McGrath State Beach
Oxnard · Ventura 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 McGrath State Beach
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
Oxnard, CA 93035
California State Parks lot at the end of Harbor Boulevard in south Oxnard, with day-use fee. The 174-site campground has been partially or fully closed since 2017 due to flooding from the Santa Clara River estuary, with only about one-third of sites operational on a limited basis. Verify camping availability with California State Parks before traveling. Restrooms on site.
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See the offshore water on Pelagiscape →Clarity, temperature breaks and kelp off this beach.
About McGrath State Beach
McGrath State Beach covers approximately 340 acres along two miles of coast between the cities of Ventura and Oxnard, on the south bank of the mouth of the Santa Clara River. Nine habitats meet inside the unit: the Pacific Ocean, sandy beach, coastal dunes, the Santa Clara River and its estuary, McGrath Lake as a coastal back-dune water body, riparian woodland, freshwater marsh, and brackish marsh. The estuary and dunes support federally listed species including the western snowy plover. McGrath State Beach is one of the best bird-watching sites on the Ventura County coast. The 174-site campground has been heavily impacted by repeated flooding since the south levee on the Santa Clara River failed in 2005, and only a fraction of campsites have been operational since 2017.
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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