Port Antonio in December: Weather, Sea Temperature, Crowds and Things to Do

JAMAICA · DECEMBER · 18.18° N

Port Antonio in December means afternoons around 80.4°F, nights near 73.4°F and a sea that averages 83.2°F at its warmest hour of the day. Rain still visits: measurable showers fall on 11.5 days of an average December, at the wet northeastern end of Jamaica where the town sits. That is fewer wet days than November and more than January, and the three-month comparison further down tells you whether a four-week shift is worth making.

If the flight is already on your calendar, start with the weather, the water and the two-day plan. Choosing a place to sleep, getting in from the airport and weighing the whole year are covered in where to stay in Jamaica, our airport transfer guide and the best time to visit Jamaica. Fares and routes from American cities sit in flights from the US.

On this page

• Port Antonio weather in December80.4°F highs, 73.4°F lows, 11.5 rain days
• Sea temperature in December83.2°F as a daily-maximum average
• Crowds and hotel prices over ChristmasHoliday booking, lodging tax and the veranda splurge
• Things to do in Port Antonio in DecemberTitchfield Peninsula, Folly Point, Moore Town
• Two days in Port AntonioA plan from the 6:28 am sunrise to the 5:33 pm sunset
• December, November or January?How the three months compare on heat, rain and sea
• Is December a good time to visit?Who should go, and who should wait for January

One gap to plan around: we could not find published opening hours or admission fees for any Port Antonio heritage site, and no raft rate on the Rio Grande. The Jamaica National Heritage Trust declares and describes monuments without listing visiting times, so ask your host or call ahead before a day out. If your trip falls in the recovery period, read our update on Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa before you book.

Port Antonio weather in December: average highs, lows and rain days

Every figure here comes from the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis, served by Open-Meteo and averaged over 1991-2020 for the grid cell at 18.18° N, 76.45° W. It is a model estimate for a square of map over the town, with no airport station thermometer behind it. That cell covers the wet northeastern tip of the island, the rainiest corner of Jamaica, so readings from Montego Bay or Kingston describe other parts of the country. For Port Antonio itself, the model gives an 80.4°F average high, a 73.4°F low and 4.58 inches of rain.

At least 0.10 inch of rain falls on 11.5 days in an average December, a little more than one day in three. Heavy days are rare: only 0.6 day a month reaches an inch or more. Spread 4.58 inches across those 11.5 wet days and the typical one comes in well under half an inch, enough to send you off the sand for a while. Keep a light rain shell in the day bag and leave one open slot in each day’s plan.

Between the 80.4°F high and the 73.4°F low sits a gap of only 7.0 degrees. Evenings on a veranda stay in short-sleeve range, so a sweater is dead weight in the suitcase. Quick-dry shirts, a spare swimsuit that can dry overnight and sandals that tolerate a wet street matter more than layers. Our Jamaica packing list covers the rest of the bag.

On December 15 the sun rises at 6:28 am and sets at 5:33 pm local time (UTC minus five hours), for about 11 hours 05 minutes of daylight. Dinner starts in the dark, and a drive back from the mountains should reach the coast road before about 5:30 pm. Early risers get the peninsula streets at their coolest, close to the 73.4°F overnight low.

Port Antonio sea temperature in December: can you swim?

Open-Meteo’s Marine API puts the sea surface off Port Antonio at 83.2°F in December, averaged over 2015-2024. That value is a mean of daily maxima, the warmest reading of each day, so it runs a shade warmer than a 24-hour average of the same water. It also covers a shorter and more recent period than the 1991-2020 air normals.

Yes, you can swim. Water at 83.2°F sits 2.8 degrees above the average afternoon air of 80.4°F, and even allowing for morning water running below its daily peak, most swimmers wade straight in without the gasp of a cooler sea. Children can stay in for long spells, and a swim after a shower is as comfortable as one in full sun.

We found no wave or wind series for December off Port Antonio, so we give no swell height and no wind speed. Ask your host or a local boat operator about the day’s conditions before swimming off an exposed point, and keep children in calm, sheltered water.

How busy is Port Antonio in December? Crowds and prices

We found no hotel-rate or occupancy series for Port Antonio, so we crown no week of the year expensive and none cheap. What we can state is a calendar fact: Christmas and New Year fall at the end of December, a holiday stretch for most American families, and the first three weeks of the month sit before it.

Without rate data we cannot tell you how many weeks ahead prices move. For the holiday week, book a refundable room as soon as your flight is fixed, then keep watching fares. Travelers with flexible dates can price the same number of nights in early December against the holiday week before committing. Our Jamaica trip-cost guide has the budget side.

We could not verify the lodging-tax rate, so we give no percentage. Before paying a deposit, ask whether the quoted nightly rate includes taxes and any service charge, and get the answer in writing.

If one line of the budget deserves more money in December, make it a room with a covered veranda or balcony. With rain on 11.5 days of the month, a sheltered outdoor space is where a wet afternoon gets spent, reading or watching the harbor in 80.4°F air. Ask the property for a photo of the veranda when you book.

Things to do in Port Antonio in December

Highs of 80.4°F, 1.5 degrees under November, make December a comfortable month for walking the town at midday and for heading inland toward the Blue and John Crow Mountains. In 2015 they became Jamaica’s first UNESCO World Heritage site, a mixed cultural and natural property of 26,251.6 hectares (about 64,870 acres). The protected land runs from 850 m to 2,256 m, roughly 2,790 to 7,400 feet above the sea.

On the Titchfield Peninsula, the first place the English settled in the area and the oldest settlement of Port Antonio, you can walk to Fort George and see DeMontevin Lodge, an eclectic mix of Victorian styles. In town, the Court House was erected in 1895 on the direction of the Colonial Secretary, and Christ Church, the Portland Parish Church, stands on land indentured on 3 September 1836. Folly Point Lighthouse is a fireproof masonry tower from 1888. West of town, Orange Bay Railway Station shows Jamaica Georgian features.

Stone and masonry look the same in any month, while the air around them shifts: a peninsula afternoon at 80.4°F is easier going than one at November’s 81.9°F, and the 5:33 pm sunset closes the walking window early. Inland, Moore Town is governed today by a Colonel, an honorary title his ancestors won, and its Maroon heritage joined UNESCO’s intangible heritage list in 2008. Go in the morning and plan to be back on the coast before dark.

We could not verify any admission price, so we cannot promise a free site. Walking the public streets of the Titchfield Peninsula costs nothing, and so does looking at the Court House facade from the street. Seaman’s Valley, with its great-house ruins and the first European cemetery in the area, is worth asking your host about before you set out.

Port Antonio in December: a two-day itinerary

Day one. Be out by 7 am, half an hour after the 6:28 am sunrise, while the air sits closer to the 73.4°F low. Walk the Titchfield Peninsula past DeMontevin Lodge to Fort George, then cross into town for the Court House and Christ Church by 10 am. Eat lunch in the shade, swim through the early afternoon in water that averages 83.2°F at its daily peak, and reach Folly Point Lighthouse around 4:30 pm to see it before the 5:33 pm sunset.

Day two. Head inland to Moore Town and the edge of the Blue and John Crow Mountains with a driver or a rental car (read our Jamaica driving guide first), leaving by 8 am and starting back by 4 pm so the return runs in daylight. If rain sets in, stay on the coast instead: drive west to Orange Bay Railway Station, then spend the afternoon on the veranda and save the mountains for a drier morning. Stretching the trip further? Our 7-day Jamaica itinerary links the town to the rest of the island.

Port Antonio in December vs November and January

From November to January, every column slides the same way. Highs fall from 81.9°F to 80.4°F to 79.5°F, and lows from 74.6°F to 73.4°F to 72.2°F. Rain drops from 5.43 inches over 13.4 wet days in November to 4.58 inches over 11.5 in December and 3.75 inches over 9.9 in January. On the water, the Marine API’s daily-maximum averages ease from 85.1°F to 83.2°F to 82.4°F.

Moving four weeks earlier into November buys 1.5 degrees of afternoon warmth and a sea 1.9 degrees warmer, at the cost of 1.9 more wet days and 0.85 inch more rain. November also sits inside the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs to November 30 (see our hurricane-season guide). Moving later into January removes 1.6 wet days and 0.83 inch of rain, and you give up 0.9 degree on the afternoon high and 0.8 degree in the water.

Is December a good time to visit Port Antonio?

Yes, for swimmers, families and heritage walkers: 80.4°F days, an 83.2°F sea and fewer wet days than November make December a good month for a Port Antonio vacation. Travelers who need dry days should think again. With measurable rain on 11.5 days of 31, a seven-night stay averages between two and three wet days.

If rain is the deal-breaker, pick January. It has the fewest wet days of the three months at 9.9, the least rain at 3.75 inches, and a sea that still averages 82.4°F at its daily peak.

Of the three months, December is the one that pairs a sea above 83°F at its daily peak with fewer than a dozen rain days.

The last word

Book the refundable room, keep one day loose for the weather, and give a morning to the Maroon country inland. Moore Town is one of three settlements there: Nanny Town takes its name from Nanny, who led the Maroons in the first Maroon war, and Charles Town, near Buff Bay, emerged around 1754. Put St. George’s Anglican on the list too, once the parish church of the former parish of St. George.

Sources & data for this guide

• December, November and January air normals, rain totals and rain days (1991-2020) · Open-Meteo / ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis, grid cell 18.1789 N, 76.4522 W · a model reanalysis, not a station reading, over the island’s rainiest corner · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Sea surface temperature, mean of daily maxima, 2015-2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · a shade warmer than a 24-hour mean · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Sunrise, sunset and daylight on December 15 · sunrise-sunset.org, converted from UTC to local time (UTC minus five hours) · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Titchfield Peninsula, Fort George, Court House, Folly Point Lighthouse, DeMontevin Lodge, churches, Maroon settlements, Orange Bay and Seaman’s Valley · Jamaica National Heritage Trust, Portland Heritage Sites · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Blue and John Crow Mountains and Moore Town Maroon heritage · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, property 1356 · checked Sep 24, 2026
• What we could not verify: opening hours and admission fees for any Port Antonio site, Rio Grande raft rates, wave and wind data, hotel rates, occupancy and the lodging-tax rate · check with operators and your host when you book · noted Sep 22, 2026

To plan your stay

• Port Antonio: When to Go, When to Swim and Which Month to Avoid
• Port Antonio in January: Weather, Sea Temperature, Rain Days and Things to Do
• Port Antonio in November: Weather, Rain Days, Sea Temperature and Heritage Sites
• Port Antonio in February: Weather, Sea Temperature and Things to Do

Nearby places

• Blue Mountains, Jamaica: Peak Hikes, Coffee Farms and the Two Ways In
• Kingston, Jamaica: The Bob Marley Museum, Devon House and Trench Town
• Dunns River Falls: Tickets, Timing and How to Beat the Cruise Crowds