Keys Dive Operations Post-Irma: Who will be opening, and when?

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Quiescence Diving is said to be going out with divers now. We're set to dive with them in early November.

Excellent!!

 

[scubafanatic]

A couple of years ago some friends and I arrived in Australia less than a week after a category 5 storm blasted the northern barrier reef. Our liveaboard was the first to visit some of the sites after the storm. I thought things looked pretty bad, but I was comparing it to the last time I had dived there, which was about 12 years before. About a year later, I saw a documentary on that storm. By an amazing coincidence, Google Earth had come through only a few weeks before the storm and videoed the reef using their 360° camera. They came back and did it again after the storm. The impact was indeed tremendous.

Similarly, I dived Cozumel not long after Wilma, and some of the shallower reefs had been badly hit. One of the most popular of the shallow sites was, IMO, mostly a sand pile after the storm.

As for the Keys, remember that a number of years ago, Hurricane Dennis, not a remarkably big storm, took the 510 foot ship the Spiegel Grove and turned it from lying on its side to sitting upright. I would expect that Irma to have had some effect upon the shallow reefs.

I did a post-Wilma trip (02/06) to Cozumel, their reefs essentially suffered a full scale underwater nuclear strike! Everything blasted to rubble or buried in sand, we aborted some dives due to 'white-out' conditions, swirling sands in the water column sometimes made vis so bad (think snow blizzard)I had to grab my dive buddy by the arm so we wouldn't get separated! On a later trip (in 2010) the DM, on one particular wall dive, told me to watch out for a deep cave like cut out along the wall (at 150' deep) where a patch of 'old forest growth' had survived Wilma, which I did see a little slice of the pre-Wilma Cozumel reef condition.

Folks, these storms can easily cause damage lasting many decades to centuries from which to regenerate.

 

[gwadadive]

I don't know about the keys but check here, there is a nice good article about dive site after hurricane

Here

 

[deeper thoughts]

I posted some pix and sea dwellers posted a vid.
The upper keys reefs suffered some scouring but all in all the structural damage was minimal in what i saw and dove.
That being said viz is beyond horrible.
Today 10/20 feet!!

Goin out Monday and will post conditions/pix again

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Vis today was worse than last week due to the howling winds we had over the past few days.

 

[rek_diver]

I did a post-Wilma trip (02/06) to Cozumel, their reefs essentially suffered a full scale underwater nuclear strike! Everything blasted to rubble or buried in sand, we aborted some dives due to 'white-out' conditions, swirling sands in the water column sometimes made vis so bad (think snow blizzard)I had to grab my dive buddy by the arm so we wouldn't get separated! On a later trip (in 2010) the DM, on one particular wall dive, told me to watch out for a deep cave like cut out along the wall (at 150' deep) where a patch of 'old forest growth' had survived Wilma, which I did see a little slice of the pre-Wilma Cozumel reef condition.

Folks, these storms can easily cause damage lasting many decades to centuries from which to regenerate.

Depressing, but a damn good description about what to expect after a major hurricane tears through your favorite dive sites.

 

[CajunDiva]

While I know it's great to see our "favorite" dive sites just as we remember them to be, keep in mind that this was not man-made destruction meant to destroy our reefs. It was an act of mother nature which created the opportunity for us to observe the changes and embrace the growth that will follow.

Once one of our favorite dive sites in Roatan was absolutely destroyed by an earthquake. It was a beautiful wall with a towering overhang filled with so many cool things to look at. When the earthquake hit, the WHOLE WALL came tumbling down...completely shattered and spilled onto the ocean floor below. Since that time, we have returned to the site each time we visit Roatan to observe the new growth that has taken place since the last time.

Cherish what was, but embrace what will be...

 

[guruboy]

That being said viz is beyond horrible.
Today 10/20 feet!!

Vis today was worse than last week due to the howling winds we had over the past few days.

Yea, vis was very disappointing. Almost wished I was back in the quarry.

Still a lot of debris to clean up but things are up and running.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Almost wished I was back in the quarry

Almost ...

 

[rek_diver]

While I know it's great to see our "favorite" dive sites just as we remember them to be, keep in mind that this was not man-made destruction meant to destroy our reefs. It was an act of mother nature which created the opportunity for us to observe the changes and embrace the growth that will follow.

Have you seen the pictures and videos coming out of the eyes that shows the reefs covered with manmade debris including anchors, traps, ropes, chains, pallets, debris from boats and structures, and other garbage that is causing major destruction?