OnBird builds knowledge and data about the waters, coral reefs around Phu Quoc island to make forecasts with very high accuracy of 95 – 96% to make cost-effective recommendations on timeframes, experience dates, snorkeling & diving location (coral reefs in Phu Quoc) for guests beforehand to minimize safety risk and bad experiences. Water conditions which are refferenced to wave level, underwater visibility, water current, tides, water temperature which affect a lot on the snorkeling & diving experiences.
Being a specialized diving & snorkeling operator, OnBird understands that water conditions play a vital factor in snorkeling & diving experience. The accurate forecasts about water conditions are very important to ensure an amazing snorkeling & diving experience as well as the safety and it show the reliability of operator to guests. Phu Quoc boast 21 coral reefs but not any time you can explore good and hidden coral reefs but it is subject to the water conditions.
Only advanced and professional snorkeling & diving operator can tell you know how water conditions will be prior to the tour date to recommend alternatives (change the coral spots: Northern or Southern coral reefs…).
MAIN CONTENTS
COMMON MISUNDERSTANDINGS IN SNORKELING & DIVING
Having been organizing snorkeling & diving experiences for many years, we always receive questions, inquiries about weather, water conditions from guests when changes in the weather concern them right before the tour depature time:
- It is raining if we can cancel the snorkeling today because the water will be cloudy?
- The sky is cloudy now so the snorkeling & diving will be not good or Morning is better for snorkeling?
- It is cloudy so it is difficult to see corals than sunny day?
- Is South Phu Quoc good for snorkeling & diving?
- Is North Phu Quoc good for snorkeling & diving?
- Is rainy season bad to do snorkeling & diving in Phu Quoc?
- Scuba Diving is better than Snorkeling in Phu Quoc or you see more corals in Scuba Diving experience than Snorkeling?
- We think this water in December is warm and nothing to us as we are from very cold country
It is believed that the dry season which last from October to April is the best time for snorkeling and diving in Phu Quoc as many tour companies introduced to you via many posts on the website but this is not true. In the dry season there are also times of bad water conditions in particular areas, by collecting the data about water conditions in whole year by areas, coral reefs in Phu Quoc that we can point out how water conditions will be at specific times of the year.
CLEAR VAGUE MISUNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT WATER CONDITIONS?
- Raining is not matter to snorkeling & diving but we track how the wave level will be, if water is calm enough so we can do snorkeling without needing to care about rains (Snorkeling in the rain? Take a watch)
- Rain does not affect much on the underwater visibility but current, we found that underwater visibility at coral reef is still pretty good regardless of heavy rains
- Too much sun or too sunny or late morning lighting does not have coral glowing colorful than you think it supposed to be: Coral color fading or color bleaching is one of the most common annoying problems we encounter in snorkeling & diving but many people dont know about its existence, it happens when the pigment produced by zooxanthellae cells (live within coral polys) loses its molecular attraction (pigments absorb different types of light depending on their chemical structure). And Ultraviolet ray (UV) light is a form of radiation which is not visible to the human eye, emitted by the sun which is present in sunlight is the main cause of color fading. This is all about the chemical makeup of an object, the technical term for color fading is photodegradation. There are light absorbing color bodies called chromophores that are present in dyes. The colors we see are based upon these chemical bonds and the amount of light that is absorbed in a particular wavelength. Ultraviolet ray is a short wavelength and bring high energy can break down chemical bonds and fade the color in an object. UV rays get more and more stronger bettween 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM and this timeframe is not good for snorkeling & diving for many other reason too
- Cloudy weather (not partly cloudy which cause the ‘broken cloud effect) actually make better conditions for coral viewing: The UV Index is directly proportional to the intensity of radiation one will receive during a particular time of the day and year. Clouds can block up to 70-90% of these UV-B rays , which cause coral color to fade during times of extreme overcast. Also, as there are different pigments, their locations within the coral also vary. For example, those that absorb visible light (400-800 nanometers) are located at the tips of corals, closer to the surface, where light is more abundant. The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called visible light or simply light. A typical human eye will respond to wavelengths from about 380 to about 750 nanometers. During the day sunlight is more intense and contains more blue than red light. At sunset (and sunrise) sunlight is less intense and has more red light (neutral greenish, red, yellow, pink. brown) than blue light. Our bodies are programmed to respond to these daily changes in the color and intensity of light. So too much sun light or day time actually cause coloration of coral to fade out but not more colorful as you think it supposed to be, its better to see coral grow colorful in the afternoon time
- It is hard to compare Northern Phu Quoc coral reefs with Southern Phu Quoc coral reefs, but it is subject to the water conditions that we can visit more biodiversed coral reefs. Even
- Is North Phu Quoc good for snorkeling & diving?
- Is rainy season bad to do snorkeling & diving in Phu Quoc?
- Scuba Diving is not better than Snorkeling in Phu Quoc to see diversified coral reefs: Nope, for sure. But It depends on the underwater terrain
- We think this water in December is warm and nothing to us as we are from very cold country
HOW DOES ONBIRD ORGANIZE THE PROFESSIONAL SNORKELING EXPERIENCES?
Not like regular tour operator, we make forecasts of water conditions 5-7 days prior to the snorkeling & diving experience dates, especially snorkeling which is intended to see corals. OnBird internally keeps updating water conditions continously (wave level, underwater visibility, good coral reefs by dates, water current, water temperature) in whole year with high accurate of 95 – 96%. OnBird’s guided-snorkeling experiences are arranged to avoid strong UV Ray timeframe to maximize the snorkeling experience for snorkelers and divers.
Thereby we are able to make the best recommendations of coral reefs suitable for your expectations, tell you water conditions and the best timeframe to do snorkeling & diving on the date.
CUTTING-EDGE CONSULTATION ON WATER CONDITION IN PHU QUOC ISLAND?
For professional underwater works (filming, photography, video), it is indispensable to timming it in an ideal water condition. It requires a compelling understanding about the water condition in specific area. Bad water condition will definitely ruin your work and waste your budget and time, OnBird is the only company offering this cutting-edge consultation to clientele working on projects in Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam. We have been developing our understanding and data on water conditions in Phu Quoc Island, from that we are capable of making high accuracy of forecasting about underwater visibility in any given month and year.
Underwater visibility in Phu Quoc ranges from 2 – 12m, with average from 4-5m in whole year but there are also very good days of 7-9m which offer pretty ideal condition for underwater photography and filming. OnBird is the only company can make accurate forecasting about water condition based on our data and forecasting model.