What percentage of dives get cancelled due to weather?

[Biotech Diver]

Well looks like my original post of my October dive trip to Florida was not too unusual as I got 3 days of planned diving in Key Largo out of a planned 7 days. I will keep that in mind for my planned road trip to Florida in January and plan for 40% and hope for a higher percentage. Also will bring my bike and enjoy that and not be too disappointed when the winds blow.

Hopefully Bonaire will be back to normal January 2022 and I will go there.

I seem to remember the whole month of January and February of this year were so windy none of the boats were able to go out, and then the COVID shutdown hit at the end of March which pretty much killed everything until May some time.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Having just returned from south Florida and being blown out for most of my trip, this was my planned dive vacation:
Oct. 22-26, visit with non-diving friends in Tampa, snorkel with manatees at dawn, dive at Devil's Den and Blue Grotto. All went fine except Blue Grotto was a no-go because my guide was teaching a class which ran late, so there was only enough time to dive Devil's Den.

Oct. 26-Nov. 3, dive in South Florida (from Pompano Beach to Riviera Beach). My first dive was a night dive on Oct. 26th and cancelled because of bad weather, high swells, high winds.

Oct. 27th, 2-tank dive with South Florida Diving Headquarters (SFDH). Only 4 divers on the boat, so I felt safe enough for COVID distancing. High seas, super windy, but the boat still went out. The dives sucked!

Oct. 28th, 2-tank dive with SFDH but walked off the boat because of no social distancing, no masks being worn, and no reduced capacity on the boat. Little did I know that this was the last boat dive of my trip. All scheduled diving going forward was cancelled.

From Nov. 3-8, supposed to dive in Key Largo, but they were blown out also, so I decided to stay in Riviera Beach area to dive the Blue Heron Bridge, thinking I could at least do some easy shore diving. I had only 3 out of 5 dives that actually were successful at the bridge. On Nov. 5th, the visibility was again horrible and there was high bacteria count in the water. Hurricane Eta was due to arrive as a tropical storm today (Nov. 8th), so I gave up, changed my flight, and came home on Nov. 6th.

This was all a relatively new area for me to dive because I'm usually a dive traveler seeking Caribbean blue water. But since COVID hit, Florida was a reasonable option (or so I thought). This was my top worst dive trip ever!!

Is there a positive to get out of this? I always try to look for that. The positive is I didn't spend $125 per dive trip for 2 1/2 weeks, and that's more money to throw to the next dive vacation, which just happens to be to Socorro on Nov. 18th.

I’m so bummed for you

The diving conditions in SFL this past month have been awful for sure. Similar to @Biotech Diver my last two planned charters (10/17 & 24) were canceled. I’ve not been out on a boat in over a month. Currently carefully visiting family in Indiana where it’s sunny & upper 70s. Go figure.

Good on you for walking off the SFDH boat due to no COVID precautions! For now I’ve been sticking to the few boats I know are taking precautions. The fact that FL as a state has so fully reopened with no sign of turning back even though numbers are climbing has and will continue to put many people at risk. Here in super conservative IN they have a state mask mandate but yet DeSantis still refuses one in FL. I don’t get it.

 

[Ana]

I can pretty much only dive on weekends and it’s been at least 4 weekends in a row I couldn’t go out. I use the down time to study towards my next certification.

This coming weekend looks like it might good.

Similar situation for my husband and I, Saturday and Sunday are fully reserved for diving and this past 4 weeks have been dry.
It's ok to have a weekend here and there with bad seas, almost welcome to do some gear maintenance, maybe a deep clean for the boat or something for the house.
Now by the 3rd weekend dry, all reserves of patience are depleted and one wonders about the meaning of life.
We have a few other activities but gardening and making toys from the grandmidget don't quite cut it.

I don't know how the travelers handle it. Typically by Wednesday I'm already thinking on Saturdays dive, checking NOAA's forecast and deciding if it will be a morning or afternoon dive, maybe Saturday will be too sporty but Sunday is better. To be dry for weeks doing the count down for a trip and then end up dry or cancelling ? For me it will require many therapy sessions.

 

[Biotech Diver]

Similar situation for my husband and I, Saturday and Sunday are fully reserved for diving and this past 4 weeks have been dry.
It's ok to have a weekend here and there with bad seas, almost welcome to do some gear maintenance, maybe a deep clean for the boat or something for the house.
Now by the 3rd weekend dry, all reserves of patience are depleted and one wonders about the meaning of life.
We have a few other activities but gardening and making toys from the grandmidget don't quite cut it.

I don't know how the travelers handle it. Typically by Wednesday I'm already thinking on Saturdays dive, checking NOAA's forecast and deciding if it will be a morning or afternoon dive, maybe Saturday will be too sporty but Sunday is better. To be dry for weeks doing the count down for a trip and then end up dry or cancelling ? For me it will require many therapy sessions.

that’s so funny the way you wrote that, especially about the grand midget! LOL!

I might try to do some freshwater diving soon up north of Orlando because I have some new gear I want to try out.

 

[NomadDiver305]

18 to 20 knts is usually the threshold. Also depends on the wind directions as indicated earlier. Most of the boats down here can go out in higher wind but it becomes pretty sporty and you'll get bad reviews if the majority of the divers are throwing up.

 

[Biotech Diver]

My afternoon dive of Riviera Beach was canceled today. The morning boat reported less than 10 feet visibility. Sucks!

 

[Ana]

I went out Saturday and saw pretty much all the area charters out with divers.
Viz wasn't great, but we went diving and felt great. Didn't suck for us.
Hope to be out this coming weekend again. It will be the air show so I'm really hoping for decent seas. Let see how it turns out.

 

[Biotech Diver]

I heard Friday and Saturday were great. They said a bunch of dirty water came up from the south this morning. Those were the exact words I was told.

 

[Ana]

I heard Friday and Saturday were great. They said a bunch of dirty water came up from the south this morning. Those were the exact words I was told.

Cold weather from the north, now dirty water from the south?
Dammit... nobody has time for all that!

 

[Biotech Diver]

Cold weather from the north, now dirty water from the south?
Dammit... nobody has time for all that!

I’ll take the cold water over the dirty water!