Sunset Cliffs Natural Park

Sunset Cliffs Natural Park is a 68-acre cliff-edge park on the western flank of the Point Loma peninsula in San Diego. The park runs from Adair Street in the north to the Naval Reservation in the south, and the sandstone bluff along that stretch has been carved into sea caves and arches by long exposure to the open Pacific. At the foot of Ladera Street sits Garbage Beach, a name usually traced to the heavy loads of kelp that wash up among its rocks, though some accounts tie it instead to trash thrown over the bluff in earlier decades. The only maintained access is the concrete stairway at the end of Ladera Street; the other entries are unimproved scrambles down the sandstone. Cliff failures on the unstable sandstone recur, and rescues follow them regularly.

Offshore, the bottom is cobble and boulder substrate in 10 to 35 feet of water. Past the immediate cliff base, giant kelp anchors to that rocky bottom and grows up through the water column to the surface. The bare shallow reef makes for a rocky reef biome, and the canopy beyond forms a kelp forest biome within a short swim of the maintained access points.

Spearfishing, surfing, and scuba draw most of the water use, while snorkeling and freediving from Ladera Street are common on calm days. Hook-and-line fishing from the cliff edges happens, though the height above the water and the difficulty of retrieving a fish limit the practice. Conditions vary with season and storm history, and the kelp anchor depth and density shift after large winter swells.

Two dirt lots sit at the foot of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard near Ladera Street, with additional street parking along the boulevard. Spaces fill before sunset on weekends and through summer. Fishing and spearfishing are legal here under standard California regulations.