Florida Keys diving - past 7 days

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

The diving down here over the past week has been absolutely dismal. Starting last Sunday night we had a cold fron pass through & the winds got up to 40 knots & was sustained in the 20-30 knot range all week.

Because of the wind churning up the bottom Wednesday & Thursday the vis at looe Key was less than 5 feet. Water temps dipped to 70° F.

This weekend may be better...winds are subsiding somewhat - vis at Looe Key today was 10 feet. Sombrero Reef enjoyed about 30 feet of vis.

We are keeping our fingers crossed for good weather/vis for the weekend.

If you have a trip planned to the Keys in the next few days call and ask about conditions.

 

[KeyLargoBrent]

once you get off the surface! We all got a couple of days off on Monday and Tuesday. By Thursday, we were back on the water, with forty to fifty feet of visibility at the Spiegel Grove and French Reef. Yesterday (Friday) we found fifty to sixty feet of visibility, and hordes of Spotted Eagle Rays, at Molasses Reef.

While the boatride out has been on the wet side, the diving itself has been awesome. Now if the seas would just settle down...

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Glad to know the vis up "North" has improved..

 

[SueMermaid]

Is anyone else nauseous from just reading this thread? :yuck:

 

[Arnaud]

SueMermaid once bubbled...
Is anyone else nauseous from just reading this thread? :yuck:

Yes! Unlike California, Florida is not a dairy State

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

We have cancelled our dive trips this week -- The reason for this is constant winds above 15 knots and predicted to be 20-25 by Thursday. Which will further degrade visibility & certainly kick up the seas.

Visibility down here has not improved and was reported to be 5-10 feet at Looe Key this morning. Winds were reported to be near 20 out of the South and 3-4 foot seas, with frequent white capping/breaking rollers.

Dive operators I know/trust in the upper Keys have cancelled for today & the prognosis does not look good for the remainder of the week according to them.

I hope that operators in the Upper Keys who read this will correct my post to reflect what they are seeing in terms of vis & sea state.

A rumor surfaced this morning that Lady Cyana Divers has closed their doors. I hope this rumor is not true..anyone know about this??

 

[KeyLargoBrent]

surface conditions have been on the sloppy side. We found 40-60ft viz at pickles/snapper ledge on Saturday with 2-3ft seas... 40-60ft viz at the Spiegel Grove and the Benwood on Sunday with 3-5ft seas. We're taking off today and tomorrow (it's been blowing 15-20kts), and looking forward to 10-15kts of wind on Wednesday.

I too heard that Lady Cyana has closed.

 

[Bomber]

Jim,

Gloria closed for good. Dustin is having a garage sale this week.
Tank/reg/BC sets from rental are being serviced and will go for sale next week.

We're routing our business over to Pat at Ocean Quest.
http://www.oceanquestdivecenter.com/welcome.htm

Jerel

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I hate to know it...Lady Cyana Divers has been an Upper keys icon for many years...

 

[Bomber]

Jim,

Gloria may have closed Lady Cyana but she's still going to be around. Her and Bob bought Islamorada Bakery (block north of WorldWide) a while back. You can still find her there.

http://www.igougo.com/planning/journalEntryDining.asp?JournalID=11447&EntryID=9670

Jerel