Mission Beach
San Diego · San Diego County · California
Visibility Breakdown
Scripps Pier cam readings translated to this spot's Post Break zone · latest cam read 13 ft
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.
Solid = measured by a diver · outlined = estimated from the Scripps cam
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Today's forecast
Estimated from the Scripps cam · reviewed 5:01 PM PT today · September 11, 20267-Day Forecast
Map · getting there
32.768° N · 117.255° W
San Diego, CA 92109
Open in Google Maps
Open in Apple MapsAbout Mission Beach
Mission Beach is the narrow sand peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and Mission Bay, 2 blocks wide and just under 2 miles long. A boardwalk runs the full length of the oceanfront, and Mission Boulevard runs the spine of the peninsula as the main north-south artery. Belmont Park sits at the center of the peninsula at 3146 Mission Boulevard. Its anchor attraction is the Giant Dipper, a wooden roller coaster that opened on this site in 1925, closed in 1976, and reopened in 1990 after a full restoration. At the south end, the peninsula tapers down to the harbor entrance jetty that separates Mission Bay from the open ocean.
Sand runs from one end of the peninsula to the other, with breaking surf and no rocky reef or kelp anywhere offshore, which places Mission Beach in the surf zone biome.
Surfing and swimming account for almost all the water use, and hook-and-line surf fishing is common along the sand at a smaller scale. With no rock or kelp offshore to hold fish close in, spearfishing, snorkeling, and scuba are all uncommon here.
The Belmont Park area is served by 4 free public lots: Ventura Place, the south Belmont lot, and 2 smaller ones. All of them fill before mid-morning on summer weekends, and the metered street parking on Mission Boulevard is competitive once the lots are full. Fishing and spearfishing are legal here under standard California regulations.
Surf Zone
The surf zone biome consists of sandy beaches and breaking waves. The action of surf disturbing the sand and kicking it up exposes marine invertebrates, buried in their shallow dens. This natural exposure of invertebrates attracts all kinds of fish, looking for an easy meal. Learn more about this biome and the species found in it by clicking the link below.
Learn more in the Biome Glossary
Rocky Reef
The rocky reef biome is bare rock, boulder, and cobble structure without a kelp canopy above it. The hard relief and its crevices shelter invertebrates and reef fish, and the structure concentrates life that the surrounding sand cannot hold. Learn more about this biome and the species found in it by clicking the link below.
Learn more in the Biome GlossaryTarget Fish Species
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