I don’t know if you know this, but Tucson sits in a desert. The Sonoran Desert, to be precise. Those of you relocating to Tucson from greener pastures may go through a little water-withdrawl. But don’t worry - you don’t have to sell your boat before you move here. We’ve got plenty of lakes for fishing and boating and jet-skiing and whatnot nearby. Near, meaning anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours away.
Closest to Tucson is Lake Patagonia. Also here. There’s no jet-skiing here, but you can camp, picnic, water ski, fish, and hike the area. Half of the lake is a no-wake area for the fisherpeople. It gets a little busy in summer months, when water skiing is prohibited on weeekends because of the high traffic on the lake.
Lake Roosevelt is one of the larger lakes in Arizona, and is East of Phoenix. Created by damming the Salt River, Lake Roosevelt has plenty of recreational activities.
Lake Pleasant is Northwest of Phoenix. The Lake Pleasant Harbor folks say you can scuba dive there, but I’m not too sure about the quality of that diving! Lots of other things to do there, however.
There’s also Rose Canyon Lake, San Carlos Lake, Apache Lake, Canyon Lake, Saguaro Lake. If you’re feeling frisky, you can drive the 3-4 hours to Rocky Point (Puerto Peñasco en Español) down in Mexico and sit on a real beach by a natural body of water.
Just remember to drink lots of water and bring your sunscreen!
October 17th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Kelley,
Lots of water here in Puerto Penasco. Spoke the other day with Mike Tobin at Long Realty’s Penasco office. He has good things to say about the collaboration between Long’s offices in Penasco and Tucson. I do a blog at http://www.puertopenascopost.com that gives some more detail on the business and real estate climate in Penasco and addresses some of the issues people visiting here (or moving here) might face. Check it out when you get a chance.
-Paul