Jalama 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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Why it reads 2–6 ft
Today's forecast runs
Dawn is the clearest window — onshore wind picks up by late morning and surface chop stirs the bottom through the afternoon.
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
Day-use entry fee at the Santa Barbara County Park gate. The drive in from Lompoc is about 14 miles of winding Jalama Road; expect roughly an hour from downtown Santa Barbara. The park has a campground, the Jalama Beach Store, and the famous Jalama Burger.
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See the offshore water on Pelagiscape →Clarity, temperature breaks and kelp off this beach.
About Jalama Beach
Jalama Beach is the first major beach north of Point Conception, a fully exposed stretch of open ocean roughly 60 miles from downtown Santa Barbara and 14 miles down a winding county road from Lompoc. The drive in on Jalama Road takes about an hour from Santa Barbara, climbing through ranch land before dropping into a windswept cove with a campground, a day-use lot, and little else. Water temperatures sit in the low-to-mid 50s most of the year, noticeably colder than the protected coast east of the point, and the wind almost always blows. The surf is rough, west and southwest swells work best, and the lineup is for experienced surfers only. The dunes north and south of the main beach are protected snowy plover habitat and are roped off seasonally.
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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