Some mornings I feel like the weather is laughing at us as the winds pick-up and the seas get choppy. Especially when a North East wind appears, boating conditions deteriorate and our dive excursions get cancelled. Of course one must think of safety first and anyone that has tried to get on a boat ladder in 6ft seas knows that this can be dangerous. Now imagine trying to get an unconscious or injured dive buddy onto the boat in those conditions, a minor issue can turn life threatening in a hurry.
There are regular small crafts advisory preventing dive boats from going out quite regularly in the winter (Nov-Feb) months. This usually means high winds and strong surf with big waves. This makes for dangerous boating conditions. Depending on where you can enter, these conditions may also ruin shore dive opportunities by either churning up the site and reducing visibility or perhaps making it difficult to enter with large waves and surf. What’s the point in scuba diving, if there isn’t any visibility?
In December we were looking forward to participating in a lionfish hunt and cookout (these beautiful fish are threatening the equilibrium in the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans). We also attempted to join a reef rescue and restoration program put on by the university of Miami. Both times the weather interfered with our plans and the events got called off due to rough seas.
Other days, boating conditions aren’t ideal but the dive trip is on although the dive site might change at the last minute. A few times, diving the C-One wreck was too risky so we ended up diving on a shallower reef closer to shore. There are many shallow dive sites in the Miami area and these shallow (20-30 ft) sites are great for viewing small creatures hidden in the crevices of the colorful reef. Sometimes we are lucky to find a nurse shark resting under a ledge.
On one occasion our second dive got scrubbed because the wind had picked up while we were below. The ocean conditions had worsened during our first dive and we surfaced to 5-6 and even 8-foot waves. Getting back on the boat was sporty to say the least; it was also dangerous. One could get knocked out and it would be extremely difficult, maybe even impossible, to get an unconscious person back on board. This is what it looked like when we surfaced…
Fortunately even in the winter, we do have many beautiful days with nearly perfect conditions. The sun is out, the sea is calm and the sea life is welcoming. Two days after our outing with 8 foot waves we went to the same location and the sea was flat. The trick is to be available and ready to go when the weather permits. For visitors with only a short time to visit this might be trickier to do and frustrating.
A few years back, we traveled to Key Largo in vacation from Texas with the intention of scuba diving much of the week. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate and every day we would show up at 7am with our gear ready only to be told that the dive excursion was cancelled. We persevered and kept showing up until it eventually worked out. The diving conditions weren’t great and the sea was choppy but we finally got to dive on our dive trip and see the “Christ of the Abyss“!
Having lived in Canada most of our lives, just the idea of being able to dive at all in the winter is already pretty cool. Our friends in Canada that are digging out from snowstorms are unlikely to have much sympathy for our cancelled or postponed dive trips but rest assured that if you are coming to visit you will find days when diving is possible in the winter. Even if a few days are cancelled we can always go visit gators or enjoy the beach and many other attractions.