My husband is a veterinarian, which means we spend a lot of our time together outdoors or around animals. One of his favorite places to go with our kids is the tide pools at Sunset Cliffs in San Diego, where tiny hermit crabs, shy anemones, and sleepy snails all live quietly in their natural habitat.
From Coronado, it only takes 20-30 minutes to reach Sunset Cliffs near Ocean Beach. We love driving through OB to take the road along the cliffs (Sunset Cliffs Blvd), where joggers run and the sun meets the horizon. There is one set of stairs down the cliffs to the tide pools, indicated on the map here. Park your car for free on the street at the corner of Ladera St and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. The stairs will be obvious on the other side of the guard rail. Join the surfers with their boards jogging down the steps towards the ocean.
Before you go, check the tide schedule to ensure that it will be low tide when you visit, or otherwise you may not be able to access the tide pools!
Once you reach the bottom of the stairs, turn left and follow the ledge around the front of the cliff. Be careful — it’s slippery on the rocks. You will see rocky beach and then large, flat rocks with shallow tide pools. Make your way carefully across the beach to the flat rocks, and then have fun exploring the pools!
We love to gently gather a few handfuls of hermit crabs, set them on the ground, and see which ones uncurl from their shells and race for water first. Hidden in cracks and crevasses are sea anemones of various sizes, and they will be fine if you gently touch them to feel their sticky tendrils contract around your fingertip. You can even feed them something — like a hermit crab or snail — if you really want to explore nature! My children love holding a tiny crab for the half-second before it leaps from their hand back into the pools.
My kids also love gathering kelp pods and stamping on them to hear the pop, or smashing the larger pods on the ground. We’ve brought many of our visitors to Sunset Cliffs and have some of our favorite photos from smashing kelp. I joke that “Smashing Kelp” will be the name of my kids’ first album.
Later, when we’re tired and the sun is sinking low, we make our way back up the stairs and drive into OB for dinner. Our kids love to run up and down the long pier, and the food at the well-rated OB Beach Pier Cafe is surprisingly wonderful, despite its weather-worn exterior. Their nacho plate is huge, and the lobster soft tacos are delicious. We’ve watched the sunset from the cafe, cheered for surfers from mid-way down the pier, and wandered through the town to explore the shops afterwards.
For other tide pools, also check out Point Loma and Cabrillo National Monument. These tide pools are very popular and can get crowded, as they are much better-known than Sunset Cliffs. However, be aware that the park closes at 5pm, which may mean you miss low tide at the pools. The admission fee is $5 per car or bicycle. The National Park Service has a list of helpful rules and guidelines for exploring the tide pools.
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“Coronado Living” is a weekly column written by one of our staff writers, Becca Garber. She blogs about choosing simplicity and practicing hospitality with her family at home in Coronado. You can read more of her writing on her blog.
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Becca Garber
Staff Writer
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