Cancun - Maya Riviera, raining everyday - what does that mean to diving?

[s.s.seafan]

Hi,

I'm going on vacation next week to Maya Riviera, the weather forecast shows scattered T-storm every day for the first half of the week, then 2 days of "showers". what's the climate like with that kind of forecast - does it mean a quick shower/thunderstorm, or raining all day in that region? what does that mean for ocean diving - is it out of the question, or just not during the rain, or...?

thanks,

Jason

 

[mdax]

Thankfully we'll be spending half the time in the caves, but hope that the weather is only light rain for my daughters ocean/boat diving!

 

[driftwood]

Figure a thirty minute shower ranging from light rain to frog strangler. Not enough rain to screw up the diving but there may be issues with the wind and boats (especially in the afternoon).

 

[ibj40]

I was trying to remember when, in the past 25+ years of going to the Yucatan (including Cozumel), the daily forecast didn't include a chance of rain?

I've gone into the water with a clear sky and come back up with the captain bailing rainwater out of the boat.

It's the tropics, near the ocean, and things like that are likely to happen sometime, somewhere, in the general vicinity.

 

[ednedfred]

Three years ago the extended forecast for Playa was storms everyday for the week. We got a 20 minute shower on the third day, otherwise beautiful.

 

[Cmaustin]

As has been already said. Its the tropics. the rain symbols mean at some point during the day somewhere in the area there will be rain. I go for a week or two every summer and have only lost one dive to weather.

 

[s.s.seafan]

That's good to know, hopefully it'll just be like that, a short shower sometimes.

Would a shower reduce visibility underwater though? What kind of weather would actually make the dive op to cancel a (boat) dive?

 

[ibj40]

Visibility is usually upset via wave action or inflows from rivers, and more likely on the more shallow dives. I've never experienced loss of visibility on an open water dive due to it raining at the surface. My experience on weather conditions cancelling diving is more due to sustained winds than to rain showers moving through an area. Short of being caught at your dive destination during a tropical weather situation (tropical depression, tropical storm, hurricane, etc.), daily sporadic rainfall events such as are frequently experienced around the Yucatan are just part of the whole seasonal ritual.

 

[Cmaustin]

That's good to know, hopefully it'll just be like that, a short shower sometimes.

Would a shower reduce visibility underwater though? What kind of weather would actually make the dive op to cancel a (boat) dive?

Last summer while diving in Cozumel there was a tropical depression that came in during my first dive. The sea got pretty wild on the surface with lightning being a major concern. The harbour was closed so i had to miss my second dive...

 

[Pelagicsal]

Hi Cody,
That was a crazy one wasn't it?
Have you been diving since that trip?
Headed back to CZM in a week and a half. Yay!

As to the rain chances, that's what you get for going to the tropics during huricane season!
The majority of the days are partly cloudy with possible (not necessarily likely) afternoon showers. Bring an umbrella if you are pessimistic.
That day with Cmaustin was one of two days where the second dive was blown out - out of several hundred dive days there for me.