Asilomar & Point Pinos
Pacific Grove, Monterey Peninsula · near Pacific Grove / Monterey · Central Coast
Tidepooling
At a glance
- Fee
- Free — roadside parking on Sunset Dr & Ocean View Blvd
- Season
- Year-round · pre-dawn summer minus tides are magic here
What is here
- Species
- Black turban snails · Giant green anemones · Kelp crabs · Sea otters just offshore
- Highlights
- The Great Tide Pool · Asilomar Coast Trail
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
- Gear
- Grippy shoes — wet granite is slick · Headlamp for pre-dawn summer lows · Windproof layer · Steinbeck's Cannery Row for the car ride
Tidepooling detail
- Nickname
- Doc Ricketts' Great Tide Pool
- Pool type
- granite
- Program
- self-guided
- Mpa
- Asilomar SMR (no-take) · Pacific Grove Marine Gardens SMCA
- Best tide
- Below 0.0 ft; granite shelves at Point Pinos
- Docent note
- No standing program; PG Museum of Natural History runs periodic intertidal walks
- Intl tip
- Free, ungated, and 10 min from Monterey Bay Aquarium — the natural field trip after seeing the tanks. Park roadside on Ocean View Blvd for Point Pinos or Sunset Dr for Asilomar. Summer minus tides fall at dawn here; winter lows mid-afternoon. Read the first page of Cannery Row before you go.
- Directions note
- Roadside on Ocean View Blvd (Point Pinos) or Sunset Dr (Asilomar); park fully off the pavement
The guide
The granite shore from Asilomar State Beach around to Point Pinos lighthouse is the most storied stretch of intertidal ground i…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Asilomar & Point Pinos — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.637, -121.936