southern caribbean too rough in Feb?

[morecruise4me]

I posted this in the general question thread also. My BFF says that Feb is the worst time to cruise southern caribbean because of rough seas. We want to snorkel at most islands and would like some "expert" opinions from those who have been there in Feb.

Thanks!

[rjscott]

We cruised the southern Caribbean this past Feb. We snorkeled at St Thomas, Champagne Reef on Dominica, and at Princess Cay and had a great time at those ports. We were supposed to have a snorkeling trip on Antigua, but we missed the port due to our ship, the Emerald Princess, not being able to navigate the channel due to high seas and its size. A smaller HAL ship was, however, able to get in.

[sunseeker09]

I haven't been on our Southern Caribbean cruise yet, but we have travelled around the Caribbean a fair bit, usually in Jan. or Feb. and find it to be a great time to go. It's not as crazy hot and humid and it's the dry season in most places. We were in Turks & Caicos this past Feb. and we had the rough seas as well due to high winds. Seems those freakish winds affected the entire Caribbean this year. It's not normal. We've had dead calm water other places, like Jamaica, Caymans, Cuba, etc.

If you want to avoid rought seas and big waves, avoid Hawaii in the winter, particularly the North Shores of the islands. Great for surfing though.

In fact, if you're worried about the chance of rough seas in the Caribbean, you should avoid hurricane season, which runs June 1 - Nov. 30, particularly Aug/Sept. Even if the ships avoid the actual hurricanes, it's still storm season and you can get stormy weather and rain.

[Aligator6182]

We have cruised the southern twice in february and never had a problem with rough seas. We actually were able to snorkel at every stop we wanted to with out a problem. Last year we did the western in february and were not able to port in grand cayman because of the weather because you have to tender there. The good thing about the southern is there are docks at almost every stop, no tenders necessary.

[Aplmac]

My BFF says that Feb is the worst time to cruise southern caribbean because of rough seas.

We want to snorkel at most islands and would like some "expert" opinions from those who have been there in Feb.

Your concern relates to periodic North Swells

which come rolling down thru the islands on a moment's notice

completely changing near-shore sea conditions, overnight.

 

October to March this happens, not just February! :)

 

What was left as a calm, clear bay last evening

is discovered to be a roiling maelstrom the next morning

with waves big enough to surf, zero visibility

and lots of disturbed stinging organisms in the water(locals call it 'sea-lice')

-no snorkelling for you or anybody on those days, due to zero visibility.

 

And it'll take 2-3 days before the suspended sediment settles out again

before you can see anything while snorkelling.

 

This is a completely random process, not easily predicted

except by consulting webpage

http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/atlm.html?map=wave&animate=1#map

 

which 'looks ahead' 3 days or so.

It's the luck of the draw, nothing more.

 

.