Oil Piers Beach
Sea Cliff · 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 Oil Piers 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
Ventura, CA 93001
Small free dirt pullout on Old Pacific Coast Highway about a half mile south of Mussel Shoals, reached from Highway 101 exit 78 (Sea Cliff). The pullout holds roughly a dozen cars and has no facilities. The beach is reached by a short walk under the highway.
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See the offshore water on Pelagiscape →Clarity, temperature breaks and kelp off this beach.
About Oil Piers Beach
Oil Piers Beach runs about a mile of sand and cobble between the small community of Mussel Shoals and the Seacliff Beach Colony in northern Ventura County. The defining piece of its history is no longer there. Two oil piers stood off this stretch for decades, and through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s they trapped enough sand to build a defined sandbar break that drew surfers from up and down the Ventura coast. When the operator's lease with the State of California expired, both piers were dismantled in 1998. The sandbar shifted with them, and the surf has not been the same since. Stubs of the old pilings and broken rubble still sit on the bottom in places. To the north the beach ends below the Cliff House Inn, perched on the bluff above Highway 101.
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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