weather in maldives

[chimpy]

when they say its the rainy season in the maldives at this time of year,does that mean constantly or a downpour.Has anyone had any experience going at this time of year?

[archbishop]

When it rains it really rains.The downpours tend to be short,over in 15 mins.5 mins later everything is dry.The rain is warm and not unpleasant only in the force of the downpour.Don't let it put you off,these islands are beautiful.

[coggles]

As Archbishop rightly says, the rain is pretty heavy but not for long. Mr coggles and I went there for our honeymoon in June 1993 and we had a couple of cloudy but very warm days and 2 nights where the rain and wind were very fierce for about an hour. The palm trees bent over and the rain was warm. When we woke up in the morning, the beach had been swept and it was beautiful. I would highly recommend the Maldives, especially the snorkling.

[skelly]

I'm just back from the Maldives about 3 weeks ago and the rainy season was just begining. Just as previous posters have said, the rain comes on suddenly and heavy, but it can be quite fun and it certainly doesn't get cold. The last couple of days of my holiday were a bit cloudy though, so I might not have been too pleased if it was like that all the time. In saying that, I'm not a great one for the sun anyway and a nightime thunder and lightning storm in the Maldives is well worth seeing. The snorkling is great too and the stars in a clear night sky are pretty amazing.

[coggles]

Hope you don't mind me using your question chimpy, but I would just to congratulate mr & mrs skelly.

[quattro]

Me and the bread knife went there for our anniversary last year and although it was in November there were a few days when it did chuck it down but as has already been noted it only lasted a short time and the weather was so warm that everything dried up within minutes.We were put on to the idea of going to the Maldives by someone who had gone to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary in June a few years ago and had gone back to the same room on the same island every year since and they never metioned the weather .The only tip I can give you is if there is a long travel time to your island from the airport use the sea plane however much it costs as the sea can be very choppy and the boat took 8 hours to get to our island the plane took 45minutes and you have a birds eye view of all the islands on the way to your destination it was gorgeous .

[skelly]

Thank you very much coggles! Good point there by quattro, but not all the islands are that far away, ours was only 30 minutes by speed boat although it would have been 90 minutes in a dhoni. (traditional maldivian boat). On our way home we left the island at midnight in the middle of a storm, I can't imagine trying to get through that in a dhoni. It is worth checking on your transfer details and paying the extra for a sea plane or speed boat.