# Canary water temperature!?



## Machiavelli

I'm starting to get bummed out here! The idea was to move to the Canaries in large part because of awesome beach lifestyle. But, when you look at the pictures of the beaches, nobody is swimming! A little investigation reveals that water temperatures peak at about 22C in August. That's not that warm and what about the rest of the year?! Is the Mediterranean warmer in the summer? Seems it might be. Damn. Is there any hidden place in the Canaries with especially warm water? Are any Caribbean Islands part of the EU??


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## jojo

Machiavelli said:


> I'm starting to get bummed out here! The idea was to move to the Canaries in large part because of awesome beach lifestyle. But, when you look at the pictures of the beaches, nobody is swimming! A little investigation reveals that water temperatures peak at about 22C in August. That's not that warm and what about the rest of the year?! Is the Mediterranean warmer in the summer? Seems it might be. Damn. Is there any hidden place in the Canaries with especially warm water? Are any Caribbean Islands part of the EU??



I dont know what the sea temperature is, but I do know that in the summer, not only do you need the sea to feel cool cos its so damn hot, but also the sand becomes scorching hot and that probably affects the shoreline water temperature, so that will feel warmer!! Apart from that - well 22c isnt cold!! get in there and you'll get used to it!!!!!

Jo xxxx


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## Machiavelli

jojo said:


> I dont know what the sea temperature is, but I do know that in the summer, not only do you need the sea to feel cool cos its so damn hot, but also the sand becomes scorching hot and that probably affects the shoreline water temperature, so that will feel warmer!! Apart from that - well 22c isnt cold!! get in there and you'll get used to it!!!!!
> 
> Jo xxxx


Ah man I dunno. I mean I grew up 6 blocks from the beach but the water was warmer than that in the summer. But look at the pics. Google Canary beach and you'll see lots of pics of 100 people on the sand and 3 in the water. ((((((


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## owdoggy

Just get in there yer big wuss



Doggy


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## Guest

It's like the joke about people going to Canada in the summer with skis on their car asking "Where's the snow?"... 

Monthly average air temps: Monthly Averages for Gran Canaria, Canary Islands


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## lynn

Joking apart, I believe that Martinique in the Caribbean, whilst not being part of the EU, does belong to France! I had heard anachdotally that UK expats living on the neighbouring island of St Lucia could hop over there with their E111 cards (or what ever they are called now) for emergency health care! Guaranteed warm water year round - like stepping into a warm bath!


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## MaidenScotland

Got to confess I always find the water around the Canaries cold,, same for Portugal but I guess that's because its the Atlantic ocean and not the Med,


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## Machiavelli

That's air temperature. That's fine. It's the water temperature that bothers me. (You can find snow in Canada in the summer! Doesn't seem you can find warm water in the Canaries in the winter and maybe not even the summer! (

http://images.travelpod.com/users/eltravelbugs/canary_islands.1131747780.ten_playa_news.jpg

http://drbirute.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/canary-islands-indonesia-up-to-june-82009-132.jpg

http://desperatelyseekingsuddenlysusan.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/nice-beach.jpg


Compare with this Cancun picture!:

http://www.weddingsntravel.com/images/Cancun_Beach.jpg


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## Machiavelli

MaidenScotland said:


> Got to confess I always find the water around the Canaries cold,, same for Portugal but I guess that's because its the Atlantic ocean and not the Med,



How much warmer is the Med? Canaries get up to 22C. What does Crete get up to? (Crete was the original idea, but the winters are brrrrr!)


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## Machiavelli

lynn said:


> Joking apart, I believe that Martinique in the Caribbean, whilst not being part of the EU, does belong to France! I had heard anachdotally that UK expats living on the neighbouring island of St Lucia could hop over there with their E111 cards (or what ever they are called now) for emergency health care! Guaranteed warm water year round - like stepping into a warm bath!


Now we're talking!!!!!!!!!!! I like warm baths!!!!!!!!!


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## MaidenScotland

The Mediterranean cools quite a lot in the winter months to between 55 -65 F (12 - 17C) which most people other than masochists will find too cool for prolonged dalliances. Even the Canaries, affected by the cold Canaries Current, have water below our threshold. The Red Sea however, only drops to 21 C even at this coldest time of the year.
By July the whole of the Mediterranean is good for swimming. Temperatures range from around 20-21C near the Costa Del Sol, through a very pleasant 24-25C around Malta and Tunisia, to a wonderful 28C around Cyprus. Although air temperatures are starting to cool by September, the sea is always reluctant to change its temperature and lags behind.. Much of the Mediterranean is now perfect: around 23C on the Costa Brava and Costa Del Sol; around 25C for the Balearics; and as high as 28C off the southern coast of Turkey. Even the Algarve which has generally cool waters year-round, just about reaches 21C. 
October for example warm swimming can still be found in Ibiza and the Greek Islands (22C). And this warmth is retained well into November in Cyprus and the Canaries (23C). By December, apart from the Israeli Mediterranean coast, most European waters are again cool with Malaga at 16C, Marseille around 14C and even Cyprus now down to 20C.


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## VFR

Kenya is the place, and the sea there is seriously warm even in the winter months.


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## Machiavelli

playamonte said:


> Kenya is the place, and the sea there is seriously warm even in the winter months.


Could see the wildebeests!

Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guyana and Reunion are parts of France. French Polynesia has a different status.


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## MaidenScotland

Machiavelli said:


> Could see the wildebeests!
> 
> Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guyana and Reunion are parts of France. French Polynesia has a different status.




I would never put my toes in water that sharks like to swim in so maybe a pool is best


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## littleredrooster

Believe it or not its all down to the Gulf stream.

After leaviing the Caribbean and C.America it heads N.W.,circulating around N.Europe and the UK, getting nicely cooled off, before heading down past France and Spain to the Canaries and then taking a right hander and drifting back where it came from to get warmed up again.

Having said that I recall plenty of folk in the water at Tenerife around Xmas time,though I think its coolest in Spring,as the sea temp.always trails the land temp.by a month or two.


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## nigele2

Machiavelli said:


> Now we're talking!!!!!!!!!!! I like warm baths!!!!!!!!!


Mach if you like warm baths :bathbaby: buy a jucuzzi  If you feel the cold :whoo: buy a shorty wetsuit 

If you swim at La Chica on Lanzarote you can duck below the water with a snokel within 100 metres of the beach and be surrounded by fish - now that natural wonder will warm you up and I guarantee the 20 - 23 degrees will be sweet cooling from air temp. unless you pick one of the few cold days.

But if that really is too cold I suggest in all seriousness Iceland. The warm water pools will warm your cockles while you gaze at the snow covered surroundings


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## jojo

Machiavelli said:


> Now we're talking!!!!!!!!!!! I like warm baths!!!!!!!!!


I like my baths piping hot! The rest of the family are content with it being "just right", but I like to feel the burn!! I'm the same with pools and the sea, the warmer the better, I've not had a problem with the sea here in the summer tho

Jo xxx


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## nina874

Machiavelli said:


> I'm starting to get bummed out here! The idea was to move to the Canaries in large part because of awesome beach lifestyle. But, when you look at the pictures of the beaches, nobody is swimming! A little investigation reveals that water temperatures peak at about 22C in August. That's not that warm and what about the rest of the year?! Is the Mediterranean warmer in the summer? Seems it might be. Damn. Is there any hidden place in the Canaries with especially warm water? Are any Caribbean Islands part of the EU??


Get a wetsuit  if you think that s cold spare a thought for my DS and all his surfer friends ploughing through the brrrrrr Cornish waters at the moment!

There are no Caribbean islands that allow free movement, one of them ( cant remember which) allows dutch nationals but not EU members, but on all of them the cost of living is prohibative as everything has to be imported and is subject to huge amounts of duty!


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## Guest

I used to go swimming off the south coast of Tenerife regularly over the winter months, what's the matter with you!

Mind you that was a long time ago, and I stopped and sold up when all the overdevelopment led to me regularly spotting raw sewage floating around the sea  :yuck:


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## xabiaxica

frogblogger said:


> I used to go swimming off the south coast of Tenerife regularly over the winter months, what's the matter with you!
> 
> Mind you that was a long time ago, and I stopped and sold up when all the overdevelopment led to me regularly spotting raw sewage floating around the sea  :yuck:


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## morlandg

John Tetley used to say - "try tetleys big toe test - 22C" for the sea being warm enough in which to swim.


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## mark_d

I wouldn't let a couple of pictures put you off; I'd say as many people swim here as anywhere else. In the summer it's pleasantly warm to float about relaxedly, during the winter the big beaches such as Maspalomas here in Gran Canaria can be pretty cold such that you need to be swimming to keep warm. Yes, it is the Atlantic but here if you go to one of the smaller sheltered beaches in the South the water will be warm all year round due to less circulation by waves. 

On another note, if you are planning moving anywhere abroad you would be completely crazy not to do some field work first. Where are you thinking of moving?


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## littleredrooster

morlandg said:


> John Tetley used to say - "try tetleys big toe test - 22C" for the sea being warm enough in which to swim.


If in doubt I normally sling the Mrs in first.
Can always tell the water temperature by how load she screams!!!!!!!!!!!...


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## owdoggy

littleredrooster said:


> If in doubt I normally sling the Mrs in first.
> Can always tell the water temperature by how load she screams!!!!!!!!!!!...


That's a terrible thing to say!! .............. bloody funny though:clap2:




Doggy


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