Salt Creek Beach Park
Dana Point · Orange County · California
Visibility Breakdown
Visibility by position
Solid = diver report · outlined = our reading
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.
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Coastal Bulletin
About Salt Creek Beach Park
Why it reads 21 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
Dana Point, CA 92629
Large paid public lot off Ritz-Carlton Drive at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Ritz-Carlton Drive, $1 per hour year-round. A pedestrian underpass and trail lead from the lot down to the beach. Hours 5am to midnight.
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See the offshore water on Pelagiscape →Clarity, temperature breaks and kelp off this beach.
About Salt Creek Beach Park
Salt Creek Beach Park is an 18-acre OC Parks beach below the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel bluff in Dana Point, Orange County. A pedestrian underpass and trail drop from the bluff parking lot down to the sand. The central beach is sand, and the south end runs into cobble and boulder structure that ties through to Strands Beach and the Dana Point Headlands. A small offshore reef, known locally as the Strands or Gravels, produces a consistent left-breaking wave at the north end. Monarch Beach (the Monarch Bay Beach Club) and the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach sit on the bluff at the north, and Strands Beach extends south toward the Headlands Conservation Area. The Ritz-Carlton grounds gate at the south end keeps pedestrian access along the bluff open 24 hours. Salt Creek sits inside the Dana Point State Marine Conservation Area, which runs along the Dana Point coast from roughly 33.4550 N to 33.5008 N.
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
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