Diving in Rain

[Martijn]

It's no problem at all. The viz will change a bit, but only in the top layer of the water. Everything below 1 or 2 m / 6ft will still be fine

 

[homerdoc]

Our last trip it rained a lot and it made all the locals happy.

I don't remember it effecting visibility at all - deep filled puddles on the side streets you had to consider how deep they were for real....but that was the only problem.

There is no issue at all with rain - enjoy your trip.

 

[CT Sean]

Had one rain cloud that aligned with our dive when my wife and I we were there last week. I think of it as a free gear rinse when I get out.

 

[NDL_Diver]

It is rainier (4 inches a month) in Oct and Nov. Bonaire climate: average weather, temperature, precipitation, when to go

Rarely an all day event (maybe an hour, usually in morning or overnight). Just treat it as a fresh water rinse.

 

[nippurmagnum]

One of my favorite pictures from Bonaire, taken by my daughter from our condo balcony as I went in for a dive on our house reef. Rain clouds on the horizon, but bright sun overhead. The rain moved in during my dive, for about 20 mins, so it was a bit darker underwater, but well before I came out, the sun was shining and the skies were clear. Enjoy your trip.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @nippurmagnum

Gorgeous photo, what site? Your size in the picture is great perspective

 

[Subcooled]

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,

I do not know anything about diving in Bonaire, but rain does mean runnoff water (means: sand, clay,...) and hence worse visibility near the shore. Will this affect safety? Of course not! Your breathing apparatus is not affected by visibility. Neither is your buoyancy.

but does that usually just mean 50' viz instead of 80', or does it drop below 30' viz very often?

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?

if it is just rain without strong winds, I feel like that could be an ideal time to dive

Depending on distance from shore and depth.

 

[nippurmagnum]

Hi @nippurmagnum

Gorgeous photo, what site? Your size in the picture is great perspective

This is an unnamed site in between The Lake and Bachelor Beach. It's a private access beach at a condo building called the Bellevue. Highly recommend the building for divers, as it has the easiest entry/exit that I've seen anywhere on Bonaire. However, the super easy/exit also means that thieves have been known to pull up to the building at night on a boat with the lights off, scope out which condos have their balcony doors open, climb onto the balconies, and steal any valuables that are in plain sight. That's happened multiple times, including the time we were there (we'd been warned and kept our balcony doors locked, so we didn't get hit), and a couple of weeks prior to that. Anyway, theft was a bigger concern than whether we might get a shower or two. Though I wouldn't let that stop me from going back there again, either.

 

[Jersey]

I do not know anything about diving in Bonaire, but rain does mean runnoff water (means: sand, clay,...) and hence worse visibility near the shore. Will this affect safety? Of course not! Your breathing apparatus is not affected by visibility. Neither is your buoyancy.

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?

Depending on distance from shore and depth.

Rain does little to the viz in Bonaire > mostly ironshore and coral rubble beaches. Wind does stir up the water and kills viz. Even a bad day viz is 50+ foot. Good day - 80-100. October can be hot and still which means calm water, great to do the East side. I like October, dive in rash guards and shorts, just a skin for shore diving. I don't think we had more than about 5 minutes of rain in our Oct 2021 two week trip. We had a very wet and windy March 2022 trip. Every day, multiple times a day. It was like being in Florida, but even they were short lived and rained themselves out. Much like the pic above you could see the storm over different part of the island. But often sunny where we were. Don't even really need a compass, swim to reef, determine current, go the other way, turn, swim toward shore.

 

[shopguy]

Come on people, its rain. The pandemic travel restrictions are coming to an end and we can now travel. Rain should be a non issue.

Good point -- on the other hand "ahhh!, everything is going to be crowded again, time to stop traveling again" (another way of looking at it). Man, Puerto Rico was amazing at the height of the pandemic, not sure I am going to enjoy it as much going back next month.