Locations to swim in calm, clean, safe, warm water during Jan-March.

I'm researching the best places to snowbird for 1-3 months during Jan-Mar. Main purpose is for casual swimming almost every day.

Would appreciate suggestions.

Background:

68 yo male, living in Leland, North Carolina, USA. Reasonably fit. Have swam all my life in lakes, oceans, and rivers in the USA on both coasts. Swimming has especially become my favorite pastime now that my joints are getting older, though no longer comfortable getting knocked around by waves and chop. Have been to the Philippines and Singapore many years ago.

Musts:

  • Water calm most of the time, 76F (25C) or higher, low pathogens. Low probability of boxer jellyfish or other significant water hazards. Low currents.
  • Accommodations that are within 15 minute walk to the beach and from restaurants/street food, and 30 min walk to grocery stores. Or convenient/inexpensive taxi/shuttle service. I don't plan to rent a car.
  • Some locals, tourist staff, police, medical, speak enough English to accommodate English-speaking visitors.
  • Low probability of robberies.
  • Easy living. I'm getting older and doing this to relax and swim.

Strong want:

  • Cost limit of $3,000/month USD, all in, including travel.
  • Don't plan to rent a car.

Preferences, though willing to give on these. (In fact the last 2 conflict.)

  • Lower travel time is better.
  • Lower total cost is better.
  • Asian-style food (love it). Reasonable availability of vegetables. (Healthy eater but not a vegetarian.)
  • If not English, then Spanish is the national language. (Easiest for me to learn, and useful in the USA as well.)

No need for:

  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Touristy attractions, shops, sight seeing.

Here's my thoughts so far just from YouTube, Google maps, Airbnb, Rome2Rio. Feel free to correct any wrong assumptions or point me in a good direction.

Southeast Asia is tempting for low cost of living and Asian food, once I get there. Would scale well to more months per year, visas allowing. Major downside is flights are 35 to 48 hours!, and $1,200 to 1,800 USD. Maybe layover a couple nights somewhere to break up the travel. At that level of investment I'd want to stay 2 months this first time. Would be terrible if I arrived and the water/beach wasn't as expected. Seems risky. Cenang beach, Langkawi Island, Malaysia is first pick so far. Other possibilities are Thailand and Philippines. Choosing Langkawi for it being 60% English speaking, less crowded than Thailand, pretty clean and modern, low crime, constitutional government, automatic visa exception for 90 days. Doesn't seem to be as high quality lodging for the dollar as Thailand. Google AI overview says jelly fish season is Jan to July but https://www.langkawi.com/langkawi-travel-tips/ says May - October. I'll have to check r/Malaysia about that.

Vietnam is out as all of the coast is east facing and breeze is westerly during Jan - Mar. 

Mexico is a short flight. Water temp is borderline though. Areas around Puerta Vallarta and Yucatan might work. Water isn't always calm.

I wanted to like Central America or Caribbean Islands. Seems like I'd need to rent a car to get around though. That would be $1000+/month USD right there. Maybe I could find a location where I could take a bus or shuttle from airport to a small town on the coast that would support the need for food and lodging. Rome2Rio helps, but I'm finding this transportation part difficult to plan. Would be nervous to navigate busses without knowing the language. Also some concerns about crime.

Looked into Columbia. Best pick so far Santa Marta. Doesn't seem ideal for beaches. Still seeing reports within the past year of robberies on the street after dark.

Wondering about travel agents and packages. I haven't found anything good on that yet.

Thanks for any ideas. While traveling to Southeast Asia seems exciting, even better would be a location with lower investment in travel, and stay about a month this first time if it would meet my criteria.

Author: GoTellIt33