My wife and I are traveling to Bonaire in February. As casual snorkelers (we do not dive), I'm sure we'll end up getting hooked on snorkeling at night, especially since we've never done it before. I want to buy us each a light for when we're putzing around in the water in the dark.

Will the Underwater Kinetics Mini Q40 eLED Plus Dive Light (Brightness:67 Lumens) provide enough light for us to float around and see the fishies at night? The Q40 can be had for about $40. The Underwater Kinetics Sunlight SL4 eLED Dive Light (Brightness:116 Lumens) is about $15 more, however, I have a concern about the weight. There is a significant difference between lugging around 4 AA batteries and 4 C size batteries. If it is too heavy it'll take away the enjoyment and experience, especially for my wife.

Well, what do you all think?
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"Life is too short for bad wine, lousy food, and cheap cigars."

Dan the present trend seems to towards less light rather than more. The reason is keeping your night vision to see more. A bright light will decrease your night vision. So IMHO go with the 4 AAs vs. the Cs.

The last trip we did a night dive during a full moon and we keep our light off for a good part of the dive.

Cecil:

Thanks. I am getting similar responses on ScubaBoard (although I notice that people tend to go on a tangent when responding to posts).

Dan.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lights/253363-enough-light-nighttime-snorkeling.html#post3838983

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"Life is too short for bad wine, lousy food, and cheap cigars."

I use the Mini Q (not the LED model) as a primary dive lite. It is all I need to see, but not scare, the things that are our out at night. You will be fine with it, and it is good value for the money.

Thanks, folks. I think I'll stick with something lightweight and inexpensive. When comparing watts/lumens and cost, the smaller light gets the nod, especially when taking into consideration the "fun factor." Someone suggested getting the Q40 for the Mrs. and the SL4 for myself. As my wife would say to me, "Duh, you're such a guy!" (translation - this is so obvious, why didn't you think of it?)

Looks like we'll be loosing the moonlight during our stay (2/14/09-2/21/09). If we start night snorkeling on the Saturday we arrive, we should have enough confidence to go out later in the week "in the dark."

Boo!

C'est la vie!

http://www.moonconnection.com/moon-february-2009.phtml

Hi Dan & hope you have fun night snorkeling.
My advice however is to use the below website as a guide to avoid jellies. Unfortunately I see it hasn't yet been updated for 2009.

http://www.808jellyfish.com/index.htm

Jellyfish?

Since the moon will be rising late during our stay, does this mean we won't have to worry about jellyfish, even though it'll be 8-10 days after the full moon?

Not that I am going to let them stop me from going in the water...