Little Corona del Mar Beach

Little Corona del Mar Beach is a small rocky cove at the mouth of Buck Gully in the Corona del Mar district of Newport Beach, Orange County. A long paved ramp descends gradually from the corner of Ocean Boulevard and Poppy Avenue, which makes this one of the gentler approaches to the water on a coast full of stairways. Corona del Mar State Beach, known locally as Big Corona, sits about 0.3 miles north beyond Inspiration Point. Arch Rock, a pyramid-shaped arch, stands offshore to the south and is the landmark most pictures of the cove are framed around. The beach has no restrooms and no lifeguard tower.

Rocky reef flanks the cove on both sides and runs offshore, and kelp shades the southern reefs through much of the year, so the kelp forest biome is the one that defines the cove. The rock under that canopy stands as a rocky reef biome, surfacing at the edges as the tidepools the cove is known for. Between the stone, the sand holds eelgrass across the shallows.

The cove sits well protected from open swell, which makes it one of the easier shore dives in Orange County and the reason snorkelers and scuba divers work it through the year. Dive guides put visibility here at 15 to 20 feet on an average day, with 30 feet not unusual once the water clears. Tidepooling brings school groups and families down to the rocks at low tide. Spearfishing is legal in the water off the cove, though the tidepools themselves are closed to all take.

Free street parking on Poppy Avenue and Ocean Boulevard is the only option, and the residential blocks above the bluff fill on summer weekends. The northern boundary of the Crystal Cove State Marine Conservation Area runs at the cove itself, at 33 degrees 35.372 minutes north. Under California Code of Regulations Title 14, take of all living marine resources is prohibited inside that conservation area, with exceptions for recreational hook-and-line fishing for finfish, recreational spearfishing for finfish, and recreational take of spiny lobster and sea urchin. Take from the tidepools is prohibited.