Tahiti in November

[FabioC]

Hi,
We are considering to charter a boat in Tahiti around Thanksgiving.
How is it like Tahiti in late November? is that a reasonable time to go? I understand that is already warmer/wet season, but how are the cruising condition like at that time?
Thank you!

[grantmc]

By late November you're well in to Cyclone season with its incumbent risks.
It will be very hot, humid and rain a great deal; heavy rain late on most afternoons.
It is not a time to be cruising about.
Here's a link to a video series about a good friend's experience with Cyclone Yassa. Ok it's Fiji not Tahiti, but this was a similar time of year. The Wiki too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mfe-4uCHrg&t=15s

[chrisr]

french polynesia is (almost) immune from cyclone risk. in fact insurance regards FP as a cyclone haven.

fiji is a hell of along way fm here and no weather connection at all.

weather here at present is a bit unusual...last week was hot and dry...been showers and cooler last few days but it will clear soon

november is not a bad time of year to visit (really there is no bad time).

cheers,

[fxykty]

We chartered a L40 out of Raiatea in early December back in 2015 and had great weather - only one day of clouds and rain in the 18 days we were there. The winds are lighter so poor sailing charter cats may need motor assist - we certainly did on one of our inter-island passages. Humidity is higher but with the trade winds the temperatures are not too bad. We ran the generator most evenings so we could air condition the cabins for getting to sleep.

You just take your chances with the weather. Certainly it’s less busy and the anchorages generally have fewer boats than in winter. The chances of a cyclone are slim, but most years there is at least one coming through the Society Islands. We experienced one in Huahine in February back in the early 80s.

[geoffkimblin]

We chartered out of Raiatea in late November/early December 2019 and weather although a little changeable, did not restrict our inter island cruising. Winds fairly light and tended to increase during the short-lived rainstorms that were fairly common.
Would I go again at that time of year - like a shot!
Have a great cruise.

[FabioC]

Thank you all for the great advice!

We are debating where to go this Thanksgiving. "Normally", we would go to the Caribbean, there are still many places there we have not been...

However, now there is a new direct flight from Seattle to Tahiti, so it has become actually "shorter" for us to get there than to get, say, to St. Martin...

We need to decide whether we do Tahiti in November, or we wait until next Spring, in the more usual period to go there. Interesting enough, the prices down there do not vary that much between the drier season and the warmer season (at least, comparatively to other areas, where prices swing dramatically with the season), although as a few of you have said, it is less crowded in the warmer season.