Experienced ocean scuba divers: what does it mean when they say that the seas are 2-3 feet?

Question

I'm going ocean diving (yippee!) on Monday and Thursday, I'm so excited. My home dive shop has hooked me up with one of their instructors who lives in FL in the winter, she loves to dive, and is taking me to dive in Pompano Beach. She e-mailed me about the seas, about 2-3 feet, or something to that effect. I feel silly, but what does that mean, exactly? Am I correct in thinking that this has to do with getting off the boat and back on it? We'll be drift diving, which everyone says is easy.

Sorry for the silly question, but I'm a newbie and I've only dived in quarries so far.

Thanks!!

Answer 1

it means the seas are a little rough  keep your boyancy compensator inflated until your ready to start your dive

Answer 2

they mean that the seas are 2-3 feet deep

Answer 3

um its a normal day on the ocean the swells are 2-3 feet from trough of wave of top not a bad day for ocean diving once  u get under the surface it wont matter anyways. yea its pretty much a question of whether u get seasick on a couple bumps on a boat ride out or not

Answer 4

That is the size of the waves on the water.  That is fairly low.  She is just trying to tell you what the water is going to be like.  That is not rough.  I am from Florida, I think we sometimes forget that that kind of talk is not understood everywhere else.  Don't feel silly.  Ask her what those questions mean.

Answer 5

Swells and wave height

Answer 6

there's two things, seas and swell. sea high is generally local and caused by the prevailling wind and rides over the top of the swell which can be going in a different direction and is caused by something distant like a storm or cyclone possibly 1000's of kilometers away so what you end up with is say, a 1 meter easterly sea on a 3 meter southerly swell which is more unplesant than if both were from the same direction

Answer 7

yeah...easy enough question to answer, it means the average heigth of the swells & waves across the surface... 2-3 ft isn't bad...the trick with entering the water off a boat is to 1st , listen to the boat captain's or divemaster's breifing, then usually you'll do a giant stride entry, you learned that in OW class & should have done it in your checkout dives... time your giant stride so that you enter the water when the boat's at it's lowest point to the water, be sure to signal with the ok sign after you splash in... same thing's true, only in reverse when you exit the water to get on the boat, time your exit to let the motion of the boat to help pull you up... hey ! congrats on your certification and welcome to diving !

Answer 8

I believe it's referring to sea level, and how much higher it is that sea level.

Answer 9

2-3 foot seas mean that the waves a 2-3 ft high