diving after a hurricane

[martha888]

Hello folks. I have a trip planned to Grand Turk in about 2weeks. Based on info on the net, looks like the land part of the trip should be ok, with respect to Frances damage. However I'm not sure about the underwater part. Anyone have any experience diving that soon after a hurricane has passed through an area? I'm thinking there might be alot of land runoff, sand stirred up, poor vis etc. Also, just out of curiosity, how deep do the effects of surface high winds go? What happens to the fishies etc? Thanks

 

[Kim]

Well we had a typhoon last Monday. My mate went diving yesterday (Friday) where the vis is normally 30-50ft - yesterday it was around 6. I should imagine that 2 weeks would give stuff time to settle though - we're going tomorrow so I'll let you know if it improved in two days or not!

 

[lhpdiver]

Hello folks. I have a trip planned to Grand Turk in about 2weeks. Based on info on the net, looks like the land part of the trip should be ok, with respect to Frances damage. However I'm not sure about the underwater part. Anyone have any experience diving that soon after a hurricane has passed through an area? I'm thinking there might be alot of land runoff, sand stirred up, poor vis etc. Also, just out of curiosity, how deep do the effects of surface high winds go? What happens to the fishies etc? Thanks

I'm sitting here in Broward Cty FL as Frances is coming ashore. Don't think we will get any diving in this weekend, but will probably try mid-week. As for the depth of the effects... Andrew had a large affect on some wrecks in the area which lie in 55 - 100+ ft of water. To quote McAllister, one local wreck "was terribly damaged by Hurricane Andrew, the bow was broken off & tilted skyward & to the E, the midships flattened & the stern twisted 40 degrees to the E"....

 

[ReefGuy]

I dove Venice beach 3 days after Charley hit us. The vis was average (around 5-7'). Depth for this dive is 15'. Found around 70 teeth

 

[reefsong]

Hi Martha,
We have a trip planned to Grand Turk mid October, so we're very interested in how you find things when you're there. We'd love to see a trip report from you when you get back, ok? Have a great time.

 

[FredT]

I've been in the water 4 hours after the eye of a named (although much smaller) storm passed Pompano Beach a few decades ago. We were looking for an expected lobster walk. Vis sucked at about 5' but the surge allowed us to cover much ground on a "strainght line" swim.

How long any particualar area takes to clear is dependant on the bottom particle size, amount of nutrient rich runoff present, and the prevailing currents. Suspended sand will drop out of the water in a matter of hours once the surge drops off. Silt and larger clay particles will take a while to settle out. Silt generally will drop out in a day or two, but clay sized particles may take several weeks to completely drop out.

Given you are going to the most upcurrent island nation in the chain with the normal prevailing currents of the Atlantic Gyre flowing from open ocean onto and across the Bahamas Bank vis should be back to reasonable in a couple days just from normal current flushing. Andros and other islands on the west and north sides of the Bahamas group will take a bit longer to clear.

 

[martha888]

Thanks everyone for the useful info/comments/experiences. I will let you know how things are on GT after I return (providing Ivan and any other storms dont throw a monkey wrench into the mix.)
martha

 

[alemaozinho]

Hello folks. I have a trip planned to Grand Turk in about 2weeks. Based on info on the net, looks like the land part of the trip should be ok, with respect to Frances damage. However I'm not sure about the underwater part. Anyone have any experience diving that soon after a hurricane has passed through an area? I'm thinking there might be alot of land runoff, sand stirred up, poor vis etc. Also, just out of curiosity, how deep do the effects of surface high winds go? What happens to the fishies etc? Thanks

lots of Lobstaaaaaaaa....................