Spooner's Cove

Spooner's Cove is a sand-bottom cove inside Montaña de Oro State Park, directly opposite the park visitor center on Pecho Valley Road. Islay Creek empties into the ocean at the south end. Two rocky headlands shelter the cove, and from each headland a main spur of rock extends offshore, with a wide sand channel between them. About a quarter mile out, in roughly 45 feet of water, bull and giant kelp anchor on rocky bottom and grow up to the surface. Surface temperatures run from the high 40s in winter to the high 50s in summer.

The two rock spurs are covered with macroalgae and edged by cobble and exposed rock running into the water, making them a rocky reef biome on either side of the cove. The kelp bed beyond the spurs forms a kelp forest biome reachable by a longer swim or short kayak from shore. The wide sand channel between the spurs, where small waves break on the open beach, is a surf zone biome.

Scuba and snorkeling from the sand-channel entry are common on calm days, and spearfishing in the rock spurs and kelp is regular. The sheltered geography of the cove keeps surfing uncommon. Hook-and-line fishing from the rocks at either end of the cove and tide-pooling at low tide on the spurs are both common. Visibility runs from 10 feet on a swell to 50 feet or more on a clean calm day. The rocky channels should be worked only in calm conditions; in any swell, divers and snorkelers stay in the sand channel.

The Spooner's Cove parking lot inside Montaña de Oro State Park is free, with restrooms and the visitor center across the road. Access is via Pecho Valley Road from Los Osos. Hook-and-line fishing and spearfishing are legal here under standard California regulations.