Water temperature by month
Average sea surface temperature at each destination, month by month, from NOAA satellite data for 2011 to 2025. Pick a month and see who is warm, or find when a place is at its coolest.
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| Destination | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonaire 26.9 to 29.3 °C | 27.2°C 81°F | 26.9°C 80°F | 26.9°C 80°F | 27.1°C 81°F | 27.6°C 82°F | 27.9°C 82°F | 28.1°C 83°F | 28.7°C 84°F | 29.3°C 85°F | 29.3°C 85°F | 28.9°C 84°F | 28.0°C 82°F |
| Visibility: Usually 18 m or better, often over 30 m at many sites Best months: Year-round. Bonaire lies outside the main hurricane belt; coral spawning chances are best April to October. | ||||||||||||
| Curaçao 26.7 to 29.2 °C | 27.0°C 81°F | 26.7°C 80°F | 26.8°C 80°F | 27.0°C 81°F | 27.5°C 81°F | 27.7°C 82°F | 27.9°C 82°F | 28.5°C 83°F | 29.1°C 84°F | 29.2°C 85°F | 28.8°C 84°F | 27.9°C 82°F |
| Visibility: Usually 20 to 30 m; often over 30 m from January to September, 20 to 25 m from October to December Best months: Year-round; the island sits outside the hurricane belt. January to September brings the calmest seas and clearest water, and corals spawn around the full moons of August to October. | ||||||||||||
| Cozumel 26.8 to 29.7 °C | 27.0°C 81°F | 26.8°C 80°F | 26.9°C 80°F | 27.4°C 81°F | 28.3°C 83°F | 28.8°C 84°F | 29.2°C 85°F | 29.6°C 85°F | 29.7°C 85°F | 29.5°C 85°F | 28.6°C 83°F | 27.8°C 82°F |
| Visibility: 24-30+ m typical, clearest December to March Best months: November to May for visibility and calm weather; June to September for the warmest water and lighter boats, with hurricane-season risk | ||||||||||||
| Tulum and the cenotes 26.8 to 29.7 °C, sea off Tulum | 27.0°C 81°F | 26.8°C 80°F | 26.9°C 80°F | 27.4°C 81°F | 28.3°C 83°F | 28.8°C 84°F | 29.2°C 85°F | 29.6°C 85°F | 29.7°C 85°F | 29.5°C 85°F | 28.6°C 83°F | 27.7°C 82°F |
| Cenote water: 24-26 °C, fresh water at a near-constant temperature all year. The row above is the Caribbean off Tulum. Visibility: Often 30 to 40 m inside the caverns; rain can briefly reduce it near entrances Best months: Year-round. November to April is the dry season with the most reliable visibility; June to August brings the strongest vertical sunbeams at The Pit; September and October are the quietest and cheapest. Tulum and the cenotes: water temperature and wetsuit by month | ||||||||||||
| Roatán 26.9 to 29.9 °C | 27.1°C 81°F | 26.9°C 80°F | 27.3°C 81°F | 27.8°C 82°F | 28.5°C 83°F | 29.0°C 84°F | 28.8°C 84°F | 29.4°C 85°F | 29.9°C 86°F | 29.6°C 85°F | 28.6°C 83°F | 27.8°C 82°F |
| Visibility: Often 30 m (100 ft) or more in the dry season, lower in the November to February wet season Best months: March to September for calmest seas and clearest water; diving runs year-round | ||||||||||||
| Key Largo 24.1 to 30.3 °C | 24.1°C 75°F | 24.4°C 76°F | 25.0°C 77°F | 26.2°C 79°F | 27.6°C 82°F | 28.9°C 84°F | 29.9°C 86°F | 30.3°C 87°F | 29.8°C 86°F | 28.4°C 83°F | 26.6°C 80°F | 25.5°C 78°F |
| Visibility: Typically 9-24 m (30-80 ft); clearest in winter and spring, around 12-18 m in summer Best months: April to August for calm seas and warm water; winter has the best visibility but cold fronts; hurricane season runs June to November | ||||||||||||
| Belize 26.8 to 29.8 °C | 27.0°C 81°F | 26.8°C 80°F | 27.1°C 81°F | 27.7°C 82°F | 28.5°C 83°F | 28.9°C 84°F | 29.1°C 84°F | 29.7°C 85°F | 29.8°C 86°F | 29.5°C 85°F | 28.6°C 83°F | 27.7°C 82°F |
| Visibility: Usually 24 m or better; 12-24 m at offshore sites in the rainy season Best months: April to June for visibility and whale sharks in the south; December to May is the dry season. Rainy and hurricane season runs late June to November. | ||||||||||||
| Egypt's Red Sea 22.7 to 29.2 °C | 23.4°C 74°F | 22.8°C 73°F | 22.7°C 73°F | 23.3°C 74°F | 25.1°C 77°F | 26.5°C 80°F | 28.3°C 83°F | 29.2°C 85°F | 28.3°C 83°F | 27.8°C 82°F | 26.8°C 80°F | 24.9°C 77°F |
| Visibility: Around 20 m is typical in the Straits of Tiran; 15-25 m on the Thistlegorm, and 25-35 m reported at Jackson Reef. Best months: Year-round. Water is coolest in February (about 22 C, a 5 mm suit may be needed) and warmest in August (about 28 C). April to November gives the most reliable seas for Thistlegorm day trips; hammerheads at Jackson Reef mostly August to early October, mantas on Sharm sites March to June. | ||||||||||||
Source and method
Temperatures are from NOAA's Daily Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (OISST), version 2.1 (doi.org/10.25921/RE9P-PT57), published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). OISST blends satellite readings with ship and buoy measurements into one value per day for every 0.25° square of ocean. We read the monthly averages of those daily values that NOAA's Physical Sciences Laboratory publishes from the same files.
For each destination we use the ocean square nearest the middle of its dive sites. For Tulum and the cenotes, whose dives are in fresh water inland, it is the sea nearest Tulum. Each month's figure is the average of that square's monthly values for every year from 2011 to 2025, so 15 Januaries make the January figure. The coolest and warmest year for every month are in the downloads. OISST describes the top of the sea, not the water at dive depth.
- Bonaire: 12.125° N, 68.375° W, 8.7 km from the middle of its dive sites
- Curaçao: 12.125° N, 69.125° W, 15.2 km from the middle of its dive sites
- Cozumel: 20.375° N, 87.125° W, 11.1 km from the middle of its dive sites
- Tulum and the cenotes: 20.125° N, 87.375° W, 13.3 km from Tulum
- Roatán: 16.375° N, 86.625° W, 11.6 km from the middle of its dive sites
- Key Largo: 25.125° N, 80.375° W, 8 km from the middle of its dive sites
- Belize: 17.625° N, 87.875° W, 15.8 km from the middle of its dive sites
- Egypt's Red Sea: 27.625° N, 34.125° E, 8.3 km from the middle of its dive sites
Data: conditions.csv · conditions.json. Retrieved from NOAA on ; free to reuse, credit NOAA NCEI.