SuperMoon - End of World!..

[Chavodel8en]

.. where I dont takes tides into account when dive planning? Nice click-bait, yes

So as a Monterey/Carmel dive, I generally dont ever worry about tides (I know that isnt true elsewhere, before all you Pac NW divers jump on my case). Yes, it can make swimming harder, but in my 80 odd dives in the area over the last 7-8 years, not anything I had ever worried about - until yesterday.

A dive at Pt Lobos yesterday I experienced the strongest current -- by alot - ever in the area. It wasnt that noticeable on the surface, but underwater I kept thinking I was hung up on kelp, even tho I repeatedly confirmed that I wasnt. We were generally swimming in and around reef structures, so I guess that channeled the current.

Luckily, it was hard swimming out, not as hard back (altho I swear it felt like I was fighting it both ways).

I'm assuming the Supermoon amplified the tides (the water was as high as Ive ever seen when we first got there at 9 am, then lowered greatly by 2 pm after we got out of the water of the dive in question (didnt not any current during our 11 to noon 1st dive) (which also confuses me - wouldnt that pattern push my swim out, hinder my swim back? - I may just not understand tides well enough).

For lunar/tidal experts out there, how much does a SuperMoon amplify tides? Isnt right now a "Super-Duper"Moon, so its really strong and very rare?

Honestly, Im asking b/c Im wondering if I must know take Supermoons into account. I dive so sporadically, that I may have simply avoided Supermoons by chance. If the current Supermoon is very rare, maybe I can continue to ignore tides when dive planning.

I dont recall more experienced Monterey/Carmel divers mention tides as an important issue. Maybe I should pose this on the local board.

Thanks for any knowledge you all have.

PS - for Pacific NW divers, hows the tides about now? Curious, as I have family-in-law in Seattle and am interested in diving, somewhat scared of the tides.

PPS - Since I see someone else posted it below, they were also my 100 & 101st dives! And no, not nude, even tho the water was a balmy 60 deg F (saw a big male sheepshead)

 

[Doc]

Yup.

Sun Sentinel

 

[Bob DBF]

I'm assuming the Supermoon amplified the tides (the water was as high as Ive ever seen when we first got there at 9 am, then lowered greatly by 2 pm after we got out of the water of the dive in question (didnt not any current during our 11 to noon 1st dive) (which also confuses me - wouldnt that pattern push my swim out, hinder my swim back? - I may just not understand tides well enough).

The size of the tide determines the amount of water moving into and out of the cove, but the the configuration of the cove determines how the water flows through the cove. By configuration I mean the shape, direction it faces, and the bottom contours. Toss in whatever effects the Humboldt current might have in the area and you can get some interesting effects. If you were diving 100 or so yards one way or the other, or change your depth, it might have been a lot different dive.

I have one spot up here that on tide change will push you out to sea, but if you move over 100 yards it is still or may push you towards shore. Because most divers just try to fight the flow, it is one place the rangers patrol often.



Bob