Hi there!
Havent posted on these boards for quite a while, forgive me for the rustiness!

My long term partner eventually proposed to me in Milan a couple of weeks ago - bless him - and we are thinking of planning our wedding for the summer and going on honeymoon to the Maldives in July/August. I realise there is a Monsoon at this time, but is it as troublesome as some agents/guide books may make out? On the other hand, I have heard that the rains are nothing to worry about, short sharp downpour then lovely sunshine once again, and not very often. Also, are the seas calm at this time of year to allow for snorkelling etc? Many thanks to you

Your best source for weather information is www.weatherbase.com. It holds decades worth of data on very specific regions.

I can tell you that my husband an I did our research on the Maldives for a possible summer/fall trip and decided not to do it. If it rains, you don't have shopping, architecture or museums to fall back on. They are all deserted islands.

Thanks for the info, Ericka

We were there in August last year and it only rained one day and briefly at that (last two weeks of August). The weather was perfect. I think, August is at the tail end of the monsoon season and usually you don't see much rain.

There was a thread on this some months ago, and having been to the Maldives a couple of times in the spring months (when the weather is good) , I did some research for a poster who was planning a trip fo December. What I found was that the question of the rainy season in the Maldives is a bit bizarre, and seems to come down to what part of the archipelago you are travelling to. In essence, there are two rainy seasons in the Maldives, at slightly different times, during different months and in different amounts of rain depending on where you are.

That being said, August is historically the middle of the rainy season in Male, which is the northern part of the island chain. For Gan in the south, August is a somewhat of a low rainfall month in Gan, however that area gets more rain overall so it is relative.

I found a site (www.sunnymaldives.com) a website run by a Maldives tour operator, and even they indicate that the rainy season is hard to predict:

"Wet South West monsoons lasts from the end of May until August. The dry North East monsoon is from September until April. Predicting the weather can be done in the following manner. Because there is not a lot of variation in relative humidity and if it is 85% or above there is a great chance of rain or showers. Humidity between 80% to 85% suggests a change in weather to wet. 90% and above means rains and storms. Humidity below 80% means generally fine weather. Although the Maldivian rainy season is from May to November, it?s always different. As well we have experienced that at present, the rain starts at the end of June and goes through part of September. May to middle of June is very dry. As a matter of fact that with global changes, from the middle of September through the end of November it rains rarely but the sun makes it's duty providing sunshine. Therefore, we could say, from the middle of January till the middle of June is the best time really dry and humidity. Middle of June to middle of September is raining where 80% will be good days and dry. As you should know that Maldives, being in equator, we have equatorial sixteen seasons. Each period will have 14 to 16 days, where the weather changes."

So the amount of rain you may encounter seems to depend on where you are going, and how the rain patterns for the two monsoon seasons are acting that year.

The other issue with rain is that it is usually associated with wind, which will affect the currents and the clarity of the water, esp for diving. The diving in the Maldives is very good, but most of it is drift diving as the currents are strong, so if you aren't comfortable with that, you may want to stick to snorkelling.

According to a dive site I found (www.diveglobal.com) February to April are the calmest months for diving and cruising.

Part of the problem is that everyone's comments will be anecdotal: I am sure people will tell you they have been to the Maldives in August and it did not rain, and others will tell you it rained their entire trip.

Take a look at weatherbase.com and worldclimate.com which will give you an idea of the odds of rain in the Maldives at various locations.

many thanks for your great answers. I am only snorkelling anyway, as I am a poor swimmer. Silly question, but will the water be quite choppy on the surface? I am a wimp when it comes to the sea! Would like it to be fairly calm.

I have been to the Maldives twice, both times in April, and the winds were calm, but April is known as one of the calmer months. I don't have much idea of wind speeds at other times. I found a website called windfinder (unbelievable what is out there!) that seems to be for hang gliders and wind surfers. It gives current wind speed information for the Maldives. Much of the text is in German, and mine is not good enough to really decipher it, but it may be worth a look http://windfinder.com/windreports/

The snorkelliong is fantastic in the Maldives, you can usually find great places right off the beach. A boat trip to outlying islands is also worth it as they will bring you to the best remote snorkelling sights.

thanks Cicerone! We booked the honeymoon to Kuredu resort yesterday, I'm so excited! Will check out the windfinder site

EnglishOne,

Kuredu was gorgeous the last two weeks of August last year. So beautiful and the Indian Ocean was like a big bath... nice temperature and very calm.

Have a wonderful time, in fact in may remind you of Milan... in August, many of the guests on Kuredu are Italian!