Hurricaines and our favorite diving spots

[DivingDoc]

Does anyone know how much damage is likely to have been done to the coral in the places recently ravaged by Ivan, Gaston and Frances??

This includes Caymen, Cozumel, Jamaica, Bahamas. I have been meaning to go sometime to Little Caymen and now do I have to worry that Bloody Bay wall might have been trashed by Ivan??

:11:

 

[mccabejc]

(I have no idea what I'm talking about, so take this with a grain of salt...)

First, I would think that the underwater environment is relatively immune and buffered from what's going on at the surface. Aside from some big swells, I'd imagine that it's something of a non-event to underwater life. And since reefs spend their lives, 24 hours a day, being hit by waves and swells, I'd think they're pretty resilient. And I doubt the fish will move out of town because a hurricane went thru. On the plus side, it probably stirs up a lot of food for them fishies. So aside from some bad visibility for a week or so, my guess is that if you go diving there after a hurricane, most fish would say to you "What hurricane?".

 

[simbrooks]

Surely these reefs have been through far more hurricanes than just the last couple. Now ship grounding pretty much puts an end to the coral, but a bit of surge?

 

[Jason B]

I know off the NC coast, these hurricanes rip sunken ships into pieces. I remember diving the Aeolus years ago (after it was first sank) when it was one whole ship sitting on the bottom...now it's in three sections as a result of a hurricane. I feel that if these waves can rip a ship into, they must be able to do some reef damage. Every year the hurricanes cover parts of our wrecks and thankfully uncover portions of our coastal wrecks. New artifacts are always being found for this reason.

 

[Damselfish]

When Bonaire and Curacao got clobbered by Lenny (a somewhat rarer type of event down there - at least it used to be!) it did trash a lot in the shallows, especially things like staghorn corals got reduced to rubble but as you got deeper it was ok. Wrecks are well known for getting wrecked more, moved, etc. in storms.

 

[ScubaCollin]

I was diving in Cozumel right before hurricane frances hit florida. Mexico wasnt even affected, I also dont think it was affected by Iven either.

 

[Mike Veitch]

Hurricanes/Typhoons cause a lot of damage to reefs. I have personally witnessed some very devastating damage to hard corals in many places in the Pacific due to Typhoons and even Tropical Storms. The shallows are especially problematic. However. i have seen a lot of destroyed coral down at 60-80 feet after strong storms.
Fish? Not so bothered that i can tell but will evacuate an area when there is no longer any coral.