduced the brightness to 70%.
Of course there were big effects. I saw the first time Abralia andamanica and school of Todarodes pacificus, various Crustacea larvae, I continued new encounters keep every dive. But after that I come across RGBlue lights I am using now.

Phototaxis and favorite color
 

One day, I got the opportunity to try RGBlue LED light. RGBlue is an underwater LED light made by specialty to high color rendering to faithfully reproduce the original color of the object. Initially I was thinking of using it as a light for video shooting.

But before that, I decided to compare three lights evenly put on the sea bottom. Lit each light of FIX AQUAVOLT 7000 (6,500 - 8,000 K) and RGBlue System 02 (5000 K / Ra 80) and RGBlue System 02 Premium Color (4200 K / Ra 95) on in the sea of night. FIX AQUAVOLT 7000 lighted at 70% 4900 lumen. RGBlue System 02 lighted at 1000 lumen of the second brightest from the bottom.
RGBlue System 02 Premium Color lighted at 900 lumen of the second brightest from the bottom.

Two types of RGBlue are much darker than AQUAVOLT 7000. However, the difference appeared relatively quickly.
What! Clearly the RGBlue light that should be darker than AQUAVOLT 7000 had more creatures gathered. And the creatures that came to AQUAVOLT 7000 was immediately to attract toward the RGBlue light.
As a result, we reveal that the belief that "the brighter the light is, the more creatures gather" was wrong. It was same result any time when changed the day and try it many times.
Even among RGBlue, there was a subtle difference in the tendency of creatures to gather, which obvious related to was configured color. As a result the creatures like gathering to more natural light than artificial light.
Even in that sense, RGBlue is an excellent light for creatures.
 

Environmental considerations
 

In Black Water Dive ®, I'm trying to keep mind the brightness of the light to 1500 lumen or less at the maximum and to use the high color rendering lights. Apart from that, we have established rules in our own that not to doing in the same place in daily.

Specifically, for example, when doing four days of consecutive Black Water Dive ®, it is necessary to prepare four dive points. This is essential to avoid doing it consecutive in the same place. Also, if you do it in the same place as before, you can go only after at least one week.

Also, if you went to the same place for two consecutive weeks like this, you can do it in the same place in the next eight weeks later. In other words, if the last was May, the next is July after eight weeks.
In addition, we are deciding that it will be a total of seven days with do in the same place all year round. This is a consideration for avoiding "fixation of predator fish" that can occur by placing the light in the same place. All of these are own rules set based on experiences and examples of the past 20 years.

SOURCE: https://www.ryo-minemizu.com/Blackwaterdive

 

 

Edited November 2, 2024Nov 2 by bghazzal

On 11/1/2024 at 6:30 PM, bghazzal said:

For those of you with Facebook, here is a clip from an Al-Jazeera feature on...
🔥 bonfire diving in the Philippines 🔥 presented as a new dive-tourism opportunity (though I do have my doubts regarding its appeal for beginner divers, given the imaging focus and buoyancy control needed to enjoy diving with small critters, regardless of depth)

 

This is time-related, but in certain fruitful locales, people holding regular bonfire sessions have mentioned over 80% of species observed in deep blackwater have also been spotted in bonfire-style shallow light-baited dives  (which, on the other hand, have more predation focused outlook, so quite a different feel for baited open-ocean drift dives).
The chances of seeing pelagic, deep water species are naturally higher on a BW dive, but the relation to depth seems quite complex, and also linked to life cycle considerations and environmental factors.
 

On a related note, speaking of deep vs. shallow water, here are some pretty amazing planktonic photographs mostly shot while... snorkeling
https://www.instagram.com/gilkoplovitz/

all this makes one wonder, when it comes to planktonic diving, are shallows the new deep?

Lastly, Japanese photographer Ryo Minemizu copyrighted the term "Black Water Dive", but apparently in reference to an actual bonfire-style setup, described as follows:
 

Black Water Dive® is a kind of night diving. We are setting up underwater lights of high-color rendering on the sea bottom of night that while considering tides, times, places. The creature which appears is mainly juveniles and larvae. All is fascinating, and it's not to be seen at daytime or regular night diving. It will be your first experience.
 

"BWD" uses a lot of underwater lights, but its purpose is not to illuminate the underwater brightly without limit. The brightness of each light is limited to a maximum of 1500 lumen, which is about the same brightness as a commonly used underwater light.
Then why use lots of underwater lights? It's for create a space of suitable light. Creature's phototaxis has nothing to do with light intensity.
That is, even if it is not a strong light, Creature will gather sufficiently. Of course, if you are going to put together squid of pelagic, light needs to be strong. 
Creatures have finished floating stage period and are coming to the area to approaching to shore. We only need the minimum brightness to make it easy to find it. In fact, they are coming there even without that light. 

The important elements are thoroughly the tide, time, and place.

*"BWD" stands for Black Water Dive®.
*Black Water Dive® is a registered trademark of Ryo Minemizu.
 

Source: https://www.blackwaterdive.net/
 

Here is a clip presenting his current setup:
 

 

Here is additional information on bonfire history, light power and setup, and also environmental concerns from Ryo Minemizu's site - pretty fascinating stuff!

 

History

It was around 1990 that I was interested in these unknown creatures. Christopher Newbert's photo book "Within a Rainbowed Sea", which I purchased for the first time as an underwater photograph photo book, it was introduced a lot of beautiful coral reef landscapes and creatures, but the most interested thing among them the golden shining octopus and Blenniidae with red pectoral fin.

All, most of the body is skeleton creatures. Since all were black backgrounds, I understood what was filmed in the sea at night. I was doing diving guide at the Izu peninsula in Japan at the time, so when I dive in the ocean of the night, I tried to see skeleton creatures like that in the photo book. In those days, when speaking of underwater lights it was a time when there were only Toshiba halogen lights that to put four D batterys. 
 

A lot of elongated larvae of the mantis shrimp was crowded before the lights when I was trying several times only a Toshiba-light put upward from the bottom of ocean. In those days it was still film camera era and I was not able to take larvae of the unpredictable moving the mantis shrimp as a decent photographs, but I was very excited about the creature I saw for the first time.
I tried secretly on several times, and I could also find Tholichthys stage of the Butterflyfish and juveniles of the Pearlfishe (at the time, I was thinking the larva is Congridae's). Yes, even Toshiba-light, which isn't bright, there was enough fish-gathering effect. T

he an era has changed, gradually a new type of underwater light come out.
The groundbreaking was Apollo Sports made a lead battery type underwater light (still halogen). It was much brighter than Toshiba-light, and the battery was large capacity, so I could keep a long lighting time. And underwater lights using the HID bulb appeared, I purchased the CANNON 100 light made by Underwater Kinetics and tried it.
This was a light of 12.5 watt HID bulb / 450 lumens, it was a well bright epoch-making at that time, and from now on I thought that the age of HID will come even to the world of underwater lights. With HID light, the amount of plankton gathered increased, but the ignition lighting was unstable and it was a weak point of HID. After that some new HID lights were released, but none of them was satisfactory.

Soon the age of LED underwater lights came. It's much smaller than HID light, and stable lighting, but the brightness is no way inferior. Immediately I bought FIX LED 1000 DX which FISHEYE released, after that changed to FIX LED 1500 DX later, I bought the FIX AQUAVOLT 7000 too.

Because I was thinking to take effect that brighter is better. The AQUAVOLT 7000 boasted the largest brightness of 7000 lumen at that time, and stable lighting for more than 2 hours was possible at 4900 lumen when reduced the brightness to 70%.
Of course there were big effects. I saw the first time Abralia andamanica and school of Todarodes pacificus, various Crustacea larvae, I continued new encounters keep every dive. But after that I come across RGBlue lights I am using now.

Phototaxis and favorite color
 

One day, I got the opportunity to try RGBlue LED light. RGBlue is an underwater LED light made by specialty to high color rendering to faithfully reproduce the original color of the object. Initially I was thinking of using it as a light for video shooting.

But before that, I decided to compare three lights evenly put on the sea bottom. Lit each light of FIX AQUAVOLT 7000 (6,500 - 8,000 K) and RGBlue System 02 (5000 K / Ra 80) and RGBlue System 02 Premium Color (4200 K / Ra 95) on in the sea of night. FIX AQUAVOLT 7000 lighted at 70% 4900 lumen. RGBlue System 02 lighted at 1000 lumen of the second brightest from the bottom.
RGBlue System 02 Premium Color lighted at 900 lumen of the second brightest from the bottom.

Two types of RGBlue are much darker than AQUAVOLT 7000. However, the difference appeared relatively quickly.
What! Clearly the RGBlue light that should be darker than AQUAVOLT 7000 had more creatures gathered. And the creatures that came to AQUAVOLT 7000 was immediately to attract toward the RGBlue light.
As a result, we reveal that the belief that "the brighter the light is, the more creatures gather" was wrong. It was same result any time when changed the day and try it many times.
Even among RGBlue, there was a subtle difference in the tendency of creatures to gather, which obvious related to was configured color. As a result the creatures like gathering to more natural light than artificial light.
Even in that sense, RGBlue is an excellent light for creatures.
 

Environmental considerations
 

In Black Water Dive ®, I'm trying to keep mind the brightness of the light to 1500 lumen or less at the maximum and to use the high color rendering lights. Apart from that, we have established rules in our own that not to doing in the same place in daily.

Specifically, for example, when doing four days of consecutive Black Water Dive ®, it is necessary to prepare four dive points. This is essential to avoid doing it consecutive in the same place. Also, if you do it in the same place as before, you can go only after at least one week.

Also, if you went to the same place for two consecutive weeks like this, you can do it in the same place in the next eight weeks later. In other words, if the last was May, the next is July after eight weeks.
In addition, we are deciding that it will be a total of seven days with do in the same place all year round. This is a consideration for avoiding "fixation of predator fish" that can occur by placing the light in the same place. All of these are own rules set based on experiences and examples of the past 20 years.

SOURCE: https://www.ryo-minemizu.com/Blackwaterdive

 

 

 

"High color rendering lights" -- which current brands fit this picture? Also, I'm a bit annoyed that Minemizu-san copyrighted the term Black Water Dive.

16 hours ago, humu9679 said:

 

"High color rendering lights" -- which current brands fit this picture? Also, I'm a bit annoyed that Minemizu-san copyrighted the term Black Water Dive.

Yes, the copyrighting thing is a little weird. Not sure what the story/timeline is behind this - he's been experimenting with this type of diving for 20+ years, and not sure who actually first came up with the name blackwater diving.

From what I gathered BW first started with the tethered dives in Hawaii (perhaps you have more local background info?), not sure if there was a connection with Japan, spreading to Florida and then Mexico (Cozumel), where it is going strong.

Drifting blackwater diving mostly started with Mike Bartick's untethered tests in Anilao, first using attaching the bait light lines to the boat then finally to an indepentend floating line ("pumpkin" shown above), since the boat would drift faster than the divers.

From there, more recenty it spread to Indonesia (Lembeh, Tulamben for land based resorts, and on various liveaboards for more punctual/exploratory dives, eg. in Raja Ampat or Komodo), and also to Thailand (through WaP member Alex Tyrrell, first diving in Koh Tao then on Thailand's Andaman sea and up to Myanmar on Smiling Seahorse cruises) and elsewhere (Hong Kong with Simon Lorenz for instance.)
Some liveaboards (like the Siren in Palau) also offer regular BW dives on trips.

Bonfire-style diving itself is strongly linked to Ram Yoro's experimentation in the Philippines, and also regularly held in Lembeh, not sure about other places at the moment, but given how flexible the setup is it could spread.
There is a strong connection with Japanese planktonic diving, and maybe with Kona's bonfire-style light-baited manta dives?

That said, Japan is a bit of a mystery (as always 😉). Other than Ryo Minemizu, photographers like Kazushige Hiroguchi (who recently did a talk on the subject at Japan ADEX) have been exploring planktonic diving for quite a while now, and there's a lot of "light trap" diving going on across the archipelago (Toyama Bay, Okinawa, Kume Island, Hachijo Island, Izu and Osezaki or Ainan just to name a few hotspots I've seen popup recently).

Flyer for a Hori Night bonfire/BW dive organized by Kazushige Horiguchi in Ainan (Shikoku Island/Pref.)



And the actual term "Black Water Dive" is under Japanese copyright... 😅

Not really sure how Japan fits in on the BW/bonfire timeline, but my strong inkling is that Japanese photographers might actually have been pioneers of planktonic diving - even though the now almost standard Mike Bartick-style drifting downline used for deep blackwater doesn't seem to be the most common form (which seem to revolve around weaker lights, often in bonfire-type configurations).
 

 

***
Regarding the lights themselves, based on discussions with Ram Yoro, here Ryo Shinemizu is refering both to CRI and temp.

The general idea is that the closer the light spectrum is to the sun's, the better, meaning ideally you would want a CRI above 90, and a colour temperature equal or warmer than 5,600 K.
Reason for this is that such a light would attract more phytoplankton, thus recreating the food chain by attracting zooplankton feeding on the phytoplankton, and then critters feeding on the zooplankton itself.

Deep drifiting blackwater  focuses on the vertical migration of critters, whereas in bonfire type diving, the base of the buildup / attraction is actually phytoplankton, which actually doesn't take part in this vertical migration process, actually following the sun, which it needs for photosynthesis.

And as Ryo Shinemizu mentioned, critters phototaxis, relationship to the light, is quite complex, and many of the amazing larval forms seen in blackwater are also spotted on shallower bonfire-type dives because most of these will be returning to the shallows at some point in their life cycle...

Based on all this, we could add that one of the main differences between deep blackwater diving and shallow bonfire-style light-baited planktonic diving are as follows:

- plankton is generally defined by its inability to resist current - in deep blackwater you actually drift with the planktonic critters, whereas static bonfire diving (unless it is itself organized as a shallow drift) implies near currentless conditions, allowing for a buildup of the foodchain (slack high tide being ideal) and predation.

- deep blackwater diving focuses on attracting critters during some phase of their vertical migration of critters from the deep, whereas the basis of shallow bonfire diving is predation, building the phytoplanton/zooplankton/larval critter food chain. There is a similar idea in deep blackwater as well (the vertical migration also has a predatory aspect to it), but encounters will tend to be more random (and surprising)

- shallow bonfire-style light-baited diving has a baseline of critters , which Ram Yoro calls "coastal plankton". This is a good term to describe the "regulars" which almost always show up on bonfires, marine worms, various gastropods and pteropods, different types of larvae of crustaceans like mantis shrimps, eels and flounders and various types of fish - these larval forms also overlap with some of the critters seen in deep water, spotted at a different time-period in their evolutionary process.

cheers

ben

 

 

Edited November 4, 2024Nov 4 by bghazzal

5 hours ago, bghazzal said:

Yes, the copyrighting thing is a little weird. Not sure what the story/timeline is behind this - he's been experimenting with this type for 20+ years, and not sure who actually first came up with the name blackwater diving.

 

Maybe this is the reason all use the "blackwater" term opposed to the copyrighted "black water"? 

AFAIK a copyright/patent is a costly process. I don't get how much money you can get from these rights.

 

5 hours ago, bghazzal said:

Deep drifiting blackwater  focuses on the vertical migration of critters, whereas in bonfire type diving, the base of the buildup / attraction is actually phytoplankton, which actually doesn't take part in this vertical migration process, actually following the sun, which it needs for photosynthesis.

 

So it seems BW diving is highly overrated...

2 hours ago, Davide DB said:

 

Maybe this is the reason all use the "blackwater" term opposed to the copyrighted "black water"? 

AFAIK a copyright/patent is a costly process. I don't get how much money you can get from these rights.

 

Yes, it's a little weird - copyrighting an actual device I can understand, but a diving technique and name? Especially on a individual level?

Imagine if "sidemount", "muck" or "drift dive" were copyrighted... 😅
 

2 hours ago, Davide DB said:

So it seems BW diving is highly overrated...

 

I wouldn't go as far - what's certain is that the predatory action build up in bonfire-style diving can also make things more difficult, for getting cleaner images for instance.
And current is a bonfire killer, whereas it is not a problem for drifting black water.

Also critters encountered are not necessarily met at the same period of the life cycle between the two styles, and while up to 80 to 90% are common in certain places, they might differ in terms of frequency and ratio.
Ram Yoro (most of these observations come from him, based on his long experience with bonfire) said he also noticed - in his locale anyway - differences in sex ratio, with more female argonauts or blanket octopus than male argonauts in deep blackwater diving, but more male argonauts or female blanket octopus in bonfire diving for instance...  These differences could be linked to a number of factors, it's all pretty fascinating!

And some truly deep sea critters, like the deep sea 7-arm octopus are rarely seen on shallow bonfire dives (but some have actually been spotted in close to a bonfire site, in slightly deeper water... again, the relation to depth and light is probably more complex than we'd think...)
 

Overall bonfire-style dives are more "regular", since you can build up at site (to the point that it's detrimental, with predatory habituation as mentioned above), whereas in drifting deep blackwater diving, the light bait is moving and critters migrating from the deep to shallows are ecountered more by chance than anything else.

In a way, we could say that maybe it's not so much blackwater diving which is overrated, but more likely bonfire-type diving which is underrated, and also not alway organized in the optimal way...

 

Edited November 4, 2024Nov 4 by bghazzal

On 11/3/2024 at 4:53 PM, bghazzal said:

Yes, the copyrighting thing is a little weird. Not sure what the story/timeline is behind this - he's been experimenting with this type of diving for 20+ years, and not sure who actually first came up with the name blackwater diving.

From what I gathered BW first started with the tethered dives in Hawaii (perhaps you have more local background info?), not sure if there was a connection with Japan, spreading to Florida and then Mexico (Cozumel), where it is going strong.

Drifting blackwater diving mostly started with Mike Bartick's untethered tests in Anilao, first using attaching the bait light lines to the boat then finally to an indepentend floating line ("pumpkin" shown above), since the boat would drift faster than the divers.

From there, more recenty it spread to Indonesia (Lembeh, Tulamben for land based resorts, and on various liveaboards for more punctual/exploratory dives, eg. in Raja Ampat or Komodo), and also to Thailand (through WaP member Alex Tyrrell, first diving in Koh Tao then on Thailand's Andaman sea and up to Myanmar on Smiling Seahorse cruises) and elsewhere (Hong Kong with Simon Lorenz for instance.)
Some liveaboards (like the Siren in Palau) also offer regular BW dives on trips.

Bonfire-style diving itself is strongly linked to Ram Yoro's experimentation in the Philippines, and also regularly held in Lembeh, not sure about other places at the moment, but given how flexible the setup is it could spread.
There is a strong connection with Japanese planktonic diving, and maybe with Kona's bonfire-style light-baited manta dives?

That said, Japan is a bit of a mystery (as always 😉). Other than Ryo Minemizu, photographers like Kazushige Hiroguchi (who recently did a talk on the subject at Japan ADEX) have been exploring planktonic diving for quite a while now, and there's a lot of "light trap" diving going on across the archipelago (Toyama Bay, Okinawa, Kume Island, Hachijo Island, Izu and Osezaki or Ainan just to name a few hotspots I've seen popup recently).

Flyer for a Hori Night bonfire/BW dive organized by Kazushige Horiguchi in Ainan (Shikoku Island/Pref.)



And the actual term "Black Water Dive" is under Japanese copyright... 😅

Not really sure how Japan fits in on the BW/bonfire timeline, but my strong inkling is that Japanese photographers might actually have been pioneers of planktonic diving - even though the now almost standard Mike Bartick-style drifting downline used for deep blackwater doesn't seem to be the most common form (which seem to revolve around weaker lights, often in bonfire-type configurations).
 

 

***
Regarding the lights themselves, based on discussions with Ram Yoro, here Ryo Shinemizu is refering both to CRI and temp.

The general idea is that the closer the light spectrum is to the sun's, the better, meaning ideally you would want a CRI above 90, and a colour temperature equal or warmer than 5,600 K.
Reason for this is that such a light would attract more phytoplankton, thus recreating the food chain by attracting zooplankton feeding on the phytoplankton, and then critters feeding on the zooplankton itself.

Deep drifiting blackwater  focuses on the vertical migration of critters, whereas in bonfire type diving, the base of the buildup / attraction is actually phytoplankton, which actually doesn't take part in this vertical migration process, actually following the sun, which it needs for photosynthesis.

And as Ryo Shinemizu mentioned, critters phototaxis, relationship to the light, is quite complex, and many of the amazing larval forms seen in blackwater are also spotted on shallower bonfire-type dives because most of these will be returning to the shallows at some point in their life cycle...

Based on all this, we could add that one of the main differences between deep blackwater diving and shallow bonfire-style light-baited planktonic diving are as follows:

- plankton is generally defined by its inability to resist current - in deep blackwater you actually drift with the planktonic critters, whereas static bonfire diving (unless it is itself organized as a shallow drift) implies near currentless conditions, allowing for a buildup of the foodchain (slack high tide being ideal) and predation.

- deep blackwater diving focuses on attracting critters during some phase of their vertical migration of critters from the deep, whereas the basis of shallow bonfire diving is predation, building the phytoplanton/zooplankton/larval critter food chain. There is a similar idea in deep blackwater as well (the vertical migration also has a predatory aspect to it), but encounters will tend to be more random (and surprising)

- shallow bonfire-style light-baited diving has a baseline of critters , which Ram Yoro calls "coastal plankton". This is a good term to describe the "regulars" which almost always show up on bonfires, marine worms, various gastropods and pteropods, different types of larvae of crustaceans like mantis shrimps, eels and flounders and various types of fish - these larval forms also overlap with some of the critters seen in deep water, spotted at a different time-period in their evolutionary process.

cheers

ben

 

 

 

Thanks for that Ben. Always well researched and thoughtful. I did my first BW dive from the Smiling Seashorse in the Andaman Sea. This was in February, and I was a disaster. I had my Sony A7c and a Sony 50mm macro (a bit short and slow).