Welcome to hurricane season! It officially started on June 1 and runs for 6 full months. We’ve already had a couple of named storms in later May so the 2020 hurricane season has already begun.
My Vacation Lady usually has clients traveling all over the Caribbean over the summer and fall seasons and we know that our clients are concerned about hurricane season and which islands have a better chance of getting “hit” by a hurricane.
We all know that the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) are out of the hurricane zone but there are some islands that get hit less often than some others.
The Caribbean has 3 different regions (Eastern, Western and Southern) and each have different amounts of risk during the storm season.
The Eastern Caribbean, which includes Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the island nations stretching roughly from Anguilla to Grenada, the peak season is slightly earlier than in the Western Caribbean, roughly from mid-August through mid-September. During that time of the year, the islands in this part of the region can have up to a 25 percent chance of tropical storms.
The western part of the region, its peak is a bit later: September and October. The Western Caribbean includes Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Central America, and the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, has about a 20 percent chance of tropical storms during this time of year.
The best places to go are the southern islands. The twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire are generally outside the Caribbean hurricane belt, meaning that these destinations have as low as a 2 percent chance of being struck by a hurricane, even during the peak time of year.
According to hurricanecity.com,
- Antigua has a chance of a direct hit every 7 years but can be “brushed” by a hurricane every 2.62 years.
- Barbados gets brushed every 3.6 years but hit every 20.57 years.
- St Lucia has a chance of being brushed by a hurricane every 3.13 years but has had direct hits every 13.09 years
- St Martin might be brushed by a hurricane very 2.77 years but the chance of a direct hit averages once every 6.26 years.
- Jamaica may be brushed by a hurricane every 3.79 years but is likely to be hit directly every 11.08 years.
- Cancun (not technically the Caribbean) gets brushed every 2.9 years but gets hit only every 7.2 years.
So, can a hurricane ruin your vacation or honeymoon? Yes, it can but should you NOT plan a vacation or take your honeymoon during the 6 months of hurricane season?
We can’t make that decision for you but My Vacation Lady will assist in providing you options that you may not have thought of and, of course, we will always recommend travel insurance if you are going to travel during hurricane season.
At My Vacation Lady, we take the time to get to know our clients so if your biggest fear is having a hurricane ruin your vacation or dream honeymoon, we’ll steer you to destinations that have the lowest chances of that happening, but we’ll also give you options that really fit your vacation or honeymoon dreams. We’ll let you make the choice.
Our goal is not just to book a trip for you but to plan your vacation or honeymoon experience!
