The Caribbean is not as warm as the Indopacific?

[Ohioreefer7]

I read that the Caribbean is not as warm as the Indopacific. Is this true? Are there any links to data about this? And why is this if it is true? What about Global Warming? Will the Carbbean be better off than the Indopacific in the future? Thanks.

 

[hogfanreefer]

The last few years we have been diving in the Caribbean and Hawaii. These are the temps from my dive log at depth.

Cozumel....August '14...84-86 degrees

Belize........Feb '15.....79 degrees

Kona, HI....August '15....82-84 degrees

Curacao.....March '16.....79-81 degrees

Cozumel....August '16....84 degrees

Roatan......Nov '16.......84 degrees

 

[CindyK]

The last few years we have been diving in the Caribbean and Hawaii. These are the temps from my dive log at depth.

Cozumel....August '14...84-86 degrees

Belize........Feb '15.....79 degrees

Kona, HI....August '15....82-84 degrees

Curacao.....March '16.....79-81 degrees

Cozumel....August '16....84 degrees

Roatan......Nov '16.......84 degrees

With the possible exception of Belize, that's pretty consistent. (Not to mention an impressive dive site list. So jealous.).

What depths did you go to for each? I just want to live vicariously through you for a couple of minutes

 

[hogfanreefer]

With the possible exception of Belize, that's pretty consistent. (Not to mention an impressive dive site list. So jealous.).

What depths did you go to for each? I just want to live vicariously through you for a couple of minutes

Awe, we've had so much fun. Dive lessons were my wifes Christmas present to me in 2013. Our kids are mad because we don't go on any vacations with them any more.

Depths in Cozumel are usually 50 to 90 feet, Roatan 45-90 feet but my wife did chase a turtle to 115 which got her a reprimand since she flirted with the maximum depth for the Nitrox mix she was diving.

Belize was the deepest with several dives around 100', though the Hol Chan Marine reserve dives were a max of 26'! We did do the Blue Hole while there and that was to 141' on my computer.

Most every where else the dives are about the same 40-75 feet with occasional short excursions deeper. As I recall Curacao was more shallow dives which was great for long bottom times.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Ohioreefer, it depends a lot on where you are. Shallow, inshore water , like an bay or on the lee side of an island gets much warmer than the water out on a reef in wide open water. I snorkel a lot in the Keys (both inshore shallow reef flats and out on the big reefs) and we do some collecting at sites with corals, tropical fish and other inverts. On a sunny day in the summer (longer days) some inshore shallows get into the upper 80's and even as high as 90F. While on the same day out at the main reef, about 5 miles offshore it may be only in the low 80's F.

 

[Ohioreefer7]

I guess I was thinking of the coral triangle and the Great Barrier Reef. I read that these areas were warmer than the Caribbean and maybe that is why there is so much diversity there.

 

[GoNoles]

Not sure if warmth increases the biodiversity. If anything, I would be more concerned about warmer waters causing harm to the reefs which, in a direct link, decreases the biodiversity as the reefs die.

 

[saf1]

Monterey, Pt. Lobos 54 F surface, 49 F @ 80 feet.

7MM wet, 3MM Chest & Hood, 5MM gloves/boots, 32lbs weight However, still some of the best scuba diving I've done in the world to date. I do envy your bath water temperature though

 

[JZinCO]

More info: https://www.seatemperature.org/caribbean-sea

 

[Kevin Guthrie]

I read that these areas were warmer than the Caribbean and maybe that is why there is so much diversity there.

Veron covers the topic in his Biogeography chapter in his Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific. It includes a world map with genera counts. Highest is 70 in a triangle that contains the Philippines, Borneo and the end of New Guinea. The Caribbean has 20.

All other things being equal the more isolated the reef, the less diverse. It helps if your reef is "downstream" current-wise from other reefs. The Caribbean got cut off from the Pacific mother lode 15 million years ago.

 

[CindyK]

Our kids are mad because we don't go on any vacations with them any more.

Tell them to pay for their own vacations LOL.

Depths in Cozumel are usually 50 to 90 feet, Roatan 45-90 feet but my wife did chase a turtle to 115 which got her a reprimand since she flirted with the maximum depth for the Nitrox mix she was diving.

Belize was the deepest with several dives around 100', though the Hol Chan Marine reserve dives were a max of 26'! We did do the Blue Hole while there and that was to 141' on my computer.

Most every where else the dives are about the same 40-75 feet with occasional short excursions deeper. As I recall Curacao was more shallow dives which was great for long bottom times.

**sigh** Thank you for sharing, and my apologies to the group for hijacking.

 

[rockhead51]

Cozumel!

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