Hey,
I’m going to be in San Diego around new years, and plan to do a little paddling. What’s the water temp like down there. Is it worth bringing a dry suit?
Any suggestions for where to paddle? I’ll probably rent from AquaAdventures.
What’s the local sea kayaking club down there?
…
too bad I’ll be visiting New Hampshire then or I could show you around.
water will be in like 58F or so. If you happen to have some cool or windy weather the drysuit can be nice with very little insulation layers. Sometimes we’ll get days in Jan with air temps in the 70s making things warm.
Where to paddle depends on your skill and interest. For calm waters Mission Bay is great. San Diego Bay is also good and you get to see some big ships, but there’s more boat traffic. La Jolla Shores is a great easier ocean paddle area with some caves and a mostly gentle surf launch area. For a bigger adventure paddle from Aqua Adventures in Mission Bay around Pt Loma to Shelter Island in San Diego Bay – just be careful on bigger surf days of some outside reefs as you near Pt Loma (ask Aqua Adv folks about this).
Clubs: sdkc.org (web site not too active these days) Also there’s a meetup.com group there that mostly does bay paddles.
Bring the drysuit
I went there in January one year and was glad to have the drysuit.
You don’t need it if you stay dry, but if that’s not the case the water temps will be chilly. They were 53 degrees when I went. I assume that you might be interested in surfing while you’re there.
AA has night paddles on Thursdays, or at least they used to. The rental rate for it was very reasonable.
Aqua Adventures - good call
Great folks & the most knowledgeable around. Within San Diego Bay, you could paddle over to the Maritime Museum at the Embarcadero and see the Star of India, a Russian sub, the HMS Surprise, and the Californian docked there. Paddling seaward out of the bay, you’d see the sub pens at Ballast Point, Fort Rosecrans and the Point Loma lighthouse up on the spine of the peninsula. If you can arrange a shuttle, launching at La Jolla Shores and ending at Aqua Adventures is just under 10 miles and a pleasant trip. Welcome & enjoy.
Shoot me an email …
– Last Updated: Dec-16-10 12:48 AM EST –
Water is down to around 57 F right now, it does not usually get a whole lot colder in winter. Day time temps are usually low 60s but morning lows can drop down to near freezing depending on where you are staying.
If you want to see the sea caves and do some rock gardens or surfing shoot me an email I put you in a necky jive or waveski.
Kayak club is the San Diego Kayak Club ... web page is easy to find.
If you want to hook up for some seakayaking I can forward your messge to the club email list. Usually the club does a coastal paddle around new years day. Usually 13 miles out of mission bay down the coast and into San Diego Bay Aqua-adventures will rent you a boat for that.
Thanks!
Sent you an email.