Pillar Point Reef
Princeton / Half Moon Bay · near Half Moon Bay · SF Bay Area
Tidepooling
At a glance
- Fee
- Free — public lots at the end of West Point Ave
- Season
- Year-round · watch winter swell — Mavericks breaks just offshore
What is here
- Species
- Red octopus · Gumboot chitons · Sea stars · Eelgrass beds & nudibranchs
- Highlights
- The North Reef · Mavericks Overlook
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
- Gear
- Grippy shoes; the outer reef is uneven · Tide AND swell check — sneaker waves are real here · Warm shell for the harbor wind · Binoculars for surf and seabirds
Tidepooling detail
- Nickname
- Tidepools Below Mavericks
- Pool type
- reef-shelf
- Program
- self-guided
- Mpa
- Montara SMR / Pillar Point SMCA boundary — treat as no-take
- Best tide
- Minus tides only; the outer reef needs -1.0 ft or lower
- Docent note
- No fixed program; heavily used by school & marine-science groups
- Intl tip
- 20 min from Half Moon Bay, free parking. Check swell as well as tide — the outer reef takes open-ocean waves. In winter, the Mavericks surf break is visible from the same bluff; in any season, the harbor's fish-and-chips are the right finish.
- Directions note
- Park at the end of West Point Ave; 10-min bluff walk north to the reef
The guide
Pillar Point pairs two spectacles in one short walk: a first-rate tidepool reef on the harbor's ocean side, and — in winter — t…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Pillar Point Reef — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.4959, -122.4996