Water temp?

[staggsSevin]

Currently in the Brac. Temp running about 85. Starting to see the first signs of very light coral bleaching but considering it is early August that is not bad. Much, much better than last year

I was in LC a couple weeks ago and thats right around where I was seeing 85 temps too. I was talking to one of the DM's at LCBR that was there from the previous year and he mentioned their was a group there doing a survey of the reefs (can't remember exactly which month but it was March to May) and he said they estimated that LC lost around 50% of the coral from last year's events.

I was personally surprised how much was just gone, but they had the bad bleaching and then a real bad storm that passed through in Feb of this year. LCBR also didn't bother talking/educating about SCLTD like they did last May (2023) so it's almost like they threw in the towel on that as well, he said it still wasn't confirmed there.

 

[tursiops]

Pretty sure that data is not actually measured at LC, just a climatological guess based on historical data. Pretty sure last year was much hotter than what they are reporting the max to have been in 2019. Was hoping for maybe an in the water report from somebody. I can’t seem to find the CCMI weather buoy anymore, so I don’t think it is connected for live updates anymore.

That data is from NOAA satellites, daily, and is point specific.

 

[AggieDiver]

Currently in the Brac. Temp running about 85. Starting to see the first signs of very light coral bleaching but considering it is early August that is not bad. Much, much better than last year

Thanks! 85 is actually quite good compared to where the temps were a few months ago. I think everybody was expecting them to be hitting 87-88 by now if that trend had continued. Kind of bracing myself for what we are going to see on LC, since last time we were there was October 2022. I have read all kinds of varied reviews from "all the brain corals are dead" to "most of the bleached coral is showing signs of life again" and everything in between. I am hopeful based on some of the CCMI research and what they have seen long-term on the remote Great Barrier Reef islands that the corals will eventually recover, but I guess only time will tell.

 

[staggsSevin]

Thanks! 85 is actually quite good compared to where the temps were a few months ago. I think everybody was expecting them to be hitting 87-88 by now if that trend had continued. Kind of bracing myself for what we are going to see on LC, since last time we were there was October 2022. I have read all kinds of varied reviews from "all the brain corals are dead" to "most of the bleached coral is showing signs of life again" and everything in between. I am hopeful based on some of the CCMI research and what they have seen long-term on the remote Great Barrier Reef islands that the corals will eventually recover, but I guess only time will tell.

Luckily we didn't see much bleaching when we were there the second week of July. Hopefully the area maintains 85F-ish and doesn't to much higher this season. We saw a lot of turtles, several sharks (3 reef, rest were nurse), eagle rays....the typical suspects for LC, so that didn't disappoint at all for the creatures.

 

[staggsSevin]

Also here is the article on CCMI's survey they did that I mentioned above that the DM was quoting to me while I was there for Bleaching and the Coral dealth.

Bleached but not broken: CCMI reveals impacts and future implication of record-breaking temperatures on Little Cayman's Reefs - CCMI

Little Cayman, Cayman Islands; 18th June 2024 – The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record and brought with...

reefresearch.org

 

[AggieDiver]

Also here is the article on CCMI's survey they did that I mentioned above that the DM was quoting to me while I was there for Bleaching and the Coral dealth.

Bleached but not broken: CCMI reveals impacts and future implication of record-breaking temperatures on Little Cayman's Reefs - CCMI

Little Cayman, Cayman Islands; 18th June 2024 – The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record and brought with...

reefresearch.org

Yeah, the studies I saw a documentary about on the Great Barrier Reef were reflecting the relatively rapid recovery of the "weedy" corals that are mentioned in the CCMI link. It is heartening to read that the larger and slower growing corals were not as badly damaged and are showing signs of recovery. Hopefully with the water only being 85F at the beginning of August, we are not headed for another year as hard as last year.

 

[ROUS]

I'm heading to GC this weekend and will dive all next week. I'll try to post some temps from the computer while there.

 

[tursiops]

I'm heading to GC this weekend and will dive all next week. I'll try to post some temps from the computer while there.

Have you calibrated your computer's temperature sensor? Mine is spec'd to +/- 2deg C.

 

[ROUS]

Have you calibrated your computer's temptation sensor? Mine is spec'd to +/- 2deg C.

I'm not sure that mine has a temptation sensor.

 

[tursiops]

I'm not sure that mine has a temptation sensor.

Sorry, Corrected my post. Blame it on auto-correct.
I guess you have not calibrated your temp sensor....right?