Just come home from an afternoon at Albandeira beach. The sand was really clean, as was the water we could see the sand as we were swimming, lovely.

Now the question, why is the water soooo cold there? I thought my arms and legs had frozen, I went swimming on New Years day with Bifas 2nd Darling in 1983 at Centianes beach, I think today was just as cold.

This year I've been to Carvoeiro and Meia Praia and both have been warmer.

Next week we're going to try Carvalho and Centianes

I would hazzard a guess that because of the waves there and that the sea floor is much deeper than other beaches and therefore colder than others. Quite happy to be corrected on this but on the basis that a full kettle takes longer to boil than a half filled one, the theory should work. Mike

my local beach blows hot & cold
cold down one end whilst warm up the other end yesterday.
today... a different kettle of fish

Hello,

I went to Albandeira on Sunday and I agree, it was cold. Took a while to get in and it was definitely invigorating!

I went to Praia da Marinha a couple of weeks ago and the water was very pleasant then.

bifas 1st darling! wrote: I went swimming on New Years day with Bifas 2nd Darling in 1983 at Centianes beach, I think today was just as cold.

I'll never forget that day! I thought my internal organs were shutting down. Whatever possessed us to do it? (apart from the fact that it was BOILING hot on the beach )

Sorry no scientific insight into your question.

xx

" They " say that if the wind comes from south-south west the water is pretty warm .
Any other current brings cold water

In my experience the water is always cold in CVO - well it is the Atlantic Ocean !

The water temperature in the Atlantic around Portugal can often be colder than the water around the coast of the UK. The southwest UK gets the warm "gulfstream" flow which comes across the Atlantic.
Depending upon the depth of the water offshore and how much of the day the water is in light or shade, the temperature may vary a little between beaches but it is unlikely to be more than a degree or two.
The ocean water takes a long time to warm up through the season so it is probably at its warmest at the end of August and then gradually cools down. The water in September is usually considerably wamer than May for example.

Paul

I was also at Albandeira Saturday and Sunday with my family. The sea was calm on Saturday and rough on Sunday. But still very cold both days.

You're dealing with the cold Atlantic not the Med.........Patwab is right......ellie

compared to the west coast, the beaches around cvo are .. er.. The Med….

Hello everybody,
i tried to find a table for tides in Cavoero, but i couldt find one. The only table i found was from Lisboa, if u have a homepage with actual tidetables please send it to me:

MarduKKurioS@web.de

thx a lot
Jonathan

Here's the link http://www.carvoeiro.com/Weather/tide2001/Default.htm Mike, Chislehurst

from my experience, i would risk on a teory (more or less cientifically based). When there's a southeast continued weather pattern (like one week with east - levante - winds) the water gets a little warmer, but it also broughts a little rough onshore seas (not very pleasant at this beaches). When there's a continued western weather pattern (very common in summer, with west winds blowing for 2 weeks), the water will likely by cold, because of a local phenomenum called upwelling (deep cold water rising to surface). Of course, there is a intermediate situation, in the transition weather (when it changes from east to west winds, or vice versa), and this means that water can be cool in the first days of levante and still be warm in the first days of west winds. The local factors of each beach also may contribute but in a small scale. I'm from Olhão, and i know almost every piece of sand in algarve, but i absolutely love beaches like albandeira carvalho and barranquinho, as i love some beautiful small deserted sand spits here in Ria Formosa coast (people from carvoeiro area should visit Ilha do Farol e Ilha Deserta, you would get quite astonished, better if you can rent a boat to visit other desert islands in culatra). The explanation i gave works almost everytme in perfection for sotavento area (spain until albufeira) and influences also much of the barlavento. To my patterns, carvoeiro area sea is a bit cold ( i have been there 5 or 6 times and never get a "normal" water. But don't worry, sometimes here gets also that cold. I think the main difference here is that we get far warmer than carvoeiro area because of the Gulf of Cadiz warm current (exists only in the first situation i told, and it flows westward) in its full power! In winter the situation is quite more stable, because of the influence of the gulf stream brought by antlantic kind of weather, so it doesn't get neither cold neither warm. Just for the record, i have been in slightly warmer sea at Praia de Faro and even Sagres in winter (there isn't pratically any diference) than in summer in Carvoeiro area... blessed Algarve