Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Discover sea stacks and small sea cave at the historic Dana Point headlands in Orange County.

The sea cliffs at Dana Point are revered by historians as the site where Spanish vaqueros threw hides over the cliffs and down to waiting ships as described in Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast. Today, the sheer cliffs remain, but much of coastline below is occupied by the 2500-slip Dana Point Marina. Just west of that marina, though, you'll find a fine, wild stretch of rocky beach and dramatic headland -- a little piece of Old California that can be fully explored on foot during low tides. Tides reach their most favorable nadirs (near minus one-foot or lower) this fall season during the afternoon on the following dates: October 17-19; November 2-4; November 14-17; November 30- December 5; and December 12-17.

Sponsored
Sponsored

To reach the starting point (Dana Point Harbor), exit Interstate 5 at Pacific Coast Highway and proceed west for two miles. Just past Dana Point's "downtown," turn left on Street of the Green Lantern. Go two blocks south and turn left on Cove Road. Cove Road descends to Dana Point Harbor Drive and a parking lot for Dana Cove Park. There you'll find a replica of the Pilgrim, the sailing ship that author Dana sailed on during the early 1800s, and the Ocean Institute museum.

On foot now, walk past the museum, descend a stairway to the beach, and pick your way westward along the beach toward the rocky headland of Dana Point itself. Soon you'll be forced into picking your way across storm-tossed boulders underneath the looming cliffs. The wonderful variety of mostly metamorphic rocks underfoot have weathered out of the conglomerate cliffs above.

There's a sea cave at the end of the walkable section (0.7 mile from Dana Cove Park), and plenty of small sea stacks just offshore that catch the incoming waves and breakers and turn them into white froth. The coastal tidepools here are of fair quality. Travel beyond the sea cave is more difficult, but with a low-enough tide you may be able to negotiate a route across the rocks to the smooth sand of Strand Beach to the north.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024

The sea cliffs at Dana Point are revered by historians as the site where Spanish vaqueros threw hides over the cliffs and down to waiting ships as described in Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast. Today, the sheer cliffs remain, but much of coastline below is occupied by the 2500-slip Dana Point Marina. Just west of that marina, though, you'll find a fine, wild stretch of rocky beach and dramatic headland -- a little piece of Old California that can be fully explored on foot during low tides. Tides reach their most favorable nadirs (near minus one-foot or lower) this fall season during the afternoon on the following dates: October 17-19; November 2-4; November 14-17; November 30- December 5; and December 12-17.

Sponsored
Sponsored

To reach the starting point (Dana Point Harbor), exit Interstate 5 at Pacific Coast Highway and proceed west for two miles. Just past Dana Point's "downtown," turn left on Street of the Green Lantern. Go two blocks south and turn left on Cove Road. Cove Road descends to Dana Point Harbor Drive and a parking lot for Dana Cove Park. There you'll find a replica of the Pilgrim, the sailing ship that author Dana sailed on during the early 1800s, and the Ocean Institute museum.

On foot now, walk past the museum, descend a stairway to the beach, and pick your way westward along the beach toward the rocky headland of Dana Point itself. Soon you'll be forced into picking your way across storm-tossed boulders underneath the looming cliffs. The wonderful variety of mostly metamorphic rocks underfoot have weathered out of the conglomerate cliffs above.

There's a sea cave at the end of the walkable section (0.7 mile from Dana Cove Park), and plenty of small sea stacks just offshore that catch the incoming waves and breakers and turn them into white froth. The coastal tidepools here are of fair quality. Travel beyond the sea cave is more difficult, but with a low-enough tide you may be able to negotiate a route across the rocks to the smooth sand of Strand Beach to the north.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
Next Article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.