Ask any experienced visitor what they feel is the best time to dive Blue Grotto. The answer you will most often hear is “first thing in the morning.” This is when water clarity peaks, resulting in nearly limitless visibility.
It may surprise you then to hear that, for many Blue Grotto staff members, this is not our favorite time to dive. To discover what it is, watch this short video.
To experience this sort of dramatic lighting, several elements must fall into place.
- To start, it must be a sunny day.
- It must also be a day when we are not very busy so that the visibility remains good into the afternoon.
- It will depend on the time of year, but it will generally be between early to mid-afternoon.
When all these elements are in place, the sunlight can do amazing things.
- To start, this is when the sun reaches far into the cavern. And while you still want to have a dive light to see all the details, you will have little difficulty navigating the cavern on sunlight alone.
- The sun’s rays in the open water basin can make it look like an underwater cathedral.
- As you saw in the video, the sunlight can dance across rocks, walls, ledges, platforms and stairs.
- Over the course of a dive, you can watch as the lighting effects work their way across the bottom.
You are most likely to experience this on a weekday afternoon. If the forecast is for sunny skies, it may even be worth playing hooky from work. Of course, there is no guarantee of what you will see, but the odds will be in your favor.
Needless to say, if you have a camera, bring it. Then, you can post the results on social media and make your friends jealous.