Mission Bay

Mission Bay is a 4,200-acre protected recreational bay in San Diego, the largest aquatic park of its kind in the United States. The bay opens to the Pacific between Mission Beach and Ocean Beach through the San Diego River channel, with city parks and peninsulas closing it on the other three sides. Crown Point Shores, Vacation Isle, Fiesta Island, and De Anza Cove are the major peninsulas inside the bay. SeaWorld occupies the southwest corner. The bay surface stays sheltered from open-ocean swell.

The partially enclosed water body, with its reduced wave energy and tidal exchange, is a bay biome. Eelgrass beds spread across the shallow sand flats throughout the bay, adding a seagrass biome inside the same shoreline.

Hook-and-line fishing for halibut on the drifts in the channels is the most common water activity, and swimming and wading are common at the designated swim beaches. Spearfishing is legal but dangerous because of heavy boat, jet ski, and swimmer traffic, and visibility rarely exceeds 10 feet. With no swell reaching inside the bay, surfing is absent. The same low visibility keeps scuba uncommon and limits snorkeling to the calmer corners.

Free public lots serve the bay parks at Crown Point, Fiesta Island, De Anza Cove, Vacation Isle, and Bonita Cove. Lots fill quickly on summer weekends, but the bay is large enough that a spot can usually be found somewhere. Fishing and spearfishing are legal here under standard California regulations.