Yes, September is peak hurricane season. And yes, Caribbean islands tend to get hammered when hurricanes form.
And yet — cheaper rates, anyone?
If you're willing to take a bit of a gamble — and to be fair, the odds of a hurricane are actually relatively low — you could wind up visiting beautiful islands at a fraction of the price if you travel in September.
Rooms and flights are at their lowest in September in a place like Jamaica, for example. A number of hotels and resorts do close, so you'll have to check around.
You might consider mid- to late-September, perhaps, and make sure to purchase travel insurance. Then keep an eye on The Weather Channel and plan accordingly.
And just to put things in perspective, here are some statistics from a Trip Savvy article:
* Bermuda has a one-in-four annual chance of being affected by a hurricane; Nassau, Bahamas, about one in five.
* However, the islands of the southernmost Caribbean, including Aruba, Barbados, Curacao, Bonaire, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago, rarely get hit. Bonaire has a 2.2 percent annual risk.
* The islands of the Western Caribbean are less likely to be affected than those of the Eastern Caribbean.
* The Dow Jones Index ranked Curacao as the Caribbean island least likely to be hit by a hurricane, followed by Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Barbados, and Aruba.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
