Understanding LBTS surf reports

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maremd50

Contributor
Messages
80
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2
Location
Southwest Florida
# of dives
200 - 499
My husband and I have moved to the west side of Florida, and want to get some shore dives in this weekend over at LBTS. I've been watching the surf report, and the sea looks flat or up to a foot or so. But the wind is still fairly strong, in the teens on Saturday, less on Sunday. So I'm hoping someone can help me understand the significance....is that strong wind likely to prevent us from doing shore diving off Datura, or is it direction that counts more? We love that site, and haven't gone for awhile, so we want these to be our "get acquainted" dives. :) I know there is no predicting the ocean, but if someone can shed some light on all this, I'd sure appreciate it!
 
s that strong wind likely to prevent us from doing shore diving off Datura

Not necessarily but generally the stronger the wind is, the less visibility there is. It's a very sandy bottom and because it's so shallow, it gets kicked up quite easily. Direction definitely counts as an offshore wind is not nearly as bad, but most of the times the wind is onshore, not offshore. It's not really a matter of surf, because the surf really never gets big, but a matter of visibility. Not being able to see makes it a pretty boring dive. :)
 
Not necessarily but generally the stronger the wind is, the less visibility there is. It's a very sandy bottom and because it's so shallow, it gets kicked up quite easily. Direction definitely counts as an offshore wind is not nearly as bad, but most of the times the wind is onshore, not offshore. It's not really a matter of surf, because the surf really never gets big, but a matter of visibility. Not being able to see makes it a pretty boring dive. :)
Awesome feedback! Thanks so much! It says it will be more offshore, so its definitely worth the trip, even if the air temp is sorta cold.
 
If the wind is from the East/SouthEast, most of the time you're looking at 2-4 feet waves, especially in the Summer months. INMO when waves are from the NE, it's worse but lately it's been fairly flat, like yesterday. Best wind for flat seas is from the West or Southwest. With that being said, I almost never dive Datura(most of the time I go further North but have to surface swim all the way to the DropOff reef line. I have never seen bad vis there (the Gulfstream passes close to that reef line). This is definitely for strong swimmers and takes 30+ mins swimming to reach the DropOff. Best next thing is to go out on a boat($$$).
 
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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