HELP! What are the Keys like?!?

[ctiffin]

Hi Scuba-ers!

My boyfriend and I are in a bit of a predicament. We have an 11 day (12 dive) trip that goes from the 11th until the 22nd but they weather is looking HORRIBLE! I called Rainbow Reef yesterday and they said that they hadn't been on the water for 4 days - vis. is crap and they wind is to high. We have to decide tonight if we are going to cancel to give the requested 48 hour notice.

Should we risk a crappy vacation or do you think the storm will pass? Would we be better off diving in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico? (found a great resort for a good price)

HELP!

 

[DebbyDiver]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

National Hurricane Center



A shame really....this time of year the Keys are usually awesome. The storm may go elsewhere but who knows?

 

[iluvtheocean]

in addition to the actual named storm -- there is currently a disturbance in the atlantic off florida east coast. which is also messing with the weather.
farther north might be doable though as in west palm or jupiter but you'd have to check with them.. i would consider elsewhere otherwise for the next week or so maybe --

 

[drinksfromtap]

Yeah, the last week or so has not been good for diving down here, viz has been poor and the ocean has been churning. Assuming it stays marginal, the storm comes through on the 13th, and giving it a few days to settle down puts you at the 17th before things would start to get nice again. It's been rough enough that we re-scheduled our AOW nav dive because the surf was just too challenging to get through.

 

[CT Sean]

Yeah, the last week or so has not been good for diving down here, viz has been poor and the ocean has been churning. Assuming it stays marginal, the storm comes through on the 13th, and giving it a few days to settle down puts you at the 17th before things would start to get nice again. It's been rough enough that we re-scheduled our AOW nav dive because the surf was just too challenging to get through.

let's hope you are right as the 17th is exactly when wife and I arrive in KL to do our AOW

 

[conchrandy]

Today seems worse yet with 4-7 on Molasses with winds gusting to 25. Not to mention poor viz. Last trip for most of us was Saturday and it was pretty bad by itself with spotty viz and currents.
The named storm is not related to these conditions as it's mostly a complex system of high pressure with some tropical characteristics. Then again you have to watch the storm, with some predicting a nasty weekend at best.

I believe this is the worst conditions for this time of year I've ever seen.

 

[Capt Gary]

So I'm on Davie Crocker right now. Seas are 2 to 4 with 60' + Vis, winds E at 15kts, and no current. It's diveable and so far our divers are having a great time. Looks like the Vis is south of Conch Reef.



Winds are suppose to slow down tonight but we will see.

Good Diving,
Capt Gary

 

[islanddream]

We spent all last week in Key Largo with about 13 dives scheduled. I only did two dives and was seasick on both. The seas were very high, it was extremely difficult getting on the boat, and the vis was crap. It rain hard everyday off and on and the wind blew like crazy. Many dive boats did not go out during the week on their regular schedule. The surge was horrible...felt like I was in a washing machine when I was underwater. This was our first time to the Keys and we were really looking forward to the great diving. Guess we'll have to try it again.

 

[ctiffin]

Ugh! Looks like that's everything we were afraid of! Thanks for the heads up everyone, guess we'll have to cancel. Whomp whomp

 

[tomfcrist]

South Florida is notoriously iffy this time of year. When the wind witch stays away it is flat calm and great diving, but when the storms blow through, there can be weeks of nogo seas and bad dive conditions( well, relatively bad unless you are from the mid Atlantic or upper east coast.... In which case it's no big deal). When I lived in the keys, there was no rush to get some diving done because as soon as the weather got good we would be out everyday. Dive vacations are tough to plan down there though, like a box of chocolates....never know what you are gonna get.