Are you looking for a relatively easy hike at the beach in San Diego? Well, look no further! I’m always up to checking out the coastline, so I’m excited when I find a new trail to explore! Today, I will showcase four new trails- The Bayshore Trail, the Rio West Trail, the elusive Broken Hill Trail, and another popular offshoot of the Trestles Beach Trail. Ready? Let us look at a few more unique San Diego Beach hikes.
Hiking The Bayshore Trail at Cabrillo National Monument
Cabrillo Trail Map
Trailhead
San Diego Bay Inlet
Mid-Trail
End of Trail
The first time I visited the Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma, just north of the San Diego Bay Inlet, I concentrated my time at the Nature Center and the tide pools. Today that changed as I ventured south to hike right above San Diego Bay.
I have always had a deep-seated passion for the Ocean Environment which ultimately led me to receive a degree in Marine Biology. Living in the San Diego area for over 30 years, I have extensively explored the 70 miles of San Diego’s coastline, and I am here to share! Please use my website to your advantage and have a look around at all the wonders that the beaches of San Diego can offer you!
Hallelujah! I took the time to finally walk the beaches of Solana Beach on a glorious summer day. It was super hot inland, so I thought, what better time to go and check out the coast? I have wanted to go to Solana Beach forever, so here I am!
Solana Beach is situated between Encinitas to the North and Del Mar to the South, and the beach stretches for over 1.7 miles.
Solana Beach has also been a favorite hangout of juvenile great white sharks in the past couple of years!
Fun Fact- Solana is Spanish for “warm wind”
So here is a list of the beaches of Solana Beach that I had the pleasure of walking on, starting first from the North down to the South-
South Cardiff State Beach- Seaside Beach
Tide Park Beach
Fletcher Cove
North Seascape Surf Park
Del Mar Shores
Del Mar North Beach (Del Mar)
Let’s now look at each beach, followed by exciting facts highlighting each area.
South Cardiff State Beach- Seaside Beach
Seaside Beach is the very first beach on the northern boundary of Solana Beach. Two popular offshore surf breaks, Seaside Reef and Cardiff Reef, make South Cardiff State Beach a surfing mecca for locals and tourists alike.
I have always had a deep-seated passion for the Ocean Environment which ultimately led me to receive a degree in Marine Biology. Living in the San Diego area for over 30 years, I have extensively explored the 70 miles of San Diego’s coastline, and I am here to share! Please use my website to your advantage and have a look around at all the wonders that the beaches of San Diego can offer you!
San Diego, known as “America’s Finest City,” boasts over 70 miles of coastline to explore! Are you a piscator? Or, in other words, do you like saltwater fishing? Do you prefer to fish from piers or jetties? From shore or out in the ocean? San Diego’s peak fishing season begins in April and until November. Would you like to learn more about saltwater fishing in San Diego?
What makes San Diego extraordinary is that the coastline is so varied. There are miles of sandstone bluffs in North County San Diego (San Onofre, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Del Mar). While down in South County San Diego, sandy beaches rule (Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, Coronado, Imperial Beach.) San Diego has it all, whether you prefer to fish from the beach, jetty, pier, boat, or by a chartered vessel!
A Piscator Page, You Say?
I thought having a specific page on my website with all of the San Diego saltwater fishing information in one place would be good. A piscator page!
So down below, I have compiled complete lists of all San Diego saltwater fishing piers, saltwater sportfishing (half-day/full-day) party and charter boats, boat launch ramps, lobster fishing spots, the 2022 grunion run schedule, a few fish lists, as well as several prominent shore fishing locations.
As a bonus, I have included all harbor and bay cruises offered out of Oceanside Harbor, Mission Bay, and San Diego Bay for those who have no desire to fish but still yearn to be on the water.
To experience San Diego fully, you must get on the ocean, breathe in all the negative ions, and let the saltwater spray on your face. Believe me; you will thank me later. Also, don’t forget to pack a sweatshirt, as it can get chilly out on the water.
I have always had a deep-seated passion for the Ocean Environment which ultimately led me to receive a degree in Marine Biology. Living in the San Diego area for over 30 years, I have extensively explored the 70 miles of San Diego’s coastline, and I am here to share! Please use my website to your advantage and have a look around at all the wonders that the beaches of San Diego can offer you!
Wow! Do I have some exciting information for you all? Many of you may have somewhat of an idea of my complete, somewhat obsessive love of King Tides. For all others, a King Tide is when you have the highest and lowest tides of the year (click on the link for more in-depth information.) Most attention is given to the high tide, as people enjoy seeing how far the ocean will reach on land.
I love going to the beach during the lowest tides, so I can examine what is usually covered by the ocean and have rare access to beaches that are typically not accessible. And let me tell you, today is one of those days.
Yes! My girls and I explored two caves at the La Jolla Underwater Park!
Now I must say right up front that getting to these caves is no easy feat, and you have to have tremendous balance as there is at least a quarter-mile of rocks to walk over until you reach the semi-sandy beach over at Caves Beach.
I have always had a deep-seated passion for the Ocean Environment which ultimately led me to receive a degree in Marine Biology. Living in the San Diego area for over 30 years, I have extensively explored the 70 miles of San Diego’s coastline, and I am here to share! Please use my website to your advantage and have a look around at all the wonders that the beaches of San Diego can offer you!
Today I would like to share with you all one of my most awe-inspiring places to go to in San Diego County. Every time I am here, I never want to leave. Wherever you look, there is something incredible to see. Even the sounds here are sweet! If you enjoy taking photos, San Onofre State Beach is THE place you must visit!  The views here are extraordinary! Situated on top of towering sandstone cliffs, San Onofre Bluffs Campground has some of the best coastal hiking trails to experience in North County, San Diego.
There are seven 1/4 mile hiking trails that lead you down to the beach, as well as countless numbers of ravines, gullies, arroyos, and barrancas.  I think you will love it here, especially if you appreciate a wild and undeveloped beach, which is my favorite type of beach!
On this particular day, my daughter and I started over at Trail Six (see map below) and set up a tent to relax.
My goal on this day was to explore vast amounts of uncharted territory by exploring a few narrow sandstone gullies and a wider barranca south of Trail Six.
Would you care to see what I experienced?
Below, I have provided a campground map to understand the terrain and location better.
*Of particular note- in case you notice the pink hue in some of the photos, this is because of all of the fires that were (some still are) burning while I was here.
I have always had a deep-seated passion for the Ocean Environment which ultimately led me to receive a degree in Marine Biology. Living in the San Diego area for over 30 years, I have extensively explored the 70 miles of San Diego’s coastline, and I am here to share! Please use my website to your advantage and have a look around at all the wonders that the beaches of San Diego can offer you!
Seeing how I have been homebound during this unprecedented Worldwide Lockdown (I am sure you can relate), I had the time to do some shark research. I have always wondered how often sharks are seen off the coast of San Diego. Through the years, I have heard rumors, but seeing that I had a bunch of time on my hands, I set out to find all I could about San Diego shark sightings and encounters that happened off the coastline.
Sharks have fascinated me since I was a little girl, and my first scientific report was on the hammerhead shark in fourth grade.
Something so powerful and alluring about sharks tugging deep at your primal soul: the coldness of the eyes and the methodic tail movements that propel them through the water always captures my attention and imagination. I mean, the fact that sharks have been around for over 400 million years blows me away!
But I digress.
My mind was running wild while reading the fascinating shark encounter reports. It was a welcome reprieve to escape the world’s chaos.
So, why not document the various shark sightings/ encounters in San Diego County, beach by beach? It would make for a great addition to my website, as well as for my curiosity. Â
Sad News From Santa Cruz, California
While writing this article, something truly tragic happened off the coast of Northern California at 1:30Â pm on May 11.
On the northern end of Monterey Bay, Ben Kelly, 26 years old, was attacked and killed by a shark while surfing. The tragedy occurred 100 yards (91 meters) from the shore of Sand Dollar Beach at Manresa State Beach, Santa Cruz.
Kelly was surfing with a friend, who said they could swim back to shore but could not stop the bleeding.
Experts also noted that this area is notorious for juvenile great white shark sightings and is called “Shark Park.”
But a juvenile did not attack Ben, as experts reported the shark to have been larger than 10 feet.
What Types of Sharks Are Found off the Coast of San Diego County?
Terramar Beach
Before I get into all the critical shark sighting data I have uncovered, I thought I would first make a list of possible sharks seen in and around San Diego waters.
To go one step further, I have separated them into Coastal and Pelagic groups. Down below are the definitions given to simplify the difference between the two.
I have always had a deep-seated passion for the Ocean Environment which ultimately led me to receive a degree in Marine Biology. Living in the San Diego area for over 30 years, I have extensively explored the 70 miles of San Diego’s coastline, and I am here to share! Please use my website to your advantage and have a look around at all the wonders that the beaches of San Diego can offer you!
I thought I would post something different today! While cleaning up the other day, I found a few of my college reports and had a fabulous time reminiscing the good old days when all I would think about day in and day out was Marine Biology. I remember writing this paper and visiting the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles to photograph the Catalina megamouth shark specimen.
To make things a bit easier to read, I have broken up the body of my report to make it flow better. Anyone familiar with Scientific Papers can be chunky, so I hope this helps.
When I composed this report, only four megamouth sharks were ever seen. Over 30 years, 58 more can be added to that list. So please remember while you are reading this that, scientifically, this paper doesn’t hold much faith due to its age.
But, most of the information is still very relevant, especially the morphology. Have fun, and check out the end, as I will list all megamouth sharks that have been observed so far.
Introduction- Megachasma pelagios,  Family Megachasmidae
Figure 1- Hawaiian specimen caught off of Oahu, Nov. 15, 1976
A rare and startling discovery occurred on November 15, 1976, off Oahu, Hawaii. A U.S. Navy research vessel was anchored at about 165 m depth and had a strange 4.5 m adult male shark attached.
I have always had a deep-seated passion for the Ocean Environment which ultimately led me to receive a degree in Marine Biology. Living in the San Diego area for over 30 years, I have extensively explored the 70 miles of San Diego’s coastline, and I am here to share! Please use my website to your advantage and have a look around at all the wonders that the beaches of San Diego can offer you!
