Visibility gonna get better?

[ericbkendrick]

Someone told me that once the water temp. cools a little, say in October, the vis. will get better than it is right now especially for shore divers. I know it's been around 5'-10' at best during the times I've went out, but is there any truth in what I was told?

 

[Sh@rkW@tcher]

During the fall, when the water cools and the days get shorter the algae starts dying off and the water does clear up...some, but vizibility is still dependent on wind speed and direction, tides, freshwater runoff from the rivers and bays and tropical storms so don't expect major improvements.

 

[ericbkendrick]

I've heard that wind direction & speed does make a difference, but I don't know any specifics.
Can you help me out?

 

[Sh@rkW@tcher]

Easterly winds are the best for viz, several days of east winds generally = decent viz. Incoming and slack high tides are generally better than outgoing and fast moving tides.

 

[Walter]

Someone told me that once the water temp. cools a little, say in October, the vis. will get better than it is right now especially for shore divers. I know it's been around 5'-10' at best during the times I've went out, but is there any truth in what I was told?

Visibility doesn't vary much by season. At Venice Beach, viz averages about 6 ft year round. I'm very happy with 3 - 6 feet of visibility when it's better than that, I'm in heaven. We often dive Venice when we measure visibility in inches.

I've heard that wind direction & speed does make a difference, but I don't know any specifics.

Waves are the biggest factor in lowering visibility. The bigger the waves and the longer they've been stirring up the bottom, the worse visibilty gets.

Waves are usually created by wind. Bigger waves are created by faster winds. Bigger waves are created by the wind blowing for a long time. Bigger waves are created by wing traveling over water for a longer distance.

A 2 knot wind is better for us than a 20 knot wind. A wind that's been blowing for 5 minutes is better for us than one that's been blowing for a week. An east wind is better for us (worse for the east coast) than a west wind because a west wind is coming off the water while an east wind is coming off the land (opposite on the east coast). Unless you just forgot this, slap your open water instructor.