September is the recovery. The alisios lose their grip through the month, so the afternoon chop that defined June to August stops being automatic, and the first north-west groundswells of the new season start reaching the islands. Consistency climbs back to roughly twenty-one days out of thirty, against twelve in August.
The water is at 23°C, tied with August for the warmest of the year, and the European holidays are over so the beaches empty out in the first week. That combination, warm water and returning swell on quiet beaches, does not repeat: by the time the season is fully on in November the sea has dropped a degree and the reefs have a crowd. September is the month people who live here look forward to.
