mccabejc
Contributor
We just got back from a 5 day trip to Ft. Lauderdale, and some folks were asking for a report, so here it is.
Bottom line, I didn't dive because of weather.
Now, the rest of the story...
A couple weeks before we left I tried to rustle up a few local SB folks who could show me around and maybe do some shore diving, but that didn't pan out. Apparently they don't have regular get-togethers like we do. And maybe the weather was a factor. So let's just say I didn't get the "Rick Inman Treatment"
So I decided to check around and find some local dive boats. I emailed four of them for details before we left, and as far as I can tell none replied (unless the responses got accidentally got tossed with the junk email).
We arrived in Pompano Beach (the city just north of Ft. Lauderdale) on Thursday night, and checked in at a hotel on the beach. The hotel is located near some popular shore diving spots in north Ft. Lauderdale. We had planned to relax on Friday and maybe check out some dive ops, then I'd dive on Sat and/or Sun, and then we had some bidnit to attend to on Monday, then we'd head home today (Tuesday). So Friday was a nice lazy day, weather was warm and sunny (70's), and surf was pretty big outside our hotel, so we took a drive down Highway A1A which runs along the coast, about a block away from the beach. Saw the biggest damn cruise ship we'd ever seen (I think it was the Caribbean Princess).
Then in the wee dark hours of Saturday morning we were awoken to the sound of furious winds slamming things around outside. So I opened the sliding door and a blast of very cold air came in (temps in the high 40's). It was sustained 20-30 mph winds with at least 40mph gusts. So we went back to bed, figuring there wouldn't be any boats going out. When we woke up at around 9am I went down to the beach and was amazed that the winds were blowing offshore, against the waves, and had blown the ocean surface almost totally flat. And clear. Kinda like Santa Anas. Aside from the blowing sand stinging your skin, it looked to be a decent diving day. Clear, sunny skies, but pretty chilly. But the dive op I called said they weren't going out, so I decided to so some snorkeling/freediving. Conditions were so good I was even wrestling with thoughts of grabbing a tank and heading out on my own, but decided against it. The water was pretty warm (probably low 70's), and viz was somewhere around 15-20 ft. I swam out to one of the "vessel exclusion" buoys which was about 80 yards offshore and suddenly saw a school of about 8 big fish (maybe 18-24 inches long) congregating right below me. Not sure what they were, but my guess is some kind of jack ( http://marinefisheries.org/FishID/jackalm.html ). Also saw what looked to be a triggerfish eyeing me.
On Sunday morning we woke up and checked the ocean, and were surprised to see long lines of very big waves breaking way offshore (maybe 1/2 mile out) on one of the three sets of parallel reefs that run along the coast. Apparently a big swell had come up during the night, and the offshore wind hadn't subsided much, so the combination of 4-6 ft waves hitting shore and 30 mph winds blowing against them caused lots of spray as the waves curled up and broke. Reminded me of my childhood in NY. Needless to say the dive op decided to cancel boats for the day. So we decided to take a drive down to Miami, check out South Beach, tour Key Biscayne, and do some sightseeing.
We did our bidnit on Monday, and then in the afternoon I did some snorkeling in zero viz water and heavy surf.
So it was a fun trip, we had dinner at a great restaurant on the ocean watching the full moon shining on the water, had lots of great seafood, had fun on the beach, and survived the insane Florida drivers (I'm not kidding, that place is deadly). But I learned that Florida is a tough place for scheduling trips: you're either dodging summertime hurricanes or wintertime Northeasters.
Bottom line, I didn't dive because of weather.
Now, the rest of the story...
A couple weeks before we left I tried to rustle up a few local SB folks who could show me around and maybe do some shore diving, but that didn't pan out. Apparently they don't have regular get-togethers like we do. And maybe the weather was a factor. So let's just say I didn't get the "Rick Inman Treatment"
So I decided to check around and find some local dive boats. I emailed four of them for details before we left, and as far as I can tell none replied (unless the responses got accidentally got tossed with the junk email). We arrived in Pompano Beach (the city just north of Ft. Lauderdale) on Thursday night, and checked in at a hotel on the beach. The hotel is located near some popular shore diving spots in north Ft. Lauderdale. We had planned to relax on Friday and maybe check out some dive ops, then I'd dive on Sat and/or Sun, and then we had some bidnit to attend to on Monday, then we'd head home today (Tuesday). So Friday was a nice lazy day, weather was warm and sunny (70's), and surf was pretty big outside our hotel, so we took a drive down Highway A1A which runs along the coast, about a block away from the beach. Saw the biggest damn cruise ship we'd ever seen (I think it was the Caribbean Princess).
Then in the wee dark hours of Saturday morning we were awoken to the sound of furious winds slamming things around outside. So I opened the sliding door and a blast of very cold air came in (temps in the high 40's). It was sustained 20-30 mph winds with at least 40mph gusts. So we went back to bed, figuring there wouldn't be any boats going out. When we woke up at around 9am I went down to the beach and was amazed that the winds were blowing offshore, against the waves, and had blown the ocean surface almost totally flat. And clear. Kinda like Santa Anas. Aside from the blowing sand stinging your skin, it looked to be a decent diving day. Clear, sunny skies, but pretty chilly. But the dive op I called said they weren't going out, so I decided to so some snorkeling/freediving. Conditions were so good I was even wrestling with thoughts of grabbing a tank and heading out on my own, but decided against it. The water was pretty warm (probably low 70's), and viz was somewhere around 15-20 ft. I swam out to one of the "vessel exclusion" buoys which was about 80 yards offshore and suddenly saw a school of about 8 big fish (maybe 18-24 inches long) congregating right below me. Not sure what they were, but my guess is some kind of jack ( http://marinefisheries.org/FishID/jackalm.html ). Also saw what looked to be a triggerfish eyeing me.
On Sunday morning we woke up and checked the ocean, and were surprised to see long lines of very big waves breaking way offshore (maybe 1/2 mile out) on one of the three sets of parallel reefs that run along the coast. Apparently a big swell had come up during the night, and the offshore wind hadn't subsided much, so the combination of 4-6 ft waves hitting shore and 30 mph winds blowing against them caused lots of spray as the waves curled up and broke. Reminded me of my childhood in NY. Needless to say the dive op decided to cancel boats for the day. So we decided to take a drive down to Miami, check out South Beach, tour Key Biscayne, and do some sightseeing.
We did our bidnit on Monday, and then in the afternoon I did some snorkeling in zero viz water and heavy surf.
So it was a fun trip, we had dinner at a great restaurant on the ocean watching the full moon shining on the water, had lots of great seafood, had fun on the beach, and survived the insane Florida drivers (I'm not kidding, that place is deadly). But I learned that Florida is a tough place for scheduling trips: you're either dodging summertime hurricanes or wintertime Northeasters.
