How it going to be in late November?

[Mike]

Booking a trip over Thanksgiving, finally returning to Roatan!

What's the typical expectations for weather during that time of year?

 

[Doc]

Rainy.

It is the end of the tropical storm season. At this time of year, the big storms are much less of a threat, but they rarely impact the Bay Islands even in the worst parts of the season.

Arguments abound about "which side" of the islands is _____ (fill in the blank), but when the rains arrive with the standard winds from the North, your dive-op better be on the South side or have the demonstrated wherewithal to get you over to the calm South on a daily basis.

Mean rainfall (inches) for Coxen Hole, Roatan, for the years 1970-1979:

Jan 5.8
Feb 6.2
Mar 1.6
Apr 2.4
May 1.7
Jun 2.1
Jul 3.1
Aug 4.1
Sep 7.1
Oct 17.6
Nov 20.6
Dec 12.9
Total 85.2

 

[Mike]

We will be staying on West Bay and diving from there, hope we get some good weather!

 

[jlevine]

You are coming at the beginning of the "rainy" season. How much rain will depend on the year. There are times it rains steadily or you might encounter a dry period. During the rainy season, the north coast of Roatan (which includes West Bay) can become rougher. For this reason, some resorts moor their boats on the south side of the island (which is often calmer at this time) and transport their guests over there to dive. So, even if you are staying in West Bay, you might be diving on the south side. The diving is good on both sides, so you should be able to get some diving in unless the weather is really bad. Regardless, Roatan is a beautiful island.

Have a good trip!

 

[RTBDiver]

You are coming at the beginning of the "rainy" season. How much rain will depend on the year. !

No and yes,
How much rain is never totlly predictable and changes year to year but the end of november is about as deep in the middle of rainy season you can be and while of course there is a chance of great weather , The greatest chance of rain, often all day type rain, is Nov. If we were not down on a regular basis and only made one trip a year November is not the time we would do it.

 

[Mike]

Uh oh

 

[Doc]

You were going to be wet anyway.

 

[Mike]

Yes, but with periods of being dry.

Looks like from what I'm seeing on websites with historical weather recorded for Roatan is it's a total crap shoot.

Looks like last year it was almost rain free during the same days, and the year before it rained much more. It's the only time I can get away from work, so we will make the best of it, and hopefully Roatan doesn't set a record this year during our stay for most consecutive days of harsh stormy weather.

Hey does the rain effect the visibility of dive sites there?

 

[RTBDiver]

You were going to be wet anyway.

True but,
While there is still plenty of diving to be had, we all know how important visibility is for many folks, maybe not so much Mfinley. Sure, I stick more to close up and macro when around my place but sometimes I do like to bring out the wide angle and the cloud cover does not make for a great time as well as the particulate from the runoff that a lot of Roatan often experiences when the rains come, add to that that those that do not plan on 4-5 dives a day likely would prefer to do more outdoor activities that would be hampered by the rain.
Of course it is weather and could even be bright and sunny but the end of November is the worst time as far as the odds go, Of course that said, I am comming back the Saturday after Thanksgiving for a while.
Now today is sunny and hot, yet we have already had a fair share of rains in October

 

[salth2owannabe]

I wouldn't let it concern you too much.
Last year we went for the first half of December (same we'll be doing this year) and we had a number of fronts come through while we were there. One resident/transplant said that it had been the consistently worse weather he had seen in 15+ years he had been there. We stayed on the north side and spent about half the time diving the south side as a result. We did miss out on a few afternoon dives and one night dive as a result of being bused to the other side, but really no big deal. In fact if you look at the brite side we got to dive a number of sites on the south side we never would have seen had it not been for the weather. The south side does have some dive sites and features that are much different then the north side diving. I was concerned about the weather last year before we went, this year I'm not worried about it at all (as long as it doesn't affect flights it's all good).