 Hurricane Felicia originated from a tropical wave that moved off the west coast of Africa into the Atlantic Ocean on July 23 , 2009 . A weak system , the wave was barely identifiable as it tracked westward . By July 26 , the wave entered the Caribbean Sea before crossing Central America and entering the eastern Pacific basin on July 29 . The system remained ill @-@ defined until August 1 , at which time convection began to increase and the wave showed signs of organization . The storm gradually became better organized as it tracked generally towards the west . By August 3 , the system became increasingly organized and around 11 : 00 am PDT ( 1800 UTC ) , the National Hurricane Center ( NHC ) designated the system as Tropical Depression Eight @-@ E. <unk> banding features and <unk> outflow were being enhanced by the nearby Tropical Storm Enrique . The main steering component of the depression was an upper @-@ level low located to the north , causing the depression to track generally west before turning northwest after the low weakened . 
