When people visit South Florida for the first time in the winter to escape snow and ice, it really is a wonderful change to see palm trees, profusion of exotic blossoms, and so forth. That is also our “dry season” although we can get torrential downpours that usually dissipate quickly. It is therefore understandable if one has not experienced South Florida in the summer, the fact is it may well be 83 degrees at 6:00 a.m. and will get hotter along with high humidity. This tends to come as an unpleasant surprise. Combine that with it being the “rainy season” – which generally means one or more thunderstorms or “scattered showers” per day that once again, don’t necessarily last long, but do leave everything wet. Plus, those wintry climates that have beautiful summers draw visitors to their attractions.

So, for a number of outdoor tourist-dependent businesses, they have to “manage” the months of June-August just as our northern friends have their tourist slumps in winter months. On the other hand, it is the best time for diving around Key Largo and thus, Hubby and all the dive shops are often scrambling to meet the demand. It’s not unusual for the instructors and dive masters to work 8 or more days in a row with no break. This is also why the dive shops try to line up new hires in mid-to-late spring since you want someone to be familiar with your operation before the heavy season starts. This though doesn’t offset the drop in tourism for hotels and restaurants, but it does mean you probably won’t have to wait for tables and the room rates will be a little better.

Places like Disney, Universal, etc., don’t see a big drop because so many families are still tied to summer vacation time. They simply deal with the heat in the best way possible and yes, the amazing water parks do a booming business. That also results in the mid-Sept to mid-Oct “tourist surge” specifically from people who hold off to avoid the summer family throngs. In a state where tourism is a major economic pillar, you learn all sorts of interesting tidbits.