We will be in San Diego in late September. My question is: Should be consider swimming in the sea and if so where. We will not have a car.
Last time we were there we swam at La Jolla. I can't remmeber the time of the year. I do remember it was quite cold and the waves were a little too powerful for my comfort.

The ocean water might be getting chilly by the end of September and there aren't as many lifeguards about. If you do decide to swim in the ocean, there will be lifeguards at La Jolla Cove and at Mission Beach. Don't swim where there are no lifeguards.

San Diego weather in September is usually still warm......hopefully, water temperatures should be in the high 60's (low 70's if you're real lucky). For small waves, try the south end of La Jolla Shores. Other nice beaches are Mission, Pacific & Coronado.

When we were in SD in late September last year, we had a few people in our group who went into the ocean. Most of us just put our feet in though.

My best experience surfing was in early October north of San DIego. THe water was a very nice temperature.

In September in San Diego you can have 1 week where it's actually hot, especially if we get a "Santa Ana", great beach weather, though the ocean temp is never that warm here. But then the next week it could feel cooler like fall is arriving. It usually doesn't rain in September. It's a good time to visit, not so crowded. We live here.

There is only 1 month in the whole year when I consider our ocean warm, and that is part of August! For warm water we gotta go to Hawaii!

I wouldn't do it (JAWS complex) but the #1 place for ocean swimmers is from La Jolla Shores to La Jolla Cove...I have no idea what the distance is.