Time to watch the weather: Hurricane and Tropical Storm Season

[Doc]

Roatan and the Bay Islands are “historically safe” from heavy weather (kinda)

Here we go, into “the season”.

They come this way from Africa along the equator. The big question… will they stay on the Equatorial track, or will they “lift” and cycle clockwise into the Caribbean?

June 29 Wednesday, looks like a miss….

 

[DiveProKoko]

Looks like that one is staying south. I've been watching the Caribbean because we're headed to St. Maarten next week, but I am a bit of a weather geek when it's interesting. The ABC's and Roatan occasionally get these, but my very limited understanding is that due to the track these southerly storms take and the associated land masses nearby breaking them up, they are usually fairly mild storms. I have my eye on that little blip in the Atlantic. But they're saying IF that one develops, it'll be over the southern windwards by the weekend, moving west, and nowhere near St. Maarten by the time we get there. So, looks like the trip is good to go....so far. LOL

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

WAIT!!!!!

That track puts it right ober Bonaire! Bonaire is supposed to be storm-proof, out of the "zone". So I heard on Scubaboard.com....

OMMOHY

 

[tursiops]

WAIT!!!!!

That track puts it right ober Bonaire! Bonaire is supposed to be storm-proof, out of the "zone". So I heard on Scubaboard.com....

OMMOHY

Bonaire is definitely not storm proof. Just storm unlikely.
Lenny (Cat 4) in 1999 and Omar in 2008 did a number on Bonaire.
Both were a problem because of the "backwards tracks," i.e. instead of the usual east-to-west paths they were going west to east while near Bonaire. Neither was very close, but the waves (not the winds) from them did the damage.

 

[DiveProKoko]

WAIT!!!!!

That track puts it right ober Bonaire! Bonaire is supposed to be storm-proof, out of the "zone". So I heard on Scubaboard.com....

OMMOHY

Haha! That's the rumor! Local forecast looks much less ominous than the folks at the Weather Channel would have you believe....and as of 5 minutes ago, the webcam from Kralendijk shows flat seas and rain. Looks like they'll be back to diving by tomorrow afternoon!

 

[DogDiver]

We were there the day that tropical storm Mitch was upgraded to a hurricane. Oh ya. It was the same day we flew over to Utila for our second week there. In the air over Utila we all kept asking “where are all the boats”? Well no diving for 3 days, but the bar was open.

 

[Doc]

We were there the day that tropical storm Mitch was upgraded to a hurricane. Oh ya. It was the same day we flew over to Utila for our second week there. In the air over Utila we all kept asking “where are all the boats”? Well no diving for 3 days, but the bar was open.

I intentionally headed South to RTB arriving on 29 November. Mitch had just cleared Guanaja and was headed South toward the mainland.

It was my assignment to route relief supplies. @DogDiver we didn’t send much of anything to Utila, it being 75 miles away made all the difference. We did have to fix the runway at ULL, but largely, you had a 7 Day Hurricane Party.

I noted a number of high tides that measured to be fully 2’ above what I have seen before or since This went on over a ten day period. Remarkable.

We did dive extensively through mid-late December, In search of the SV Fantome, and the diving was universally murky with no fish….anywhere. These dives spanned an area from North of Guanaja and South across to Trujillo.

 

[laurenceh]

From now until mid October is my favorite time of the year to be in Utila, the water is so warm and it's gin clear. I'd rather be hot and sweaty here, where I can just jump off the dock into the water, than hot and sweaty back in Chicago. That said, one always has to keep your eye on the weather forecast, especially when your house is only 60ft from the waters edge!