What happened to the conditions?

[MaxBottomtime]

This is the time of year when the green water of summer disappears and we have a few months of nice conditions. I took three weeks vacation so we could make a trip to Vancouver Island and then spend a couple weeks enjoying our own backyard. I've made three dives since returning and have not found much to write home about.
The visibility was OK last weekend until our second dive, when it dropped to about five feet. Today was slightly better but still difficult to get any decent photos. I have four days left before I have to return to work. If conditions don't improve soon I'll have to ask my boss for more time off. That should go over well.

Keyhole limpet on the prowl

Hermet crab

Bispira worm

 

[geoff w]

Non-stop waves up here for about the past week, presumably thanks to Hurricane Simon. This is getting old

 

[drbill]

Hurricane Simon may be the culprit. I did a dive two nights ago and felt like I was in a washing machine or a rag doll being tossed around by young kids. It was one of the surgiest night dives I've experienced in years. And vis on one of my recent day dives was a paltry 12-20 ft.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

That was the real highlight of our Trip to Vancouver Island. It came as a pleasant surprise to make a week's worth of dives with no surge. We need inlets in SoCal.

 

[geoff w]

That was the real highlight of our Trip to Vancouver Island. It came as a pleasant surprise to make a week's worth of dives with no surge. We need inlets in SoCal.

Don't inlets make lots of current? I'll take surge over current. At least then you can at least bounce back and forth over one spot, instead of taking a one-way ride with a long walk or swim back

 

[MaxBottomtime]

We only dived at slack tide. Some sites had minor current but not enough to move you. Most sites were very calm. I tried diving in Cozumel a couple of years ago. It's very difficult to take a picture of anything when your whipping past it. I'll stick to cold water for now.

 

[drbill]

I tried diving in Cozumel a couple of years ago. It's very difficult to take a picture of anything when your whipping past it. I'll stick to cold water for now.

Agree. One the reasons I've never had a lot of interest in diving Cozumel since my primary reason for diving is to bring back video footage for edumacational "porpoises"

 

[KevinG58]

We only dived at slack tide. Some sites had minor current but not enough to move you. Most sites were very calm. I tried diving in Cozumel a couple of years ago. It's very difficult to take a picture of anything when your whipping past it. I'll stick to cold water for now.

Yes Coz is for the most part just plain sight seeing and maybe wa "vacation" video as one rides the "conveyor belt" unless you spot something in the lee of a coral head, or a swim through in time to drop on it, without spooking it.
Essentially the same reef at Roatan (and yes other Central American locations but have not dived them). Roatan is about the same flight time (perhaps longer lay overs depending on airline choice and time of year) and offers many macro opportunities on the south side of the island where current is relatively weak when it does occur. I can't speak to the north side as I haven't dived there.