Best diving in October in Caribbean

[DvrgrlOT]

My dad and I are looking for spots in the Caribbean for diving in October. We know it's hurricane season so want to look more towards closer to the equator, southern Caribbean. We are wanting spots that have sharks, Mantas, bigger marine life. The past couple dive trips for us have been slightly disappointing. We want easy diving too no current, just recently dove in Tobago and the current is crazy there made for not relaxing diving. If anyone has suggestions that would be awesome!

 

[KathyV]

The southern Caribbean around Bonaire and Curacao are below the hurricane belt. The diving is lovely, lots of healthy reefs and fish including tarpons, eels, groupers, but not a lot of big animals, except turtles, occasional stingrays and maybe a few nurse sharks. Easy diving and not much current but a lot of shore diving and that has its own challenges.

You are more likely to encounter sharks and large animals in the southern Atlantic and northern Caribbean like T&Cs, Cuba, and the Bahamas, and maybe Florida. On a liveaboard in the T&Cs we saw sharks on almost every dive along with lots of other large animals like spotted eagle rays, but not usually mantas.

Around the Caymans we see occasional reef and nurse sharks, lots of turtles and stingrays, tarpons, eels, and loads of sea life. Usually easy diving without much current. There are some great valet dive ops in the Caymans that provide really easy diving.

You are likely to see lots of sealife and big animals around Cozumel but you will still be in the potential path of a hurricane and you indicated that you are not crazy about current and it is all drift diving.

We have visited the northern and central Caribbean during October and November many times over the years and we have never encountered a hurricane, but that doesn't mean that it can't happen. And even though the southern Caribbean is less likely to be hit by a tropical storm, that doesn't mean it can't happen there.

The bottom line is that if you want to dive the Caribbean in October and find large animals you should stay north, if you want a better chance of missing a tropical storm you should go south but not expect to see lots of large animals. One really nice thing about diving the Caribbean in the fall is that the water is warm everywhere at that time of year.

You might also want to look outside of the Caribbean. Kona Hawaii on the Big Island has lovely diving including a night dive with mantas that is spectacular. And around Cabo San Lucas and the Baja you can expect to dive with sealions and other large creatures but keep in mind that the Pacific can get hit by typhoons. Weather is always going to be a variable no matter what time of year you travel wherever you go.

 

[drrich2]

How badly upset would you be if the bad weather cancelled your trip? KathyV noted places in that region known for sharks, and the farther southern places aren't it. Could be that your main options might come down to...

1.) Book the trip you want, be sure you bought trip insurance, accept that hurricane season could throw a wrench in things but your odds may not be bad.

2.) Book a trip for Bonaire or Curacao, and enjoy them for what they've got, rather than looking for the big stuff.

You might also want to broaden your field of view.

Consider a trip to Morehead City, North Carolina, for shark action (Trip report). In an older post, Tortuga James made a post including this excerpt (in my report, you can click to expand Seasonal Patterns and find this):

"August- The summer doldrums set in. Diving is great and we have many calm, hot days. The biggest weather threats are now tropical storms. By the end of the month we are watching the tropics for approaching hurricanes.

September- Hurricane season is in full force. They say that during the season the weather is great unless there is a hurricane. Very true. Great diving, warm (almost hot) water and generally some of the best visibility of the year unless a storm has just passed. Risky but you could have some of the best dives of your life if you get lucky.

October- Storm season is winding down and the cold fronts are starting. SW winds before the fronts are a little stronger than in the spring, but it is the same process. Nice weather follows after the front is well on its way. Tropical lows and hurricanes can still impact the weather. Still some of the best diving of the year if you catch it right. Water temps are still in the high 70's.

November- Cold fronts control the weather. Locals love this time of year. The water is still warm and the air can be too on a lot of days. Some of my best trips have been Thanksgiving weekend."

Richard.

 

[DvrgrlOT]

Thank you guys for the recommdations and information! Truly appreciated. I think we may just look into some more of the northern places and just get insurance

 

[KathyV]

Thank you guys for the recommdations and information! Truly appreciated. I think we may just look into some more of the northern places and just get insurance

Although hurricane season runs from June through November the greatest number of tropical storms have been recorded in September, see the link below; so you might want to avoid that month - but there's no guarantees.

Hurricanes and Storms

 

[Lana.mcglynn]

Any interest in a live a board in Cuba Oct 6-15

 

[LarryHinDC]

If you are only interested in diving, you have lots of choices and KathyV is right, the ABC islands are generally too far south to have a hurricane problem. But if you are interested in learning about the sea and its creatures (as well as what's surrounding you on land), Saba is where you want to be in October. Their Sea & Learn program (sea-and-learn-saba) runs the entire month, provides world-class information, and it's all free.