Where in the world can I go to find...

So I am wondering where in the world I can go to find the most months with perfect (salt water) paddling conditions - which for me means, pleasant air temp and warmish water. The west coast of the US is cold water all the way down to the clockwise circulation, the air along the southeast coast is too hot for most of the year to be really pleasant, and the water temp north of the Outer Banks is pretty chilly most of the year. I’d like to have my cake and eat it to - like, GA/FL water temp, and norther California air temp. Is their a perfect place (by these criteria) that also has an interesting paddle environment. Maybe north Australia or something???

Maybe “The Tropics”?
Florida Keys, Gulf Coast of Central America (Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica, Purto Rico, Eastern Mediterranean, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Hawaii

Perhaps you’d like to join me …
… on my six-month Caribbean Paddle Exploratory.



You provide all the financing. I’ll take care of everything else.

The Gulf of Mexico?
You can paddle around and collect oil for your crankcase to boot!

I’m wondering…
Warm water and cool air.

You’d need a more northern coast or island with a warm sea current.

I’m no world traveler, but maybe winter in Bermuda?

You can find it here in Florida, in early winter before the salt water cools off. But the cool air will be being in the right place at the right time kind of thing. Maybe late November or so, if the cold fronts hit just right.

T

Australia has Salties, Box Jellies, GWS
Salties = big crocodilian creatures , GWS = Great White Sharks …



Paradise is where you make it, I mange to get out and surf every week of the year here, only weeks I did not make it this year I was in New Zealand.



55 F water is not really that bad.

Meditteranean
Enclosed sea - warmer water.

Thailland?
The coast of Thailand seems to fit your requirements. Those islands are beautiful. Watch out for pirates and drug runners, however.

I don’t know how many months you are
looking for, but prior to the last two years,(which were not the norm) you could get from November through April, in the Florida Keys, absoultely perfect balmy weather which called for a dip in the crystal clear waters during your daily paddling trip.

The daily dress was bathing suit and a poly pro sleevless shirt.

There might be better places, but that is my paradise!



jack L

Monkey, Australia could be
Australia could be the place that you desire.

Logistically easy (no third world country hurdles with organization) and speaking a language that you might mostly understand :slight_smile:

Seriously: I would suggest a trip not too far North (because, as mentioned, of the crocs and jelly fish).

My favorite location is Whitsunday Islands.

Semi tropical islands scattered around waters that don’t have ocean swell (protected by the reef).

If transporting your kayak becomes logistically a nightmare you can rent locally.

Best time seems to be around August-September.

If interested check out this pictorial report:

http://mei-australia.blogspot.com/2009/09/whitsundays-2009-shute-harbour-to-dingo.html

hot, isn’t it?
I think it’s about 90 degrees and above, year-round in thailand.

I Feel You!

– Last Updated: May-10-10 2:01 PM EST –

I am feeling you on this!

I grew up on the Aegean in southwest Turkey, lived in Florida for 10 years, and Northern California for 20. I have done winter vacation in the Florida Keys, and on the Sea of Cortez.

After 20 years in NORCAL, I still miss the Florida Keys in Winter when its dark, rainy, foggy, and cool here in the San Joaquin Valley. Because its higher altitude, there is less hours of sunlight in winter.

Spring time is big surf season here. Big surf, good chance of nice days on weekends. If you brave the cold water, its the place to be, but I find that less attractive as I get older.

But in the "dry" season, its NORCAL, no contest. I remember the 95 % humidity and daily thunder storms in Florida in summer. Try and reason with the hurricane season.

Here there are months of no rain in summer. It is just blues skies, sunshine, and no humidity, day, after day, after day.

The California coast is foggy in summer, but I spend summers in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas, and Lake Tahoe. The passes over the mountains are only open in summer after Memorial Day.

I was up there this weekend. There is still snow on slopes with a northern exposure at 6,000 ft, and we had snow flurries this weekend. Give California bonus points for a diverse geography. You not only have the protection of American law, but liberal state laws, as well. Smoke it, if you feel like it!

California and the Aegean both have a Mediterranean climate. Rainy winters and hot dry summers with pretty much no rain. The Pacific is so big that the water in NORCAL is always in the 50's, which is damn cold.

The Aegean is a smaller body of water that cools in winter, and warms is summer, so about half the year its perfect, but winters aren't much better than NORCAL.

The Sea of Cortez is a desert climate, but it does get humid in summer, and they have a hurricane season, except they call them Chubascos. For me, minus points for be a foreign country!

I have spend enough time overseas to appreciate this country. Not just our technology and conveniences, but our rights, and protections. I will pay a bribe with a smile on my face, and don't mind the money, but hate being at the Mercy of some fatass Federale.

We need to trade Texas for Baja Del Sur California!

Speaking of political oppression, South Africa, or any place in Africa, is just too damn depressing

Maybe Hawaii is the answer. I have not been there, or Autrailia, yet.

PS. I lived in Atlanta for a couple years. I lived in worse places, but not for long if I could help it.

ATL aint so bad
Hey, that was pretty funny. But I should note that despite the distance to salt water, ATL isn’t all that terrible - just as far as city stuff goes. Long summer, convenient flights to just about anywhere, lots of dining and shopping options, local paddling options for the diehard (boring but significant lake acreage), and about 5-1/2 hours to a number of different ocean options (as in southeast US for atlantic paddling with lots of salt marsh and bouncy waters at inlets/outlets and associated sandbars vs Gulf of Mexico paddling which has its own charms)…and Florida is a cartrip away, plus…theres really nice mountains 3 or 4 hrs north - and one is in a good BBQ region.



Still, were it not for my job I would be living somewhere else.

Oh My
Yes…that certainly does look sweet. I see that to go in December/January (from Atlanta) is about $2000, but only $1000 in June. I will have to check on the climatic conditions for that time of year, which I suppose is like our December.

Alaska
southern part that is

You must have ice in your blood !
Been there in three different summers, and it is not a place to take a dip unless you want a ice cream head ache



Jack L

Maybe Hawaii
I’ve only been there twice, in February and March. Was told that summers don’t get really hot like the interior U.S.A. does. And of course winter never gets cold. It snows occasionally…on top of 13,000-ft Mauna Loa.



Go for it! I sometimes think it’d be a nice place to live but honestly don’t think I could handle not having huge public expanses of land to wander around in.

Atlanta Damn Near Killed Me, But

– Last Updated: May-11-10 7:00 PM EST –

The problem was not so much with Atlanta, as with me. I was 19 and an out on my own for the first time. The year was 1973. The Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard, A place downtown in the underground called the Mad Hatter. I still judged women on their looks, instead of their character.

Eventually ended up in a ditch along side of 285 with a bad case of road rash.

You know that old Muddy Waters song?

"I'd rather drink muddy water, and sleep in a hollow log, than be back in Atlanta, getting treated like a dirty dog"

Her name was Jane, and she was damn fine. Still hurts a little to think about 35 years later....

Hawaii + 1
Nice breeze, beautiful water.



Get an outrigger.

Southern Norway!
No, I am not kidding, Southern Norway fits what you are looking for! In July/August, air temperature is usually between 68 to 86 (although you can also get some days with 59). Water temperature will be minimum in low 60’s, and when everything aligns, you can experience some weeks with water temps up to 77 degrees F! The coast-line is beautiful, with thousands of islands, fjords, small villages, great beaches. Best of all, there is no such thing as ‘trespassing’ in Norway, so it is easy to find places to camp. The West Coast of Sweden is also fantastic, especially from Gothenburg to Stromstad.

Bring lots of $$ though, especially if you like to relax with a cold beverage after a day in the sun!