Wipe Out Beach

Being farther away from The Cove, you'll find more parking in this area. Watch the posted time limits, as the meter-personnel are vicious! Looking North, with South Casa in the background. The stairs take you down to the rocks, but watch your step thereafter. You'll need to make a small jump to the sand. Looking South, you can see the sandy entry. Bring a couple of tanks to fully enjoy this area!

Just to clarify, this is not 'Boomer Beach' as the other reviewer says. This is known as 'Wipe out Beach' because of the shore break which rushes up the beach and knocks your feet out from under you. I spent many days in the nearby lifeguard tower being entertained by scuba divers rolling around in the shore break. If the shore break is strong you should consider crawling out on your hands and knees. Boomer beach is incorrectly called Breaker Beach here. I've lived here all my life and never heard of Breaker Beach.

Also known as "Boomer" by some of the locals. This is the first beach south of the Cove that is outside of La Jolla Reserve. The visibility was very good for So. Cal. w/swells between 1 & 2 feet. The sea grass is so thick on shore that it is somewhat difficult to first get in, but a few yards out it clears up. All rocks are covered with sea grass with some good sized sandy bottom areas. Great sea life to view and relatively easy to snorkel. Dive gear may get hung up on sea grass upon entry.

This is one of my favorite dives in La Jolla for a couple of reasons. First of all the crowds are usually thinner here and you can usually find a place close enough to park, even in summer when you'll be driving in circles for hours looking for a spot down by the Cove. Secondly it usually holds it's visibility better than anywhere else in the San Diego area. A wide variety of bottom terrain keeps the site interesting. To the right there are fingers of high relief reefs, in the center follow the sand channels along the kelp and eel grass, and to the left there are more reefs. Life here varies with the amount of kelp present. But I've seen seals, bat rays, guitarfish, halibut, perch and lobster (though mostly small). The fish seem to hug the structure in the area, probably to avoid the hungry seals. Watch the shore break, which can be steep, but the sandy bottom makes the entry/exit a little easier.