Hendry's Beach
Santa Barbara · Santa Barbara County · California
Visibility Breakdown
Visibility by position
Solid = diver report · outlined = today's forecast
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. Haze can sit near the surface, so the water is usually clearer the deeper you go.
Through the day
Today's visibility readings at this spot, shown at the hour each one was taken.
Every bar is a reading for the Post Break zone.
This chart shows measured diver reports only.
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Coastal Bulletin
About Hendry's Beach
Why it reads 19–23 ft
Today's forecast runs
The clarity holds through the day, with a light afternoon onshore the only disturbance to the entry shallows.
Medium confidence
7-Day Forecast
Today is the live headline above. Tomorrow onward is the algorithm's forecast from predicted swell, wind, and rain, updated each morning and at 6 PM Pacific.
Map and parking
Two free paved lots at the Cliff Drive entrance (exit Las Positas Road south to Cliff Drive). Lots fill by mid-morning on weekends. The Boathouse restaurant sits on the sand; restrooms, outdoor showers, picnic tables, and dog wash stations on the upper lawn.
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See the offshore water on Pelagiscape →Clarity, temperature breaks and kelp off this beach.
About Hendry's Beach
Hendry's Beach is the local name for Arroyo Burro County Beach Park, the main public beach on Santa Barbara's west side. The shoreline is a wide sandy stretch flanked by sandstone bluffs at the mouth of Arroyo Burro Creek. The Boathouse restaurant sits on the sand, open from breakfast through dinner with dogs welcome on the patio. East of the creek mouth is one of only three legal off-leash dog beaches in Santa Barbara, with dog wash stations on the upper lawn and a Watershed Resource Center on site. The beach is more a family and dog-walking destination than a dive site, though it picks up rideable surf on a west or northwest swell.
Species found here
Researched habitat and range candidates. A listed species may be seasonal or depth-limited; this is not a confirmed sighting at this location.
Spot strategies
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