Crystal Cove State Park
PCH, Laguna Beach / Newport Coast · near Laguna Beach / Newport Beach · Los Angeles / SoCal
Tidepooling
At a glance
- Fee
- $15 day-use parking
- Season
- Year-round · winter afternoon minus tides are prime
What is here
- Species
- Two-spot octopus · Sea hares · Aggregating anemones · Wavy turban snails
- Highlights
- Reef Point · Pelican Point
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
- Gear
- Grippy wet shoes · Tide chart — the good pools need a true minus tide · Sun protection; zero shade on the reef · $15 for the lot, or ride the OC bus
Tidepooling detail
- Nickname
- Orange County's Reef Quartet
- Pool type
- reef-shelf
- Program
- self-guided
- Mpa
- Crystal Cove State Marine Conservation Area
- Best tide
- -1.0 ft or lower; arrive 1 hr before the low
- Docent note
- Park interpretive staff & Crystal Cove Conservancy run education programs; check park calendar
- Intl tip
- Between Newport and Laguna on PCH, $15 parking. Reef Point stairs put you straight on the best shelf. The pools need a genuine minus tide (winter afternoons); pair with the historic-district cottages and Shake Shack bluff at sunset.
The guide
Crystal Cove State Park protects three miles of Orange County shoreline between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach, and along it f…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Crystal Cove State Park — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 33.5646, -117.833