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Originally Posted by moylemuncha
sea breeze = hot land mass causing air to rise which in turn draws surface wind in from cooler water
because of it's latitude and the large land mass to the West, Cabarete gets 15 knot E trade wind plus 10 knot E seabreeze = lovely
Nassau is small and has cooler water to the North and West so we get a
10 knot SE tradwind plus 5 knot NW'erly sea breeze = crap
sorry - is just my humble hypothesis
I am hoping global warming screws it up
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Yes, I think land mass plays a big part in this as you say. Still, some smaller islands do get periodic thermal and gap winds. How much is the tough question.
The direction of the primary land mass relative to the trades and wind amplification may be more complicated too. La Parguera, PR is near the SW corner of the island and yet may have even stronger easterly winds than Cabarete. It certainly is arid along the south coast. Also, the winds are stronger in Cabarete from local reports than at points further to the east. Something about the shape of the coast and inland topography or something.
Also, a LONG time ago when I still disliked wind with a passion (messed up UW viz), we had honking strong afternoon winds on the barrier reef off Cap Haitian, Haiti every afternoon. There is a huge land mass to the south and still some to the west. Cabarete is well to the east. We were looking for the entombed remains of Columbus' Santa Maria in the barrier reef off of Cap. Never found it but did get a prime case of the Christophe's.
You aren't supposed to get much in the way of thermals over water but it seems you can in the flats around the Florida Keys at times. I have seen birds coring thermals there. I would think Andros might cook off with thermals, maybe. Have you guys experienced anything like that?