You’re curious about the weather and so are we. Please read below to learn about what we look for, where we look for it, and how we try to ‘best guess’ what the conditions for our trip will be:
All about the weather:
What we look for:
- WIND – while most guests are primarily concerned with rain, it is the wind that can ruin a trip more than anything else. Generally speaking, sustained wind speeds of 20 knots per hour (or more) is where we are seriously considering canceling the trip. When gusts approach 30 knots per hour we also need to consider canceling. When the winds are this strong it can become unsafe to anchor at Stingray City, the ride out on the boat is very bumpy and the current is so strong that it makes snorkeling or even Stingray City near impossible to do let alone enjoy. As much as we’d like to go out, it simply isn’t safe or quite frankly enjoyable in these conditions, especially with any younger/older guests. Seasonal sustained wind speeds are about 13-14 knots in the Winter and more like 9-10 in the Summer.
- Rain – we don’t cancel for small amounts of rain. If there is more than 1mm of rain in several consecutive time periods on a given day then there’s a high likely hood it’ll be wet on the water and we may try to reschedule. That said, there are times of the year when rain is in the ‘forecast’ every single day. On most days, we can see it raining along the Seven Mile Beach (SMB) stretch while we’re at Stingray City with nothing but blue skies above. The rain, if it does come, typically passes very quickly and a few minutes later you could almost forget it ever came.
Where we look for it:
Please note that the national radar service for the Cayman Islands is currently out of service so anything you find is at best an approximation.
Our best guess:
Ultimately, we don’t have access to any more information than you do when it comes to weather. We would never go out if the conditions aren’t safe or enjoyable and we will contact you if changes need to be made. Otherwise, it is safe to assume that the weather isn’t going to prevent us from having a great trip. You may get rained on a bit at some point but we can tell you based on experience that that won’t prevent you from having a great time! We aren’t weather experts and we do have a busy schedule meaning we can’t field every question about weather or try to reschedule all our trips every time there is some rain in the forecast. We appreciate your understanding! If you do ask a question and it is more than a day or two before our trip, we will probably tell you it is too early to tell and that we ultimately need to wait and see what will happen; such is life on a small island in the middle of the Sea! Things change quickly.