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I've noticed the beaches in Southern California are COLD compared to beaches in Florida, especially south Florida. How far south do you have to go in Mexico (from Cali) before the water warms up to Florida levels of warmth?
What time of year and where is the question. The west coast of Florida on the Gulf is freezing in the winter. It's better on the Atlantic side but not really warm.
I live on the coast of Jalisco and water will be chilly by the end of January if not sooner and starting to warm up by April/May. We were at the beach yesterday and the water is "refreshing" .... not bath water like it was a few months ago
Looks like Ensenada is a little warmer than SoCal but it isn't as warm as any of the beaches in the gulf of mexico (at any time of the year). I find the SoCal water to be chilly even as late as September or as soon as June. Obviously, the beach is still enjoyable even when a little cool but I've always enjoyed warm water. Maybe it's because I"m filipino. Who knows..
I'm basically looking for the warmest beach possible within driving distance from Palm Dessert, CA. I didn't see any temps listed for San Felipe. I'm curious if the eastern side of the baja peninsula is different in temps than the Pacific side.
Looks like Ensenada is a little warmer than SoCal but it isn't as warm as any of the beaches in the gulf of mexico (at any time of the year). I find the SoCal water to be chilly even as late as September or as soon as June. Obviously, the beach is still enjoyable even when a little cool but I've always enjoyed warm water. Maybe it's because I"m filipino. Who knows..
I'm basically looking for the warmest beach possible within driving distance from Palm Dessert, CA. I didn't see any temps listed for San Felipe. I'm curious if the eastern side of the baja peninsula is different in temps than the Pacific side.
Yes the water is warmer on the east side of the peninsula. The cold current basically ends at the southern tip of the peninsula so the whole eastern side is going to have warmer water consistently. Still the air temps can be quite chilly in winter so its not really a reliable beach destination until spring break time. January days can have highs in the 50s all the way down to La Paz for periods of time.
So I guess you could plan on going to San Felipe or Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) for a warmer beach experience, but you probably will be disappointed if you do it in the middle of winter.
Yes the water is warmer on the east side of the peninsula. The cold current basically ends at the southern tip of the peninsula so the whole eastern side is going to have warmer water consistently. Still the air temps can be quite chilly in winter so its not really a reliable beach destination until spring break time. January days can have highs in the 50s all the way down to La Paz for periods of time.
So I guess you could plan on going to San Felipe or Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) for a warmer beach experience, but you probably will be disappointed if you do it in the middle of winter.
I'm not looking to go in the middle of winter. I wouldn't go in the water between November and March when I lived in the Tampa Bay area, but that water was way warmer (to me) than SoCal water. SoCal water is chilly most of the year. I was just looking for something comparable to Florida - not St. Lucia or Aruba.
I'm not looking to go in the middle of winter. I wouldn't go in the water between November and March when I lived in the Tampa Bay area, but that water was way warmer (to me) than SoCal water. SoCal water is chilly most of the year. I was just looking for something comparable to Florida - not St. Lucia or Aruba.
I doubt you'd compare your options to Florida, but I suppose Puerto Penasco/Rocky Point looks like a smaller scale version of the big resort towns further south in Mexico. I haven't been to San Felipe in quite some time, but did see on TV that it looks like its a lot more developed now. If you go in summer you'll get a fairly similar climate to Palm Desert, just more humidity.
I doubt you'd compare your options to Florida, but I suppose Puerto Penasco/Rocky Point looks like a smaller scale version of the big resort towns further south in Mexico. I haven't been to San Felipe in quite some time, but did see on TV that it looks like its a lot more developed now. If you go in summer you'll get a fairly similar climate to Palm Desert, just more humidity.
Im just talking about the warmth of the water, but not necessarily the air. I'm not trying to compare resorts, developments, or anything like that.
I've noticed the beaches in Southern California are COLD compared to beaches in Florida, especially south Florida. How far south do you have to go in Mexico (from Cali) before the water warms up to Florida levels of warmth?
I'd say southern Baja and Sinaloa on the Sea of Cortez is where you're really going to find reliably warmer water temps. I've been to Loreto and Bahia de Concepcion on the Sea of Cortez and the water was swimmable in late fall and somewhat so in the middle of winter(at least when I went)--though it can cool down a bit--but the coldest months felt like going to San Diego in early summer(maybe upper 60s for water). South of there it gets warmer though on average--La Paz is warmer and usually Cabo and the rest of the cape is swimable and warm year round. Mazatlan is reliably warm as well, but you might want to avoid most of Sinaloa.
Im just talking about the warmth of the water, but not necessarily the air. I'm not trying to compare resorts, developments, or anything like that.
If you search wikipedia for San Felipe and Puerto Penasco they have water temps by month. Looks to me like the water isn't really enjoyable until May which kind of surprises me and the Florida-type water temps only exist at the end of summer.
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How far south do you have to go for warm beaches?
