Bora Bora sää — maaliskuu

Regulars name a specific local wind, the Maramu, as the real trade-off of this drier season - less rain and humidity than the wetter months, but a real chance of the lagoon turning choppier than the postcard-still water many visitors expect, wind typically picking up more in the afternoon than the morning. Our row backs that warm, still-showery read, 24.1C over 22.8C nights, with 109.3mm of rain across 16.7 days and a real 27.7 kph wind. Regulars are consistent this counts as high season price-wise despite the wind risk, nights comfortable for sleeping without AC and days genuinely drier than the off-peak months. The sea stays a warm, swimmable 28C regardless of surface chop. The record: humidity 79 percent, 9.6 hours of sun and AQI 31.

October is the hinge of the year here and the board treats it as a good bet rather than a gamble: the wet season nominally starts now, but what falls are passing showers rather than all-day rain, and the humidity has not yet caught up to November's. Our row agrees with that shape - 116.9mm across 18.5 days, well above August's 63.4mm and far below December's 297.9mm - so this is the month the rain returns rather than the month it takes over. The air barely moves between 23.5C by day and 22.3C at night, and the lagoon sits at 27.3C. Wind runs 26.4 kph. Rates are shoulder season, and November is cheaper again but wetter. The record: humidity 80 percent, 11 hours of sun and AQI 31.

May is the shoulder here - April and May carry lovely weather at lower prices, before the June to October high season with its best odds and its highest rates. Regulars report the rain as a non-event: a quarter of an hour in the day and the rest overnight, or five minutes of drizzle across a week, always passing. That is the way to read our 94.8mm across 18.2 days, five millimetres apiece. They also note it is less humid than December to March, and our 80 percent is the mild end of tropical. Air and sea sit almost level at 24.7C and 28.9C, with nights barely cooler at 23.4C. The record: 9.8 hours of sun, a 25.3 kph wind and AQI 29.

July is Bora Bora's dry season and its windy one, and the wind is what regulars actually warn about. The trades come with the dry months, strong enough to make snorkelling awkward and to rattle the overwater bungalows at night; August and September bring the Maraamu from the south-east, stronger still. Our row's 29 kph is the standing figure. It is also cooler than the wet months - highs of 78 to 82F, nights of 65 to 70F, with overcast spells that feel genuinely cool once the wind is up. Dry here does not mean rainless: our row counts 16 precipitation days but only 68.6mm across them, which is the short passing shower they describe. July and early August are also the most expensive and the busiest. The record: 23.5C days, 22.3C nights and a 27.4C sea.