"Polar Vortex" effect on water temps - any current input?

[Byte Me]

As the title mentions - I've heard that the "Polar Vortex" has affected water temps in Bonaire over the last couple weeks. Reports I've gotten are temperatures have dropped to 77 degrees, and below 60 feet the water temps have been around 73-74 degrees.

Have the temps begun to rebound yet or is that still accurate? I'm headed down with our LDS 1/18 for two weeks and planning on spending about 48 hours underwater during that time, hoping I won't need to double up on wetsuits for 2 hour rebreather dives...:cool2: :depressed:

 

[wwguy]

We were there for our 5th straight Christmas trip on Bonaire from Dec 14th - Jan 4th. Water temps were definitely lower than normal. They dropped the lowest right around Christmas, when our Oceanic computers were reporting 75 degrees at 60'. Towards the end of the trip we were seeing temps around 76 and 77 degrees F. We were diving in 4/5 mm full suits with 2mm beanies and were chilled on most ~70 minute dives.

I'm unaware if the temps have increased in the past week. It's been my experience that the Substation Curacao underwater webcam reports similar temperatures to what my dive computer records at similar depth on Bonaire. This camera is located at 50' depth about 30 miles due west from Bonaire.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[lmorin]

On Bonaire now. Cooler than normal (probably not directly related to the polar vortex). I got 78 this afternoon along with a strong pick up in the current on Bari Reef. I am diving a 5mm suit; my wife uses a 3mm and my grown daughter is using full 3mm plus a 2.5 mm vest. We were all chilly on the last dive of the day.