Swell Coming - Will they walk??

[Johnoly]

Who is "they" and where will they walk if they decide to do so?

He can share more details.

Lobsters are social and that's why you'll find a handful together in or near the same holes. The hurricane produces a deep water swell that reaches to the bottom of the ocean and tosses the sand around loosening & moving it. The currents then move and deposit that sand infront of the reef lobster holes where they are hiding from the swell. That sand will accumulate and start blocking the lobster's home like a snow drift infront of your door.

Just like a downpour in a store's parking lot and you become trapped with your fellow shoppers infront of the doorways, eventually 1 by 1 they say, “The heck with this, I'm making a run for it”. And the deep lobsters are the same way. They see the others make a run (but it's really a walk) in a line to find a nicer hole and they follow the others in a line. Lobster's aren't stupid and they know if they can cross over to a shallower reef line to get out of the gulf stream current sand storm, they will find a better bunch of new open holes. A Florida lobster can travel 2 miles in a single night !! There are many other reasons that Florida lobsters “ WALK”, and hurricane storm swell is just one that I explained.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Lobsters are social and that's why you'll find a handful together in or near the same holes. The hurricane produces a deep water swell that reaches to the bottom of the ocean and tosses the sand around loosening & moving it. The currents then move and deposit that sand infront of the reef lobster holes where they are hiding from the swell. That sand will accumulate and start blocking the lobster's home like a snow drift infront of your door.

Just like a downpour in a store's parking lot and you become trapped with your fellow shoppers infront of the doorways, eventually 1 by 1 they say, “The heck with this, I'm making a run for it”. And the deep lobsters are the same way. They see the others make a run (but it's really a walk) in a line to find a nicer hole and they follow the others in a line. Lobster's aren't stupid and they know if they can cross over to a shallower reef line to get out of the gulf stream current sand storm, they will find a better bunch of new open holes. A Florida lobster can travel 2 miles in a single night !! There are many other reasons that Florida lobsters “ WALK”, and hurricane storm swell is just one that I explained.

Well said Dr. Lobster!!

 

[tursiops]

The hurricane produces a deep water swell that reaches to the bottom of the ocean

Wind waves reach down a distance proportional to their wavelength. A ten second wave (quite long swell) might reach down maybe 30m, whereas 8s swell maybe 20m. Maybe the botttom of a shallow near-shore area but not "the bottom of the ocean."

they can cross over to a shallower reef line to get out of the gulf stream current sand storm

I thought you were saying the sand storm was due to the ocean swell; how is the Gulf Stream part of this picture?

 

[Johnoly]

I thought you were saying the sand storm was due to the ocean swell; how is the Gulf Stream part of this picture?

We've all been diving in 80ft deep when it's a mild deepwater swell. It pushes you forward as you drift and then blocks as you try to keep making progress on the rear of each swell. That swell loosens the sand up into the water column killing our viz and then some of it is carried by the gulf stream further down the reef. Moving that sand in the deep swell is what helped the HUGE Spiegel Grove wreck get rocking and go from leaning over to straight up and down while moving the sand underneath it. After a big swell storm, we'll have low profile reefs completely covered over with sand and then others that will pop up new as the sand moved and uncovered it. I've got plenty of GPS numbers that used to be great 'pot-hole' reefs that are now gone because they are covered with sand. This hurricane Erin wasn't that bad at all>>we'll be back diving to see what happened in a couple of days.

 

[Ballyhoo]

Nothing down south yet, anyone seeing them?