wind speed relation to a fun dive....help We are in Key Largo now!

[Granny Scuba]

We arrived in Key Largo on Monday late morning. We drove around and talked to afew dive ops and all told us that the winds/waves were getting worse (14-16knots) and were reccomending waiting. Most said the diving would be much better towards the end of the week.

Well here we are on Tues night. I just looked at the weather channel and see that Wednesday will bring 5-8 mph winds and Thursday close to 11-12 mph winds. I dont know how that correlates to knots?

Is 8 mphs winds a fun dive or a fight?
Is 11-12 mph winds too much of a fight?


We have yet to make reservations, but we dont have much time to waste. We were hoping to show up early in the morning and make some boat last minute? But we also want to dive Thursday too.

Any and all suggestions much appreciated.
Thanks,

 

[Granny Scuba]

I just found a link to the ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=mlrf1 which shows todays hourly readings of 12-18 knots.
How was the diving at Molasses Reef today?

 

[danvolker]

We arrived in Key Largo on Monday late morning. We drove around and talked to afew dive ops and all told us that the winds/waves were getting worse (14-16knots) and were reccomending waiting. Most said the diving would be much better towards the end of the week.

Well here we are on Tues night. I just looked at the weather channel and see that Wednesday will bring 5-8 mph winds and Thursday close to 11-12 mph winds. I dont know how that correlates to knots?

Is 8 mphs winds a fun dive or a fight?
Is 11-12 mph winds too much of a fight?


We have yet to make reservations, but we dont have much time to waste. We were hoping to show up early in the morning and make some boat last minute? But we also want to dive Thursday too.

Any and all suggestions much appreciated.
Thanks,

Drive now, to the BHB in Palm Beach....Stay at the Hilton on the Beach for about $108 per night with their special "Diver Rate". There will be no weather effects of the wind worth considering. Dive times are from 2 hours prior to high tide, to around an hour after high tide, providing a max of 4 hours per day of diving. If you don't like currents, tidal flow is still high 2 hours early, so you might wait to 1 hour prior to high tide, leaving you only 3 hours to dive. Depth range is 8 feet to 18 feet, most around 10 or 12. It is a shore based dive, compared often to the Lembeh Straits of Indonesia, for the target rich environment for photographers ( octopus/nudibranchs/frogfish/sea horses/blennies/jawfish/mantis shrimp, and dozens of others. Tide can be looked up here Tides.INFO: Ocean and river tide predictions for Port of West Palm Beach, Florida and you will see today high is around noon at 12:16. Then about 45 minutes later each following day. Visit www.sfdj.com for more on diving this area.

 

[mselenaous]

In Key Largo, it's not just the windspeed here, but also the direction. Winds from the S &/or E cause the water to be choppier. When the winds come from the N, the island itself softens the impact thus reducing the size of the seas. Many ops don't go out when there are sustained winds for 4+ hours exceeding 20+ knots. It's not so much the wind, it's the waves caused by the wind. Seasick passengers are not happy and it gets a bit more difficult (dangerous) to enter and exit the ocean.

Although we live and breath here from the data at the Molasses Reef tower, the predictions are just that - predictions. Weather changes frequently so they are not always as accurate,

The diving yesterday morning was GREAT on French Reef. Mild to no current, viz was good. I heard it was awesome at Snapper's Ledge, Pickles Reef, and on Molasses Reef (near Spanish anchor). Just a tad bouncy when getting back up on the boat ladder, but very doable.

The predictions for the next few days say it will get better as the week goes on.

From MLRF1

TODAYEAST WINDS NEAR 10 KNOTS. SEAS BEYOND THE REEF SUBSIDING TO2 TO 3 FEET. SEAS INSIDE THE REEF AROUND 1 FOOT. NEARSHORE WATERS ALIGHT CHOP. WINDS AND SEAS HIGHER IN NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND SCATTEREDTHUNDERSTORMS...MAINLY IN THE AFTERNOON.

See you in the water! Happy Diving!

 

[lmorin]

As mselenaous said above, it is not just the wind speed--direction is equally important. The captains all pay attention to both, as you would expect. Different boats have different thresholds re when they cancel. We have been out with Horizon Divers in a big boat with 19+ knot winds and 8-10 ft seas. Only 3 divers (all the others pulled out) on one of the two boats that even went out that day. Pretty nasty out on the reef topside, but down below, everything was calm. Vis was less than normal because of all the wave action and churning. Bottom line--if you can stomach the surface ride and time at anchor, then the time down under will be fine. Vis. not guaranteed, of course, but vis. also varies hugely from site to site. Your captain will have to find the best one.

 

[jimw]

Winds on Molasses look good tonite--they've been around 4-6 knots since 1pm today. Go for it in the morning if the winds remain light......................The bridge is a good alternative if it remains barfy off of KL--high tide Thursday is 2pm. It's about a 2 hour drive from Key Largo. In the water at the bridge around 1pm--see you there--we plan to arrive about noon.

 

[kidsdream]

Anything under 10knots is going to be pretty darn nice no matter what direction the wind is coming from when diving Key Largo. A knot is based on nautical mile that slightly longer than "regular mile". So a 10 knot wind is a bit stronger than a 10 mile/hour wind (about 10%). When the winds are from the West or Northwest the diving remains quite easy in the Upper Keys as long as the wind stay less than 15knts.

So based on the current stats on the official NOAA weather link: NDBC - Station MLRF1 the conditions look great. The friendly poster that suggested driving up North was not actually considering the weather, but marketing their area quite ineffectively ..... and I have no skin in the game.

 

[Capt Gary]

Hey Grandy Scuba,

A knot is 1.1 mph, so 11 to 12 mph is around 9 knots. Yesterday's dives were very good with waves clocking in at around 2 foot. Today's dives were also fantastic as well!!! Wind was E 8 @ kts, 1 foot seas, 50+ visibility.

As mselenaous indicated above the direction of the wind dictates our wave conditions. 15 to 20 knots for a sustained period of time out of the NE, E, or SE will cause dive conditions to become quite, "Sporty". The next few days indicates winds increasing 10 to 15 knots, but that's not enough to keep our boats in dock.

Here is a link to my online calendar. It contains the dive logs and conditions of our daily dives. Hopefully this information will help you get an idea of what the seas will be based on these reports.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. I'd be happy to answer them, even if you consider diving with someone else. Just want to ensure you have a good time while in the Florida Keys.

Good Diving,

 

[Granny Scuba]

Thanks Capt. Gary et al,
A lot more technical than I had first thought.


This is our 4th day in Key Largo and one thing I have learned is that the weather is very unpredictable. So far (based on 24 hrs in advance prediction) the weathermen are batting .0000 . Key Largo must be one of the hardest places for meterology because the weather changes at the drop of a hat.

Thanks again to everyone !

 

[jimw]

Grannyscuba,

There is also the Pennekamp pit to consider if you must dive today--someone should have told you earlier, maybe moi. It is just off the beach in the land portion of Pennekamp Park at MM 102. The "pit" is a dredged out section with usually plenty of lobsters and tarpon, etc to see. Not much viz, but on a lousy weather day............It's a DIVE. It is the beach next to the visitor center where there is a nice aquarium as well. My sister lives on Key Largo and we've been blown out there for a week more than once.

Good Luck