Diving in Rain

[shopguy]

30 feet is excellent visibility!
I often dive in 3 feet visibility.
The water remains the same.
You do have a compass, do you not?

Agree, but if viz would be 20 feet compared to the usual 50+ I would find another time to visit. Yes, always with my compass, at least in my pocket if not on my wrist. Water at home is often 3 feet viz, but I try to only go on days with 5+ feet viz, it is a little hard to find scallops when you can't see.

 

[Subcooled]

Agree, but if viz would be 20 feet compared to the usual 50+ I would find another time to visit.

That's a valid point if visibility is important for enjoyment of the dive. Inferior visibility might be less of an issue if one is after adventure. I guess it depends on what your goal for the dive is.

it is a little hard to find scallops when you can't see.

they are best found on a plate

 

[Russjstewart]

Don’t do it you will get wet 🌨🌨🌨True story, I was doing a cave diving course at Ewens Pomds, everyone was pretty much geared up when it started raining, we all jumped in our cars. After a few minutes I wound down my window and yelled out how stupid was this, we are all in wet suits.We all waited for it to stop raving. Go figure, I still can’ t work it out

 

[Doctorfish]

I disagree with many of the comments above. If the OP has a choice, might be better not to go to Bon during rainy season. I was there once in early November a few years back when it rained continuously.
The vis in general was down to about 30 feet because of run off. At 18 Palms, at the Plaza, where we were staying, the viz was less than 20 feet.
Our gear never dried out out and after a few days, putting on a wet smelly wetsuit got tired. Packing wet gear for the return trip resulted in overweight charges.
Many restaurant patios were not covered, so OP might have to do more inside dining, which could potentially be an issue with Covid.
With the wet weather, there also seemed to be an issue with mosquito numbers.


All in all, not a great dive trip.

 

[scubadada]

During our 8 previous trips to Bonaire, we have had prolonged rainy weather just once, November of 2008. It rained nearly every day. I don't recall that it affected the diving.

We were on Bonaire last November, gorgeous every day.

 

[Doctorfish]

Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes not.

 

[stevenkimbell]

Planning a trip to Bonaire this October and/or November and just found out this is the rainy season. Where I live in the PNW we get over 100 inches of rain per year, so we do everything in the rain, including diving. Is it safe and good diving in Bonaire while raining? I've read some reports of worse viz during rain, but does that usually just mean 50' viz instead of 80', or does it drop below 30' viz very often? It seems like the least wind is October and November, so if it is just rain without strong winds, I feel like that could be an ideal time to dive -- nice calm waters, less sunburn, free gear rinse on the drive home.

I'll be there for at least 30 days, so a few days of bad diving weather wouldn't be a big deal, but 10+ days of bad diving weather would be a reason to try a different time of year.

I have been during the rainy season, it was end of August, first of September in 2021 and it was fine. The rains came several times on a couple days, but never lasted very long. The big issue is the wind, or lack of it. The rainy season is hotter because you dont have the cooling effect of as much wind. It also means more bugs, mostly flies, that harass you when you are trying to eat. I am going back the first week of November (was there in April, so I get to use the same STINAPA pass!) and plan to buy a "ShooAway" or maybe even the four pack. They had these at Buddy Dive on our first trip and they really work. And yes, the flies are bad enough to need them. Other than that, no issues no matter what time you go.

 

[rmorgan]

In 2013, on one of our early Bonaire dives, we were ascending at Bachelor Beach just as a gully-washer started. The sound was deafening, and runoff from the beach and street drains took the visibility to almost nothing--like diving in skim milk, as I recall. We dropped back down a few feet and waited it out (five minutes?). Nothing like that in more than 200 Bonaire dives since.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Unless you're getting chilly, no reason not to dive in the rain. There have been times when we geared up on a cloudy day with on and off rain when we just couldn't seem to get dry between dives. It would start really pouring, and we would wait for a while, getting chillier and chillier, and eventually give up, figuring the dive or two we already did that day was enough. Amstel time.