Hurricanes have a way to mess with people’s travel plans. They also stir-up the ocean floor hindering visibility for scuba divers. On the upside, they can also unearth buried treasure, shifting around wrecks and moving sand around at the oceans bottom perhaps exposing long lost treasures for someone to find. Not long ago, some divers found millions of Spanish gold just off the beach in Florida.
One never knows what the future may bring so jumping right in, seizing the moment, and making time to do what we love may have it’s rewards.
Taking mini vacations like renting a boat, going to the beach for the afternoon, scuba diving, fishing, painting, apple picking, etc. are all ways to escape de daily routine. Since, we’ve moved to South Florida we are very lucky to be able to escape to the beach even if we only have an hour or two. There is a lot to do but our very favorite is scuba diving. It’s like going on a mini vacation. Going out is still fun even if the conditions aren’t always ideal (like post hurricane diving).
A few days after Hurricane Matthew passed 100 miles of the coast of Miami we went diving. We were supposed to dive the C-One wreck but the current was so strong that the dive instructor decided that it would be best to abort this dive. He had students with him and these were far from ideal conditions especially for new divers. Instead, we ended-up doing two reef dives in a more protected area much closer to shore. Visibility was maybe 20 feet at best, probably less!
We were told that lobsters marched across the ocean floor after hurricanes—we didn’t see any on parade but this sounds like an interesting phenomenon.
The only lobsters we saw were hiding under rocks but we did see stingrays everywhere which was great! I also found a nurse shark that was resting under a ledge.
Unfortunately, these “sharky” (cloudy or murky) waters weren’t ideal for photography. Nevertheless we still had a great time!
When traveling, if possible and appropriate, we like to include at least one scuba diving outing in our itinerary. We plan our time accordingly by doing the stuff at altitude first because going above 3000 feet after diving is dangerous and could even be deadly. We also can’t fly for 18-24 hours after diving, so planning ahead is essential.
During our recent Puerto Rico trip we were lucky enough to hook up with a San Juan dive operator that took us on a shore dive just off the beach near the Hilton hotel in San Juan’s El Escambrón area. It’s a great beach for snorkeling, swimming or shore dives and parking is plentiful. This protected bay with no waves makes it easy to get in the water. Outside of the cove, the ocean was rough and the water murky.
This was possibly due to Hurricane Nicole that had just passed to the north a short while ago. While visibility was poor we did manage to see some nice sea life including rays, tiny brittle and serpent starfish, puffers and lots of hungry fish coming out to enjoy the bread our dive master had brought with him. This was our first ocean beach dive and we’re glad we got the opportunity to try something new.
We didn’t discover any treasure this time, but we saw plenty of cool fascinating creatures and if that’s the only treasure we find its good enough for us!
Discovering, exploring and experiencing something new and different, isn’t that why we travel?
Happy and safe travels or diving!