Shell Beach is a great little place for tide pooling. Shell Beach Shell Beach tide pools at golden hour. I have written in detail about La Jolla Cove parking. The closest is in the La Jolla Financial Building. During peak busy days (weekends during tide pooling season), you may want to consider a paid lot along Prospect Street. The other good news is that you can start here and walk south down the boardwalk to several of the other tide pooling spots listed below.ĭirections: Find La Jolla Cove tide pools parking along Coast Blvd or nearby residential streets. This and the Point La Jolla area are usually what people refer to when they mention La Jolla Cove tide pools. Your best bet is to take the stairs down to the sand to explore the little cave and rocky area accessible from La Jolla Cove beach. The sea lions won’t likely be here during low tide, but this is another little tide pooling spot to look for. On Point La Jolla, accessible seasonally from the boardwalk and on the end of Ellen Browning Scripps Park, you might see a variety of crabs and a few sea anemones but not much else. This means you’ll be able to walk out onto the big flat rocky area called Point La Jolla between Boomer’s Beach and La Jolla Cove, where they would normally hang out.

If it’s low tide at La Jolla Cove, many of the La Jolla sea lions and seals will head out to little rock islands in the ocean. La Jolla Cove Sea lion resting at low tide on Point La Jolla You can also park on the surface streets near The Marine Room restaurant and use the public beach access on the south side of La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club to access the tide pools and gorgeous views at this very popular San Diego beach. It’s probably a 20-minute walk on the sand between these two best tide pools in La Jolla.ĭirections: Park in the La Jolla Shores Beach parking lot and walk south on the sand past our two La Jolla beach hotels. If the tides are low, exploring this area and Dike Rock on the same visit would be easy. This reef formation is also fun to explore for the usual marine life, like hermit crabs, tube snails, sea cucumbers, and more. I’ve been told that high numbers of baby sea hares have recently been spotted here at low tides. La Jolla Shores Beach (South of The Marine Room Restaurant) You will see some parking lots in this area but note that they are UC San Diego parking lots, and permits may be required. You’ll see Scripps Pier to the right and will keep walking to Dike Rock. You can also find closer Dike Rock parking along El Paseo Grande Street and use the cement stairway to the beach just south of Caroline’s Seaside Cafe.

Pass the pier, walk a few hundred yards, and you’ll see the rocky area at low tide. You’ll walk onto the sand and head north toward Scripps Pier. When we visited, huge sea hares were out in abundance laying eggs.ĭirections: It’s easiest to park in the La Jolla Shores Beach parking lot. Every little pool was home to a different plant or animal. The benefit to tide pooling in a group is that there are more eyeballs to spy different animals-I can’t recommend it enough.Īnd, of course, the Birch Aquarium guides know exactly where to look. The kids loved carefully climbing over the rocks here during our tour. This is where Birch Aquarium hosts tide pooling tours because it’s one of the best tide pools in La Jolla.ĭanny says, “Dike Rock is interesting because it’s more of a sandy habitat interspersed with big rock formations.” The sand draws juvenile fish, blind gobies, and different shrimp. Dike Rockĭike Rock is located just to the north of Scripps Pier. However, the best tide pools in La Jolla to check out for people who aren’t familiar with the area are listed below. Some access points are tucked away in residential neighborhoods, while others are easily accessible from Coast Blvd. Most access points to La Jolla beaches will have tide pools if there is a minus tide.

Between Wipeout Beach and Hospital Point.

I do this and plan our visits to the tide pools in La Jolla accordingly. It’s easy to check the San Diego tide charts to note when minus tides are happening.

Tidal pools at half moon bay