Newport Beach

Newport Beach is the long sand beach on the ocean side of the Balboa Peninsula in Orange County. The peninsula separates the open Pacific from Newport Harbor and Balboa Bay behind it, and Balboa Boulevard runs the length of it, connecting the two pier areas. Newport Pier, originally built as McFadden Wharf in 1888, extends roughly 1,032 feet from the foot of McFadden Place at McFadden Square. Balboa Pier, built in 1906, extends roughly 920 feet from the foot of Main Street two miles southeast. The Balboa Pavilion, also from 1906, stands at the inland base of Balboa Pier. The Wedge sits at the south tip of the peninsula, where the east jetty of the harbor refracts incoming swell into a steep, peaking break that throws some of the largest bodysurf and bodyboard waves on the California coast.

The bottom is sand throughout the named beach, with breaking surf and no rocky reef or kelp offshore. The unbroken sand and the consistent surf make this a surf zone biome.

Surfing and bodysurfing dominate the use, with the pier areas and the Wedge holding distinct user groups. Hook-and-line fishing from both piers and from shore is common, and swimming holds steady along the central beach away from the Wedge. Spearfishing along the named beach is legal under standard California regulations but is uncommon, because no rocky structure or kelp holds fish here. Snorkeling and scuba are uncommon for the same reason.

The paid lots at McFadden Square at Newport Pier and at the Balboa Pier base both run $1.50 to $2 per hour, with metered street parking on Balboa Boulevard. Spaces fill before 9 a.m. on summer weekends. Residential street parking inland of the peninsula is permit-restricted in some sections. Newport Beach Municipal Code section 11.24.020 bars using or carrying a spear or spear gun on the beach, on either pier, or in the ocean within 50 feet of any swimmer, bather, or surfer, unless the point is completely sheathed and guarded, so a spearfisher crosses the sand with the tip covered and works water clear of the crowds. Fishing and spearfishing are otherwise legal under standard California regulations. Newport Harbor and Balboa Bay are interior waters and are not covered by this spot.