Diving in the caribbean in august

[freezing]

Hi,

 

we're two beginner divers and would like to take a diving vacation this August. Can anyone help and suggest an island we could look into?

 

-We're beginners, so there should be easy diving sites that aren't too deep/too much current

-I'd love to have sandy beaches

 

I know August is hurricane season. We're planning on going ten days from the 18th to the 28th roughly. I don't mind if it rains 2-3 days, and I realize I can be unlucky and get bad weather. Which islands would you "risk", which ones do you think we should rather leave alone?

 

I've looked at cruises, but not found much that suits our needs. If anyone knows of a cruise that is in the caribbean during this time, let me know! (problem is that the ones I found either leave on the 17th already or only get back on the 31st. We can only travel from the 18th to the 29th max).

[scubadiver888]

Hi,

 

we're two beginner divers and would like to take a diving vacation this August. Can anyone help and suggest an island we could look into?

 

-We're beginners, so there should be easy diving sites that aren't too deep/too much current

-I'd love to have sandy beaches

 

I know August is hurricane season. We're planning on going ten days from the 18th to the 28th roughly. I don't mind if it rains 2-3 days, and I realize I can be unlucky and get bad weather. Which islands would you "risk", which ones do you think we should rather leave alone?

 

I've looked at cruises, but not found much that suits our needs. If anyone knows of a cruise that is in the caribbean during this time, let me know! (problem is that the ones I found either leave on the 17th already or only get back on the 31st. We can only travel from the 18th to the 29th max).

 

Go to the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). They are in the southern part of the Caribbean and outside of the typical hurricane path. This is not to say they are guaranteed to be hurricane free but statistically they are your best bet.

[scubaran]

Hi,

 

we're two beginner divers and would like to take a diving vacation this August. Can anyone help and suggest an island we could look into?

 

-We're beginners, so there should be easy diving sites that aren't too deep/too much current

-I'd love to have sandy beaches

 

I know August is hurricane season. We're planning on going ten days from the 18th to the 28th roughly. I don't mind if it rains 2-3 days, and I realize I can be unlucky and get bad weather. Which islands would you "risk", which ones do you think we should rather leave alone?

 

I've looked at cruises, but not found much that suits our needs. If anyone knows of a cruise that is in the caribbean during this time, let me know! (problem is that the ones I found either leave on the 17th already or only get back on the 31st. We can only travel from the 18th to the 29th max).

 

I'd also recommend Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. The dive sites are shore or boat just a bit off shore. There's both shallow diving for when you start out and walls if you get a bit more adventurous. You can stay on Seven Mile Beach, which is really 5 miles, which is a great beach for sunning between dives and you can do a stingray city dive which is a shallow dive with stingrays sailing around you, definitely unique. There's also a dive hotel, sunset house (not on seven mile beach but close to town and a short cab ride to seven mile), with an onsite dive center and underwater photography center with Cathy Church, one of the premiere underwater photographers, and you can even sign up for a course with her on taking underwater photographs. :) Down side, Cayman is in the hurricane belt but seems quiet in the Caribbean so far (almost all airlines and hotels allow refunds or credit if your trip is cancelled by a hurricane and definitely take out trip insurance to be safe.

 

Randall

[Capt_BJ]

Here's my 3 favorite destinations...not nec' in any order. I'll just give some pro/con since you are new to diving.

 

Grand Cayman/Sunset House - I think this is my favorite for someone new to diving. The staff has always been great (but turnsover regularly so who knows). The basic package gets guided two tank boat dives daily..and the on site shore diving is very good so you don't need to go elsewhere. Also a great spot for nite dives right there - with easy in and out. There's a lot of places on Cayman to choose from...Sunset has been a dedicated dive resort for a very long time.... The typical boat trip is a deep dive in the morning...but it is guided and usually they will stay shallower until you are comfortable.

 

Bonaire - again great diving...a bit more $$ to get there. Bonaire is the land of shore diving. You really don't need to go the boat route. Rent a car, toss in the gear. When you pay the 'dive fee' pickup a guide book. As you drive around the island you'll see yellow rocks with numbers on them. These are the dive sites...look the # up in the book and you get a description of the site...depth, which way to swim, what to look for. The CON here is solo shore diving might not be the ideal for a novice. Spouse and I had years of diving under our belt before we went this route. After a few years of Cayman & the Brac we tried this and enjoyed the freedom of not needing to catch the morning boat.....

 

Cozumel - great diving and in the past great value. Lots of dedicated diving operations to choose from. But most diving is boat and drift. Again something that adds just a little more skill requirement for a novice. Getting in and out of a boat isn't really that hard...doing so with a drifting boat is just a tad more difficult. The 'good stuff' in Coz is offshore so you really need to go boat...and the currents can really rip at times....

 

Cay and Coz are certainly more in the hur' path...but the probability of getting zapped really ain't all that high.....

 

Another option is to stay in the US and hit the Keys. A few days in the upper Keys doing Pennecamp sites is fun and when I lived in Miami nearly an every weekend jaunt for me. These guys were my fav' operator

http://www.keylargodiving.com/

They ran "6-packs" .... max 6 divers on the boat....not the typical Keys cattle boat. 45 feet is deep in Pennecamp and the current us usually small. Not much in the way for shore diving tho....you really need a boat to get out there.

 

Just some ideas to think about.....

[bruce-r]

Go to the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). They are in the southern part of the Caribbean and outside of the typical hurricane path. This is not to say they are guaranteed to be hurricane free but statistically they are your best bet.

 

And out of those three islands, I'd pick Curacao. The diving there is nearly as good as Bonaire and it has more topside attraction than Bonaire.

[gmcrow]

What most people don't think about is that when there aren't hurricanes, the weather in the hurricane zone in August and September is awesome. We've done South Florida, the Keys, or Nassau annually in early September for a decade. Only had to cancel one trip and detour one. All the other years we had weather so incredible it's hard to describe. We've been on seas of glass several times with unlimited visability. http://www.cruisedivers.blogspot.com

[freezing]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Still haven't booked anything... can't decide whether to risk a hurricane area and pay less money, or be fairly safe but spend a lot of money...

 

Sorry for being so unknowledgeable about this, but assuming we are affected by a hurricane, how many days would it probably rain? More like 1-3 or probably the entire 10 days we'd be there?

[jmps]

The ABC's are out of the hurricane path and are the best fall weather bets. I would go with Curacao myself because as was mentioned the island itself is very nice.

[SwimnwFishes]

I'm a big fan of the Keys too...the Key Largo area being a favorite, although, I've had to fight the current there a time or two there, particularly off the Spiegel Grove.

 

I also like the Cayman Islands.

 

I think, given that the ABCs actually had some Hurricane action last year, if you want to go on statistics, this year they aught to be safe. I don't think they had a lot of damage...but right after we cruised through there last year, and listened to ALL the tour guides tell us that they NEVER got hit with hurricanes....about two weeks later...boom. Never say never.

[Capt_BJ]

dove all three of the ABC (some jobs are just SO cool)

 

If going on my dime I'd go back to Bon' ... IMHO the best diving, but yes if you want to do other touristy stuff Curacao has the best 'town' and Aruba the better gambling.

[scubadiver888]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Still haven't booked anything... can't decide whether to risk a hurricane area and pay less money, or be fairly safe but spend a lot of money...

 

Sorry for being so unknowledgeable about this, but assuming we are affected by a hurricane, how many days would it probably rain? More like 1-3 or probably the entire 10 days we'd be there?

 

The short answer is 'yes, no, maybe.' The Caribbean is a large area. The distance between islands is fairly large. Hurricanes take different paths and are of different sizes. I've vacationed on islands were I could see the hurricane out on the horizon but the island received around 15 minutes of light showers. The sun was shining the entire time.

 

The good thing about a cruise is you will almost never be IN a hurricane. If you went to a resort you might be there when a hurricane hits the island. With a cruise, the captain will go around the hurricane. If it is expected that a hurricane is going to hit a port at the time the ship will be there, the captain will skip that port and you get an extra 'at sea' day.

 

Hurricanes go from the south to the north, typically. If you are crusing from San Juan to the ABCs you might go around the hurricane and have a few hours of rain (probably in the evening while you are asleep). If you are going from the ABCs back to San Juan you could be following the hurricane for a day or two.

 

It is really hard to say how hurricane season is going to effect you. This is also why, if you want the news for the southern states, they never know where a hurricane is going to make landfall.

[slrob]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Still haven't booked anything... can't decide whether to risk a hurricane area and pay less money, or be fairly safe but spend a lot of money...

 

Sorry for being so unknowledgeable about this, but assuming we are affected by a hurricane, how many days would it probably rain? More like 1-3 or probably the entire 10 days we'd be there?

 

Look into trip insurance if you're worried about hurricanes. Most resorts/hotels don't really want a bunch of travelers around if they're in the path of a hurricane. Airlines will usually stop flights to/from an island in direct path up to a day before its expected to hit. They will do what they can to get everyone out of harms way. Number of days of rain depends on the size of the hurricane, how slow/fast its moving, how close to the eyewall, etc... That being said, my DH and I have gone somewhere in the Caribbean for the past 4 summers (Jul 22-Sept 15 timeframe) and the only problem we had with weather affecting our trip was trying to leave DFW airport :eek: We've been lucky :D

[scubaran]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Still haven't booked anything... can't decide whether to risk a hurricane area and pay less money, or be fairly safe but spend a lot of money...

 

Sorry for being so unknowledgeable about this, but assuming we are affected by a hurricane, how many days would it probably rain? More like 1-3 or probably the entire 10 days we'd be there?

 

I've been going to the Caribbean for over a decade, both cruises, and islands during the summer and winter. I've had one cruise ship divert from St. Thomas to Nassau due to a tropical storm in the south, had a vacation completely cancelled to Grand Cayman after they were devistated by a hurricane (when to Belize instead) and had a trip to the keys delayed three days because of a hurricane. I've also had vacations cut short due to cancelled flights, being snowed in back home, a sick dog, a sick kid and work schedules changing. If in doubt, like other's said, get insurance. IF there's a problem (only the few mentioned out of many were affected by troubles) the insurance will cover any losses. Like in the keys, I was able to back up my air/hotel 3 days after a full hurricane so islands recover quickly unless they're devistated like GC was. I have to say that airlines and hotels have aways been very understanding and have been great about rebooking or changing plans. Pick the vacation you want, pick the dates you want to go and go for it. You'll be fine! (no monetary guarantees from me :p ).

 

Randall

[w&k]

If you want to have a blast, go dive with Suzy and Mark at The Dive Bus - they are an absolute hoot. http://www.the-dive-bus.com

 

They work with several hotels at different price points, so you can find the type of place you like.

 

We have been there several times on cruises, and we would love to go for a week, but the airfare from down here in Florida is simply ridiculous.

 

Be warned though... they put up blackmail pictures on their website. We were first listed under the 'cruise ship invasion' and now are the 'serial cruisers'.

 

If you tell them that Wendy & Keith sent you, they might let you come down anyway ;)

 

Wendy

 

Hilarious blackmail photo in the February newsletter. http://www.the-dive-bus.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=574&Itemid=52