What could be more enticing than slipping into an invitingly warm azure blue sea and sinking below the waves to frolic with some of nature’s most fascinating creations?

I can’t think of many, but sadly it being February and we being in Portsmouth that simply isn’t on offer. Consequently those of us from the University of Portsmouth Sub-aqua Club decided to polish off our torches and have a night dive in the inky cold blackness of Horsea lake.

Arriving at Horsea lake around 6 pm, just as the sun had cast its last shadow and the dark of night was settling over Portsmouth, it was obvious that everyone was eager to get in the water.

After a quick site brief there was a veritable scramble of fins, masks and glow sticks as everyone rushed to get ready in the dark.

Some may think us mad for actually paying only to willingly jump into what many may consider to be a cold and barren environment.

But don’t write it off too soon. My buddy for the dive, Rory, and myself were lucky enough to be the first in the water and after a brief surface swim we were ready to descend.

The atmosphere underwater was eerily calm and with only our torches to illuminate the way we were engulfed by the darkness.

Moving onward at a depth of six metres we focused our torches on the wreck of a boat and continued the dive. The night brings with it a change in the behaviour of underwater beings that inhabit there.

Creatures that sleep during the day become more active during the night, seeking food under the cover of dark. This became abundantly clear to us as we navigated through the dark water: crabs roamed freely along the silt bottom, their intricate carapaces highlighted under the intensity of our strong torches.

Shrimps numbering in their hundreds skittered along any algae bearing surface they could find, and shining a torch in their direction uncovered what seemed like a thousand pairs of silver eyes staring back at you.

The most notable difference was the abundance of eels slithering along the lake bed. Rarely seen during the day, Rory and I encountered several of these snake-like fish apparently seeking food among the aggregations of algae.

Further into the lake we encountered the remains of an old Wessex helicopter.

Swimming past such a large object, now clearly assimilated by nature, left the distinct impression that we were indeed the aliens in this particular corner of our own world. Returning back to base we were reminded how troublesome night diving can be.

The pitch black of the surrounding water becomes disorientating when trying to navigate and after twenty two minutes since descending we floated gently to the surface only to find we had indeed gotten slightly lost.

After a hasty exit to warm up and admitting to our error, it became apparent that we weren’t the only ones to become disorientated.

Casting an eye over the black water showed some divers SMB’s (surface marker buoys) to be scattered in a very odd pattern around the lake.

Soon enough though, every scattered soul returned to the shore safely, openly grinning from ear to ear and competing over who spotted the biggest eel!