La Jolla Cove
La Jolla Cove is a small, picturesque cove and beach that is surrounded by cliffs in La Jolla, San Diego, California. The Cove is protected as part of a marine reserve; underwater it is very rich in marine life, and is popular with snorkelers, swimmers and scuba divers.
The swells that often roll in from the open ocean here can be rather large and strong, and so being in the water at the Cove is not always suitable for people who do not have good water skills. The water temperature is also often a little colder than the average San Diego beach, and the beach has the disadvantage that the dry sand area is very small at high tide. In contrast, during very low tides, a lot of interesting tide pools are revealed at the Cove.
Free public parking is extremely limited and is all on-street; there are also paid parking garages in the area. From the park at the top of the Cove, there are a few steps down on each side to a "gallery" area with a lot of benches. This gallery includes the entrance to the lifeguard station, where the lifeguard's chalkboard shows useful information updated throughout the day. From the gallery level there are two steep sets of concrete steps that lead down to the beach itself, although visitors often have to step on rocks to get all the way down to the sand.
The beach at the Cove is very small, and the sand is gritty. Lifeguards are present at the Cove every day of the year from 9 am until the sun sets. The Cove is a very popular spot for swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving. During summer, there are two swim buoys placed at 1/4mile and 1/2 mile distances from the Cove. More adventurous swimmers will attempt to swim to Scripps Pier and back, totaling 3 miles round trip. The cove is home to many open water swimming events year round including the Rough Water Swim and the 10 Mile Relay swim.
Because La Jolla Cove is within the San Diego-La Jolla Underwater Park (a marine refuge area), swimming devices such as surfboards, boogie boards, and even inflatable mattresses, are not permitted, and kayakers are not allowed into the Cove; these rules are carefully enforced by the lifeguards on duty. Also because the Cove is an ecological reserve, no fishing is allowed. In addition, no collecting of marine invertebrates, (even taking dead specimens or seashells) is allowed in this area. All sea animals in this area are protected by law, including the orange Garibaldi fish, which are unusually common in the Cove. A few sea lions are sometimes seen in the deeper-water parts of the Cove or basking on rocks.
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