Warm Water, Cool Air, Low Humidity Destinations. Do They Exist?

[SanFranDiver]

Well, a diver can hope, can't they?

Hoping other can post suggestions of good diving destinations where the water temp is 77-85F, the daytime high temps are under 82F, and the relative humidity is less than 60%. In other words, I'm looking for Los Angeles air/humidity (without the smog) and water like Hawaii and the Caribbean.

We were thinking about Bonaire in Sep/Oct until we saw that the daily high temps were 88-93F and the humidity was 70-75%. To my way of thinking, that's like a steambath in Thailand.

I'm hoping for something a bit more comfortable (especially if we're doing shore dives and donning 3mm fullsuits from the back of a pickup truck). Do such dive locations exist?

 

[robint]

Well, a diver can hope, can't they?

Hoping other can post suggestions of good diving destinations where the water temp is 77-85F, the daytime high temps are under 82F, and the relative humidity is less than 60%. In other words, I'm looking for Los Angeles air/humidity (without the smog) and water like Hawaii and the Caribbean.

We were thinking about Bonaire in Sep/Oct until we saw that the daily high temps were 88-93F and the humidity was 70-75%. To my way of thinking, that's like a steambath in Thailand.

I'm hoping for something a bit more comfortable (especially if we're doing shore dives and donning 3mm fullsuits from the back of a pickup truck). Do such dive locations exist?

Actually, if you are doing 3-4 dives per day, you will be fine. When we were in Bonaire in June a few years ago, we were afraid of that, too. But your core temp drops the more dives you do, and I was actually a bit chilly in a 3mm suit by mid-day.
The only day we were hot in the least was the last day when we weren't diving at all and just driving around the island. That was the only day we broke a sweat all week!

This is true of most dive destinations though. As long as you are spending a few hours per day in the water, you will cool your body temp down and not get overly hot.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Those conditions sound like the dive destination I just returned from: The Galapagos Islands (Wolf and Darwin Arch) at this time of the year. My absolute first time liveaboard diving at the Equator --in a 5mil full wetsuit with a 2mil hooded vest-- and still was a little chilled but ulitmately exhausted by the end of the fourth dive of the day.

I still rather prefer blazing hot/humid conditions of SE Asia and Oceania, and diving in a 1mil full skin suit & skull hood. . .

 

[KBeck]

Saba.......dives are (obviously) at sea level, but the hotels are so far up that it's pretty cool at night, even in the summer.

 

[diversteve]

Try the BVI's. Todays temperature on Tortola is 84, the humidity is 64% and the water temperature should be in the high 80's.

The water temperature ranges from 78° in the winter months to 84° in the summer months.

Miles of white sandy beaches. We stayed in a nice villa on Virgin Gorda in the hills above town that didn't even have air-conditioning - lots of breeze - almost non-stop. About the only time I remember it being still was early morning. In May. In closed-in spaces waterfront, it was quite humid. It's a huge sailing area and always seemed breezy enough for them, we saw sailboats every day.

The downside is there's virtually no shorediving there. And it's a little pricier, about 3 years ago a week of boatdiving was about $500 - 3-4 dives/day. We dove with DiveBVI, they really provide excellent service, I never touched my gear after giving it to them the first day, they always had it completely sorted out and ready on the boat for us (11 of us) and they cleaned/dried it before we left. And took us to most of the better dive sites in the area - most are about a 1/2 hr. ride or less. It was easily possible to do two dives, back to town for lunch, and then two more dives in the afternoon.

 

[diver_dj]

The Great Barrier Reef meets those requirements during Australia's winter (think June/July). The air is cool, and the water is warm. It's just like swimming in a fish tank.

The downside is the long flight there and back.

 

[Damselfish]

I don't like heat & humidity but haven't really found the Caribbean to be a problem. I find the worst part is getting off the plane and walking into what can seem like a wall of humidity, getting through the airport and to your hotel - especially if you're not dressed appropriately and have to haul your luggage. Pack clothes so you can change before you get there if needed, and pay someone to cart your luggage if you can. But you get acclimated, and once you've unpacked in the A/C and are relaxing in the shade with a cold drink and not exerting yourself it's fine. And as said, all the time in the water will cool you down and it's a somewhat lasting effect.

Now, hating heat I would still be unhappy schlepping my gear around Bonaire in August - or anytime, as I hate schlepping gear on vacation and find boats so much more convienient. If you want to do that, reserve those places for late fall to spring. The air and water are warm for the most part, but the humidity is much less than summer. (Winter you do stand more chance of rough conditions or slightly coolish water some places.) Personally, we skip the whole shore diving around the island thing, any shore diving we do is from our hotel where we pull our gear out of the locker, gear up in the shade, and jump off the dock, or similar situations.

It's cooler on the water. So do boat diving. Especially places where you leave gear on the boat or they haul it around for you. Or do a liveaboard. Really, there's not that many tropical places where you can even do the sort of shore diving that requires carting your gear around the island and diving off hot rocks or beaches so that's a non-issue most places.

Hawaii isn't my favorite diving but weatherwise it's a pretty good bet, topside seems to be perfect most of the time. You're just limited to the warmer months if you want warm water as it does drop in winter.

 

[DeputyDan]

I don't like heat & humidity but haven't really found the Caribbean to be a problem. I find the worst part is getting off the plane and walking into what can seem like a wall of humidity, getting through the airport and to your hotel - especially if you're not dressed appropriately and have to haul your luggage. Pack clothes so you can change before you get there if needed, and pay someone to cart your luggage if you can.

Sounds like Roatan.