Cancelled dives because of weather..major pain

[Icarusflies]

Hello all;

I am a new diver in Miami (32 dives so far) and this will be my first winter of diving. I am a little frustrated at the cancelled dives due to weather that I am having. I am looking at the "National Data Buoy Center" for information about the ocean conditions. What should I be looking for to see if a dive is going to be feasible or not and how many days in advance is it safe to make a prediction? I am going to sound ignorant but here it goes..where the hell is the gulf stream. I see is where the bigest waves are.

 

[ClayJar]

Weather Underground has the marine forecasts, and you may find they are nearly as reliable as dryland forecasts.

(We had a trip a couple months ago that ended up 100% salt free due to weather. Thankfully, there were springs nearby, but we lost the night dives and most of the pretty fishies.)

 

[ZzzKing]

Not sure if God reads ScubaBoard but He's probably the only one hat can REALLY help you with predicting the weather. If He is on here, He is probably a moderator for one of the technical forums...

 

[louisianadiver]

I use the NOAA site at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/usamz.htm Just click on the area you want to see and you get a pretty accurate marine text forecast. Unless there's an obvious cause, such as a hurricane or other tropical disturbance, most weather calls are made on the day of departure. -Clay

 

[REII]

Hello all;

I am a new diver in Miami (32 dives so far) and this will be my first winter of diving. I am a little frustrated at the cancelled dives due to weather that I am having. I am looking at the "National Data Buoy Center" for information about the ocean conditions. What should I be looking for to see if a dive is going to be feasible or not and how many days in advance is it safe to make a prediction? I am going to sound ignorant but here it goes..where the hell is the gulf stream. I see is where the bigest waves are.

You should know by now how unpredictable the weather in South Florida is. Our winter is not much better that the summer. I use this site for local weather and radar http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=forecasts/marine/coastal/am/amz650.txt

The gulf stream is a few miles off shore, off the east coast of FL, and a lot further off shore of the Keys. Don't worry about the gulf stream, your not going to be diving there anyway. Look for reef reports, or coastal forecasts.

My suggestion is to check weather services, and call your dive master or boat captain as the weekend or dive date approaches.

TOM

 

[lifeisfullofgooddives]

yea weather sucks sometimes...but that is going to happen from time to time.

You could try diving in the keys more often...at least if they weather turns bad you will already be in party central...

 

[RobbieTheHun]

As a Miami diver myself I usually call the boat captain either on the day of or the night before to get an update. We should count ourselves as being lucky that we can dive at all during the winter months. I think the closest that most members here get to diving is posting on this board.

Remember that if a dive boat is not running it is losing money so boat captain's and owners are more desperate than we are to get a dive trip going.

If you are diving with "RJ Diving Ventures" out of Miami Beach, if you have not done so already, get on the E Mail list, it has telephone numbers for you to call prior to the dive.

RTH

 

[Buoyant1]

I don't think I've ever been to the Keys where at least ONE dive wasn't cancelled.

different factors usually play into it, but the worst is usually high winds/waves.

 

[REII]

Remember that if a dive boat is not running it is losing money so boat captain's and owners are more desperate than we are to get a dive trip going.

RTH

Good point. If the captain is cancelling a dive trip it is usually for a good reason. And you would not want to be out in that weather taking a beating anyway.

TOM

 

[Icarusflies]

I have dived with RJ a couple a time. As a matter of fact 2 weeks ago they cancelled a dive that I had scheduled. Good crew and good boat.

I am planning to dive the Spiegel this sunday with Captain Slate so ll cross my fingers....

Thank you guys for the info.