Tabletops Reef

Tabletops Reef lies off Tide Beach Park at the north end of Solana Beach, San Diego County, about a quarter mile north of Fletcher Cove. The City of Solana Beach lists the park as Tide Beach Park and Table Tops, after the large reef that sits just north of the beach stairs. Public access is at the corner of Solana Vista Drive and Pacific Avenue, where a long staircase drops down the bluff to the sand, and every dive ends with the climb back up. The beach has public showers but no restrooms, and lifeguards staff it only in summer, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The reef north of the stairs forms the rocky reef biome at the center of the site. On the inner reef, steep rock formations drop to a sand bottom at about 30 feet, and farther north the reef flattens into a garden of kelp and sponges. Straight out from the stairs, kelp runs offshore to a depth of about 65 feet, which gives the site a kelp forest biome as well. Scattered reefs sit out front and to the south, and the waves that break over them and the sand between them make up the surf zone biome. Tide pools line the northern edge of the park, which adds the tidepool biome.

The city lists surfing, surf fishing, snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming, and bodyboarding among the uses at the beach. Like the rest of the North County coast, the reef faces open swell, and dive guides treat it as divable only when the surf is small.

Parking is limited to free street parking in the neighborhood around Solana Vista Drive. Tabletops lies south of the southern boundary of Swami's State Marine Conservation Area, and no marine protected area covers the reef, so fishing and spearfishing are legal under standard California regulations.