Snorkeling and Chill factor in southern Caribbean in December
 

Will be on NCL Pearl Dec 14-23, 2007 and plan to do a number of private snorkeling excursions. We are concerned with the chill factor of the water. All we know is that the water in Tahiti in December is absolutely lovely-no chill factor at all.
Comments please!!
Jay

We've taken several Caribbean cruises during Christmas week and the water temps were in the 80's. No chill factor at all.

A little nippy in the early morning but great otherwise.

We take long sleeve swim shirts with us which are terrific for sun protection and also help in keeping warmer.

We spend every Feb in Cozumel. I always use a wet suit. It really depends on how long you want to stay in the water. Without a suit, I can stay in a few minutes, with a suit I can stay in for an hour or more. Even 80 degree water is cooler than your body temp, so as soon as you get in the water, you start to lose body heat. I have low blood pressure and literally start to shiver without a wet suit in about 15-20 minutes. Even a long sleeve shirt and biker pants help somewhat to keep body heat in.

Southern Caribbean water temps in Decamber will be over 80 deg., most likely 82-83. My experience snorkeling in those temps is that you don't get chilled even after an hour in it, and I'm not particularly tolerant.

I have always chilled easily, so I bought a 3mm shorty wetsuit. It's thin and packs super small, and saves the day if needed. Most of the time I don't need it, but it's great to have just in case. Just go buy one, and forget about the chill factor.