How is Grand Cayman in August?

[sunshinecat]

I was planning to go to Grand Cayman in late August/early September and do some scuba diving as a newly certified open water diver. After doing more research, it seems that this is the time when there is the highest risk of hurricanes. One book even said that divers avoid the area during August and September because of choppy waters. What do you guys think about going during August, especially since this will be my first diving experience after getting my OW cert. Should I plan to go another year before June? Thanks!

 

[Alex777]

Early August is great! The best time of the year for diving. In late August, your chances of losing 2 - 3 diving days due to a hurricane increase substantially. See the hurricane frequency graph at Hurricanes and Storms

I would avoid September, although if luck is with you there can be good diving in Sept. also.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

August is closer to the peak hurricane times but typically the seas are actually calmer than average in August and September.

 

[CJ's]

Drew is correct, Hurricanes excepted, August and September have the calmest seas of the year.

 

[sunshinecat]

How much is Grand Cayman usually affected by hurricanes? Wasn't the last major hurricane in 2004? If so, does that mean it will be pretty safe to go in August?

My work schedule is unflexible, so the only week I have off is Aug. 28-Sept. 3, but I'm happy to take the trip in another year if it would be too risky to go in August. I don't want to be stuck in my hotel for several days waiting out a storm.

 

[Damselfish]

Whether someplace got hit by a storm last year or a couple years ago or whatever really has nothing to do with what will happen this year. You can read the early season general predictions for the year but I don't put much stock in these and you probably won't find it very useful to decide on a trip or not.

The week you're talking about, water conditions should be lovely unless there's a storm. That's getting into the period where your odds aren't wonderful. If I really wanted to do a dive trip then I would choose someplace less likely to get hit such as Bonaire or Curacao. Unless maybe I was planning at the last minute and things seemed pretty mellow, though something can always spin up unexpectedly.

 

[billinwilliamston]

How much is Grand Cayman usually affected by hurricanes? Wasn't the last major hurricane in 2004? If so, does that mean it will be pretty safe to go in August?

My work schedule is unflexible, so the only week I have off is Aug. 28-Sept. 3, but I'm happy to take the trip in another year if it would be too risky to go in August. I don't want to be stuck in my hotel for several days waiting out a storm.

Grand Cayman has not been hit my a major hurricane since then, but it doesn't take a major hurricane to wash out diving for two or three days (or more). A close brush by a minor hurricane or a big tropical storm is enough to make the seas unmanageable.

Any diving planned for those dates for anywhere between the Carolinas and Belize could be blown out due to tropical storms. We've never let the risk of dramatic weather dissuade us. Generally the water is warmer, clearer and calmer during the summer months throughout the Caribbean, Atlantic and the Gulf. For us, the benefits of summer diving far outweigh the risks.

For what it's worth, our next two dive trips will be mid-July to dive the Vandenberg in Key West and the last 10 days of September to the Cayman Islands, so I do put my money (and vacation time) where my mouth is.

 

[nwflyboy]

Funny this should come up now....

I'm thinking about a potential trip to the Caymans in October. Not sure exactly when in October...depends on work schedules which are inflexible. We'll probably have about 9 days there (not including travel days). I was thinking of trying to split the time between 2 islands, probably Little Cayman (mostly) with a few days on Grand Cayman just so we can check a few of the "must do" items off our list.

I've been wondering about hurricanes, too. I consider hurricane season from August through October (technically, it may be a bit longer, but I figure July and November are reasonably safe). I know that the worst storms typically come in August and September, so I'm thinking that October is probably fairly low risk, the later in October the lower the risk. True?

This will be our first trip to the Caymans, and we probably won't have another opportunity for a dive trip for the next year or so, so we want to make it count. I'm willing to take some risk with the weather, but want the odds more or less on my side.

Opinions of October for such a trip? Thanks!

 

[Damselfish]

the later in October the better is what I try for if going around then. Generally a pretty nice time to go.

Sounds like you may have just enough time to make it worth splitting it between the islands, and I agree mostly Little Cayman with maybe 3 nights on Grand Cayman. I do like Grand Cayman, but our first trip there we split 5 & 5, and what happened was we really didn't want to leave Little Cayman that soon. So we went back to just LC 6 months later. The only other time we split a trip between the islands was a trip with friends on their first visit, we did 7 nights LC and 3 nights GC and that was about right. (I find 5 nights East end, 5 nights West end is another nice arrangement.)

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Well, Grand Cayman was last hit by that-storm-which-must-not-be-named on Sept 11-12, 2004. It was a Category 4 storm according to the record books and pretty well trashed the place. Some would argue it was a Category 5 storm but the weather instruments ripped off and blew away before necessary measurements of wind speed could confirm that.

In November 2008 Cayman Brac and Little Cayman were hit by Hurricane Paloma. It was a Category 4 storm as it passed over teh Sister Islands. Somehow Cayman Brac got the worst of it even though it seemed like the center of the storm was closer to Little Cayman. Paloma pretty well trashed the Brac and rebuilding there continues.

Peak hurricane season for the Cayman Islands is mid September. The full season runs June 1 to November 30. November is much more active than June.