december or january?

Having now officially become an addict I am hoping to maybe return to Maldives for OH 50th. His birthday falls on 12th dec and it would be quite nice to actually be away for it but wonder if I should plump for January as thats when I I have just been and had fab weather.

Therefore just wondered what peoples experiences of holidays end Nov/dec are like. I know weather changes year on year and is not predictable etc but have many of you had mostly sun or still a fair bit of rain then? Any experiences welcome and then I just have to decide do I return to Reethi or try somewhere else (will probably end up posting on this dilemma as well in due course!) Also need to investigate if there are any great price differences between early dec and Jan/feb

december or january?

Hi Mrs B

December is the tradititional ';start'; of the dry monsoon season.

I was at Athuruga for 14 days last November/December - the last 10 being in December. For the first few days, the weather was quite unsettled, although there was a pattern. We tended to have clear blue skies in the morning, then come early afternoon it would cloud over and we might have a heavy shower or two - sometime lasting for an hour or more. We also had heavy rain at night - which is never a problem!

Then the weather settled down and we had blue skies and sunshine with sometimes high cloud. No rain at all. For about 4 or 5 days there was no wind at all and everything was eerily calm. In fact it was so calm that you could see the reflection of the odd clouds on the surface of the sea and the sea and the horizon merged into one. It was actually quite spooky! Then on our final morning it clouded over again and there was a bit of rain.

Would I go again in early December? Absolutely!

Hope this helps a bit.

OD

december or january?

Hi Mrs B,

To put another angle on it, we had friends staying at Elliadhoo the same two weeks as OD, this island is just 30km NE of Athuruga, yet they had 7 days of cloudy/raining days in 14.

I would say that Jan is a better option, as officially the dry NE monsoon does not start until the 16th Dec, this is only stats, but judging by OD%26#39;s summary of his weather experience it would suggest that whilst he was there they were not in the dry season,but in the change over period.

Late Nov/early Dec - has historically had unsettled weather.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Emu

Hi Mrs B

To put yet another perspective on the weather, I was on Meeru, in the north Male atoll, in November 2007. Nominally still in the wet season but we had virtually unbroken sunshine for 13 of our 14 days. It only rained once and that was the day before we left.

Emu is quite right. January is statistically a drier month than December but as he has shown the weather can vary dramatically from one island to another.

So I think it is very much a case of ';you pay your money - you take your choice';.

If you avoid the Christmas/New Year period then I don%26#39;t think the prices vary much between December and January. They might be slightly higher in January because of the better weather.

OD

I would say January. Hve your parties for his 50th at home. get Christmas over with and then have the oy of going to the Maldives whilst everyone else is at home miserable after Christmas has finished.

Softail

Thanks everyone. I would prefer January as I can last till Christmas after a summer break but then without a holiday the winter drags on so much just thought maybe should actually be away for his birthday. Comments so far pushing me to original plan of Jan especially if I get some quotes that are not too different between the 2. Also our silver wedding in June 2010 so maybe should go for a cheaper week then! Such decisions and then I have to chose the island and find the money! Can I cope with this stress.Life was so much easier before I discovered the Maldives!!!