Oily sheen in water @ LBTS today

[SeaSheperd]

Hi ,

i was out snorkeling today in LBTS north of Angler's Pier, and there was a heavy, oily sheen in the water, visibility was the pits , and only a few feet down did the water clear up a bit. I saw a lot of reddish little bubbles floating around in the water. Has anybody noticed this too? It looked like snorkeling in a bucket of olive oil....

concerned in LBTS

 

[trigfunctions]

When were you there? We were snorkeling at noon. There was a strong current running to the south. We noticed that there was a warm water layer a few feet thick on top of a cooler layer. The warmer water had more sediment in it and was brownish in color. I didn't notice reddish bubbles, just a brownish hue to the water. That, plus the shimmering effect from the two water layers made the visibility worse than normal.

This happens from time to time and seems to be based on the temperatures, the rain, and the currents. I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary or a reason to be concerned. I'd be interested to hear what other people thought.

Even with the bad vis, we saw some good stuff.

 

[JoeFL]

We did a dive around 10 am yesterday off Datura south of the pier and the vis was fine. Water was a little green, but not bad. Didn't notice the oily sheen.

Current wiped me out though. Sore today.

 

[DebbyDiver]

Sometimes when there is a massive amount of rain, as in the past week, and the fresh water runs off, it creates that oily effect on the ocean.

 

[deepstops]

Sometimes when there is a massive amount of rain, as in the past week, and the fresh water runs off, it creates that oily effect on the ocean.

And that brown layer of water on top.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

It was only the first foot of water close to shore and it wasn't everywhere. Farther out on the second reef the water was clear and 50+ ft of viz. The current was stronger on the 2nd reef and kept me from going North to the Hall of Fame buoys.

 

[SeaSheperd]

thanks much for your reply and great pics! It was yesterday , Saturday morning around 9 AM that i went out and saw what i thought was an oil sheen. I did not know the the different water temps and the current can create this condition... went out today just south of datura and visibility was better. Pretty close to shore, just where the galt ocean highrises start, i was visited by a massive barracuda who came very close to my mask, and then continued it's journey. Magnificant animal. Not sure if it's news worthy but it was my first barracuda " in the wild " and i am pretty excited about it !

 

[JoeFL]

Barracuda are great. One of my favorite fish to see.

But it seems like I see less and less every year. I hope its just my bad luck, but fear there are just less of them to see.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Agree on the barracuda. Seemed just a few years ago, you would see at least one on every dive. Now am lucky to see them at all off the beach.. except at BHB, see them on almost every dive up there.