Each season has its advantages and disadvantages

Posted By: Tom H.
Date: 12/21/07 2:47p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Cruising the Sea of Cortez (Andy)

I've sailed and scuba'd down there virtually all times of the year and found good and bad conditions. Personally, I like the End of October or the beginning couple of weeks of November the best. The water is still warm, the evenings are starting to cool and the humidity is not so high... but I also like the summer heat and tropical humidity. The give you an idea, here are some generalities: Average Air Temperatures (Range) January - 60-75º May - 70-85º September-80-94º February-60-75º June - 78-90º October - 74-88º March - 60-77º July - 80-94º November- 69-80º April - 64-83º August- 80-94º December-60-77º Average Water Temperatures (Surface) January - 63º May - 77º September - 87º February - 64º June - 85º October - 87º March - 67º July - 89º November - 71º April - 72º August - 89º December - 65 A great guy and fellow sailor gave me this summary, one time when I asked him the same quesiton(s): Mary's favorite two months to sail are May and November. In November the water can still be warm. The hurricanes are gone. I sailed into San Carlos at 3:00 in the morning the Thursday before Juliette last year. At 8:00 that next morning the swells at the entrance to San Carlos were 10 feet. You don't want to mess with that in a boat your size. From December until April you can get beat up by 3 plus days of northerlies. From the 4th of July until the middle or end of October you'll die if you can't get out of the sun and it's hurricane season. Actually that is my favorite time, because of the fishing but you have to have a boat that can deal with some pretty serious weather and get you to a protected area in a reasonable amount of time. That leaves May and November. Mary's smarter then I am. Don On one occasion, I also went down to San Carlos as tropical storm Hiliary was coming up. The trip down was challenging with the traffic back-ups, flooding, wash-outs, and mess....but right after the storm, the San Carlos was beautiful and the seas calm, though the water was naturally less clear than on other scuba trips to that area. Another trip we sailed over to Mulege, from San Carlos and were pinned due to a northerner that blew for the better partof a week. However, that trip was great as we explored the town of Mulege, hiked all over the place and such instead of sailing the surrounding areas and that turned out pretty great also. Come to thinm about it, the only bad trips I've had down there where the ones that came to an end, because I had to get back to work and the grinde...and even those provided great times, great stories and great memories. Make good plans and preparations, bring some patience, optomism and good will, then take advantage of what comes your way. You'll encounter great people, beautiful surroundings and a bit of this and that to add a abit of intrigue and challenge. Hope that helps a bit. Let us know what else you find out and what you decide and then how it all worked out.... It will help the rest of us while we're planning our next trip and stuck at work and the grind, which aint all that bad either...since eating and making the house payment also has its advantages. Tom