Port Closed This Morning?

[divezonescuba]

Is the port closed this morning?

There seem to be some boats going out.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

The port is open. It is a fairly strong norte but since it is from the North East it should not affect the west side very much.

Dave Dillehay

Aldora Divers

ALDORA DIVERS

 

[Christi]

Is the port closed this morning?

There seem to be some boats going out.

The port never opened - there were some that were claiming it was open, and some boats went out and were called back in - but port was never open to boats under 40ft this morning. Reports are that only a couple of Aldora boats went out.

Rather than rely on the boat captain radio chatter which is often hearsay, we went directly to Harbor Master at 8:30 and were told it remained closed and that any boats that were out would be fined - that from the horses mouth - most of us aren't willing to absorb a $50,000 peso fine for a mornings work . As of the 11:30 report (10:30 central) port is still closed and we were told it will remain closed until tomorrow morning.

Everything should be back to normal tomorrow.

 

[gopbroek]

So how are the actual conditions, from El Cid's web cam it looks rainy but not real rough. Just wondering if the port captain is being a hero and protecting the divers or if he choked again and a mob has formed in front of his office, again.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Aldora has a 40ft boat for this very purpose. Plus, as best we know the port was never officially closed to any boats until 11am, and certainly not when we left at our normal departure time of 7:30 am…that is what the blue flag means.

Dave dillehay

aldora divers

 

[Christi]

Aldora has a 40ft boat for this very purpose. Plus, as best we know the port was never officially closed to any boats until 11am, and certainly not when we left at our normal departure time of 7:30 am…that is what the blue flag means.

Dave dillehay

aldora divers

Yes you are correct Dave - the blue flag was out, but that was simply because someone didn't change it. We don't rely on the flag, we rely on the actual live report from the Harbor Master.

The port closed yesterday evening when the Norte started blowing in and as I am sure you are aware, it is not open again until the Harbor Master gives the call that it is open - and it was never open this morning - during the regular morning report it was closed for all boats under 40ft. At 8:30am, we went personally to Capitania and spoke directly with the Harbor Master who informed us that is was closed and he did not expect to open it until tomorrow - but we remained on standby for the next report. We told him there was a lot of confusion because of the flag - so a radio call was made calling boats back in. I called Capitania personally at 10:30 because I had forgotten that with the time change, the second report actually comes in at 11:00 vs 10:00 - I was told it was still closed because it was expected to get worse (which it did). The 11:30 report ruled the port still closed and as of 7:00pm it remains closed.

I don't say this to be argumentative - I am reporting the facts as I know them first hand - and to answer those above who have asked.

Gopbroeck - it's very stormy looking - but the winds are out of the east now - so much calmer on the "regular" side. I am optimistic that the port will be open on schedule tomorrow. Honestly, conditions this morning were pretty bad - no argument or protest from anyone this morning.

Here is some video someone took this morning.

[video]https://www.facebook.com/carybut/videos/10207012978096569/?theater[/video]

 

[gopbroek]

Thanks Christi, I spoke with my LDS and was told that in the AM it did not look to bad and there was some grumbling but as the morning progressed it worsened, so it looks like the Capitania made the right call. Last week when I was down a couple times the wind was from the north, but light and he kept it open, so perhaps he has learned from the questionable calls earlier this fall. WindGuru is showing favorable winds thru the holidays so hopefully everyone gets a lot of good dives in.

 

[mstevens]

I've got a video of one of the "water taxis" fighting its way north with waves breaking over its bow. It did NOT look like a fun ride.

[video]https://www.facebook.com/snevetsm/videos/10207488898477013/[/video]

 

[DandyDon]

I've got a video of one of the "water taxis" fighting its way north with waves breaking over its bow. It did NOT look like a fun ride.

[video]https://www.facebook.com/snevetsm/videos/10207488898477013/[/video]

I saw some pics on FB claiming a few ferry windows broken.

 

[mstevens]

I saw some pics on FB claiming a few ferry windows broken.

I'm pretty certain that was a "water taxi", and I actually think it was the same one. The photo Jen posted she took while I was making the video as we stood on her balcony (killer view, huh?).