Crystal Cove
Crystal Cove State Park · Orange County · California
Visibility Breakdown
Visibility by position
Solid = diver report · outlined = our reading
Break Zone: The range of water where the waves break and sediment is stirred up.
Post Break: The range past where any waves are forming, where the water starts to have a significant increase in visibility. There might be some sediment here, but swell energy is diffused and the water is calmer.
Open Water: This zone is far out enough from the shore that the water is at its clearest. It’s deep enough that sediment is not disturbed by the wave energy at the surface. Haze can sit near the surface, so the water is usually clearer the deeper you go.
Through the day
Today's visibility readings at this spot, shown at the hour each one was taken.
Every bar is a reading for the Post Break zone.
✓ = reading reviewed by hand
auto = reading not yet reviewed by hand
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Coastal Bulletin
About Crystal Cove
Current notices
Why it reads 11 ft
High confidence
7-Day Forecast
Today is the live headline above. Tomorrow onward is the algorithm's forecast from predicted swell, wind, and rain, updated each morning and at 6 PM Pacific.
Map and parking
Newport Coast, CA 92657
Four paid lots inside Crystal Cove State Park along Pacific Coast Highway — Pelican Point (north), Los Trancos (central, with the historic district tunnel), Reef Point, and Moro Canyon (south). Day-use fee $15. Lots fill on summer weekends.
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See the offshore water on Pelagiscape →Clarity, temperature breaks and kelp off this beach.
About Crystal Cove
Crystal Cove is a 3.2-mile run of bluff coast inside Crystal Cove State Park, sitting between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach in Orange County. The park breaks into six named beach sections. Pelican Point anchors the north end, followed by Reef Point, the Historic District beach at the mouth of Los Trancos Creek, and Moro Beach at the south. The smaller 3.5 Cove and Scotchman's Cove sit just off Reef Point. Forty-six wooden cottages from the 1930s and 1940s stand in the Historic District, federally listed as the Crystal Cove Historic District, and the Beachcomber Cafe operates at the bluff above Los Trancos Beach. The Crystal Cove State Marine Conservation Area covers the whole park shoreline, running 4.3 miles from Little Corona del Mar at 33.5895 N south to Abalone Point at 33.5537 N and covering 3.53 square miles of water out to 245 feet deep. Pelican Point, the Historic District beach, and every other named section of the park sit inside it.
Species found here
Researched habitat and range candidates. A listed species may be seasonal or depth-limited; this is not a confirmed sighting at this location.
Spot strategies
Surf Zone
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