I live in NE, and cold water is a fact of life. My favorite beach (Hampton, NH) is great place…lots of bikini-clad women. Most of the time, that water is a cool 60 F:eek:
But on some magic weekends (late August, early September), the Gulf Stream will launch an eddy of warm water-and it will hit 75! (sometimes higher). Then you can go in and almost enjoy it!
Yep. And Buzzards Bay can be positively… well, toasty isn’t the word. Less sucky? Try Old Silver Beach.
And Wingaersheek Beach can be very nice. And if you can get yourself to MV, Gay Head is fantastic.
Parking sucks at all of those, though.
It’s not New England, but a bit (quite a bit) further north: The Humboldt Strait separates Nova Scotia from Prince Edward Island. As it is relatively shallow (you can walk out about a quarter mile from the beach and still be only waist-deep) the water in summer is blood-warm. Highly recommended.
I have never, ever, in the entire time I’ve lived in New England, seen anyone at the beach in the summer wearing a wetsuit. Not to say that it won’t keep you warmer in the water, but believe me – you’ll stick out. Oh, and your suntan will be highly risible.
I see people in wetsuits all the time. But they’re either surfers or divers.
I would amend that to August or September, but yeah, all beaches below the “elbow” of Cape Cod tend to be decently swimmable at that time due to the Gulf Stream (although you can still get upwelling at times that turns it cold again).
I remember going to Old Silver beach on a late Friday afternoon in early September. It was warmer in the water than out of it.
And the next day I discovered Magansset Beach, a little noth of there. Very swimable, very snorkelable, cozy and charming. The only problem is that it is resident parking only. We used to park at the nursing home up the street and walk.
This is my opinion. I need much better ocean than you find around here to go swimming.
Exactly. And when you see them, it’s typically January.
I don’t typically go to the beach in January.
But I spend a lot of time from late May to early October. There are a lot of SCUBA divers there. I don’t know if they’re hobbyists who all know each other, or it’s some sort of club or school.
And I’ve seen surfers in Gloucester. They were really failing to catch a good wave.
Growing up in New England I’ve swam in the ocean without a wetsuit all my life. Granted, I don’t typically go in the water during ski season but from June to September it’s all good. Especially if the air temp is warm I can stay in the surf for hours at a time.
I was going to say this as well, but then I noticed that the OP said, “Even the ocean in Hawaii is a little cold for my taste.” I think there’s nothing for him to do but save his pennies for a plane ticket to somewhere on the Gulf Coast, or a Caribbean island.
That’s the Northumberland Strait. I didn’t get any hits for Humboldt Straight, but apparently the Humboldt channel separates the Tennent islands and King William island in Nunavut. Definitely not a good place to swim.
When I drive by Lynn Beach in the winter, if there’s been a storm offshore, there are certain to be a few guys out surfing. It must be murderously cold, even with a wet suit, and the surfing even at the best of times is beyond lame.
As to the scuba diving, I don’t typically see them on the beaches I go to. You go to more beaches than I do, but I’ve only seen scuba divers at Folly Cove in Gloucester (not a very beachy beach), and some rocky beach I can’t remember in Rhode Island. I wouldn’t think a typical sandy beach would be of much interest to a scuba diver.
Just another way of saying I think **Shagnasty **will stick out when he goes to Wingaersheek.
The ones in the gulf stream have a lot more to see, so yeah, both north and south shores are pretty bleak. But there are some ship wrecks off of Cape Ann that are a big draw for SCUBA divers.
I feel your pain. I used to sacrifice myself and take the kids swimming in our pool when the water was, say, 80 degrees. Brrrr.
I really don’t like to swim in less than 88 or so. I humbly acknowledge that I am a huge pussy about this.
I’ll dive in the Caribbean if it’s 80+, but not less. I mean, I paid to be there, and I want to see some fishies and all, so I’ll suffer a little bit!
My BIL is from Chicago. His folks were visiting a while back, and it was October.
Like many pool people in the Atlanta area, our swim season is Memorial to Labor Day. After that it’s iceberg season. We’re sitting outside and enjoying the fall weather when she asks if she can go swimming. I offered her a pistol, saying her death would be less painful that way, but she said she’d be O.K.
64 degrees, and she’s playing in the pool like a sea otter. Me? I’d be dead in 4 minutes!
You could, as your header suggests, actually swim in the beach, thereby avoiding the water entirely. However, paddling your way through sand can be very tiring.
I too noticed that my thread title wasn’t the piece of micro-literature ever but it gets the idea across. Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I have been looking a wet suits in the links people suggested. I think a 2mm shorty or something like that might do the trick. I am almost 40 years old and I just don’t give a fuck anymore so any concerns about fashion and ‘fitting in’ are falling on deaf ears. I have been here 17 years and still don’t really fit in so I might as well go completely eccentric.
I truly do love the ocean but not the beaches themselves. That is just the entrance ramp to the fun although I seem to be one of the few people that view it that way around here. I still don’t understand Northeastern beach culture and customs. Let’s just say you aren’t ever going to see me cruising Revere Beach in an Camaro or paying a few thousand dollars a week to stay 20 miles from where I work when that same money can get me a much better place in the Caribbean even though plenty of locals do. I still want to take advantage of what’s there in some way if I can however because I can’t travel all the time.
There is no point to going to the beach in my mind if you don’t swim all day and there is no fun in doing that if you are just going to freeze your ass off. That is my dilemma and I don’t care if I get a few odd looks by solving it.
You poor bastards. Northern NSW, and southern Qld are, in my experience, the only places worth swimming in the sea. Or Southwest WA, if you’re happy to brave the sharks.
:smack: D’oh! You are correct, of course. But it IS blood-warm.