CALIFORNIA: BEST BEACHES

SOUTH OF SAN FRANCISCO

by Lee Foster

This write-up continues the discussion suggesting the best beaches near San Francisco.

If headed south on CA Highway 1, here are thoughts on beaches at which to linger:

FITZGERALD MARINE RESERVE BEACHES, 12 MILES SOUTH:

In the rush to the beaches at Half Moon Bay, many travelers overlook three-mile-long Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, one of the richest intertidal regions along the coast. Here, you can meditate over tide pools with a variety of sea life, either on your own or guided by Bob Breen, the park naturalist.

The Reserve (650/728-3584), established in 1969, is south of Montara, in Moss Beach. Turn onto California Avenue and make a right on North Lake Street. Mass transit access is possible via SamTrans. Try to coincide your visit with a low tide, which you can discern by calling the Reserve ahead of time or by consulting a tide tables booklet available at all fishing tackle and bait shops. San Francisco newspapers also list tide tables.

There's plenty of parking, restrooms, stairs and paths to the beach, and a hiking trail along the bluffs to the south. Picnic tables in a sheltered cypress grove make a protected lunch spot. You can enjoy here a variety of terrain, including a sandy beach, a rocky shore, a stream corridor, and bluffs. Stop in at the naturalist's office for brochures and literature. Don't remove or disturb any of the marine life here, which is protected. The tide-pool rocks can be slippery, so wear tennis shoes and plan to get your feet wet. Alternatively, wear high rubber boots.

Naturalist-led hikes focus on understanding animal relationships, adaptation techniques, habitats, and the food web of the reserve. Closest to shore, along the beach and protected inner reef, you'll find black turban snails in intense populations. Farther out, crabs populate the cobblestone lagoons. Red abalone, rockweed and nailbrush, chitons and urchins, green anemones and bullwhip kelp are some of the fauna and flora awaiting you here. You would have to journey to the South Pacific to find a richer ocean environment.

The historic lodging in Half Moon Bay is the San Benito House (650/726-3425) at 356 Main Street.

Campsites are available at Half Moon Bay State Beaches (650/726-8820). In windy weather, camp farther south and inland at Butano State Park (650/879-2040).

ANO NUEVO STATE RESERVE BEACHES, 43 MILES SOUTH:

Summer is the "off season" for Ano Nuevo. Unlike the hectic winter, when you need a reservation to see the elephant seals, summer is a wonderfully quiet time for Ano Nuevo. The size and diversity of this 1,500-acre holding is impressive.

Ano Nuevo State Reserve ranges from Franklin Point south to New Years Creek. The turnoff to the parking area is clearly marked. There's plenty of parking and a modest fee for day use.

Restrooms are located at the parking lot.

Paths and trails lead to the beach, which offers good fishing for halibut, croaker, and perch. The easily accessible beach at the mouth of New Years Creek, a short walk from the parking lot, is a good sunning and picnic area at low tide. The shoreline at Ano Nuevo includes sandy beaches, dunes, rocky areas, and bluffs. Get a map in the interpretive center, located in the old Dickerman Barn, where there are informative displays on nature and the human use of the area. Ano Nuevo is a particularly good area to sight shorebirds, upland birds, and hawks. You can also explore Indian middens and the legacy of the Steele Brothers dairy empire, which started here in the 1850s.

The 1-1/2 mile walk out to the point is a favorite trek. A sensitive area with numerous harbor seals has restricted access in summer. For an ambitious, all-day outing, walk the beach north to Franklin Point.

The Pigeon Point Lighthouse, a few miles north, was built in 1871 to prevent a repeat of wrecks like that of the Carrier Pigeon in 1853. The lighthouse is an architectural monument, with brick walls seven feet thick. Pigeon Point functions as a rustic all-ages hostel (650/879-0633). You can view the outside of the lighthouse at any time. Tours take you inside on Sundays.

A good bed-and-breakfast in this rather remote coastal area is south at Davenport. The facility, called the Davenport Bed & Breakfast Inn (800/870-1817, 831/426-4122), also operates a restaurant, called the Davenport Roadhouse at the Cash Store.

Well-protected campsites in second-growth redwoods greet the visitor at Butano State Park (650/879-2040), a few miles north and inland.

Duarte's Tavern (650/879-0464) in Pescadero is famous for its seafood and local produce specialties, such as artichoke soup.

WADDELL CREEK BEACH, 46 MILES SOUTH:

Waddell Creek beaches are interesting for several reasons. Windsurfers and hang gliders gather here in record numbers. An observer sees them airborne above the waves. The Waddell Creek Beach and bluffs have recently become a part of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. A seal rookery flourishes offshore south of the beach. The Theodore J. Hoover Natural Preserve, which includes Waddell Marsh, is located at the mouth of Waddell Creek. Wherever a creek enters the ocean, there is interesting wildlife to observe.

Waddell Creek Beach is along Highway 1 a mile south of the San Mateo County line. There's plenty of parking, restrooms, and good fishing for lingcod, croaker, and perch. You'll find sandy beach and dunes, the stream and wetlands, plus low bluffs overlooking the ocean.

From Waddell Creek Beach you can walk inland through Big Basin Redwoods State Park. In fact, you could walk all the way from the beach to the ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains along a trail called the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail, which became officially complete with the addition of the Rancho del Oso property along Waddell Creek and beaches. A bronze marker at the trailhead recalls that here Gaspar de Portola and his men rested for three days during their long walk from San Diego to San Francisco in 1769. Those ill in the party recovered their health so quickly that the Spanish called the area Canada de la Salud--Canyon of Health.

Mentioned earlier, lodging is available to the south at the Davenport Bed & Breakfast Inn (800/870-1817, 831/426-4122), which includes the Roadhouse at the Cash Store restaurant.

Backpackers can walk in to campsites upstream on Waddell Creek. Make prior arrangements for a space by calling Big Basin Redwoods State Park (831/338-8860). The first camp, Alder Camp, is a one-mile walk inland. Butano State Park (650/879-2040), north and inland, is the recommended car camping site.

The best dining in this remote area is at Duarte's in Pescadero, noted earlier.

CAPITOLA CITY BEACH, EAST EDGE OF SANTA CRUZ:

If the Santa Cruz City Beach, with its boardwalk and miles of sand, is already familiar or a little overwhelming, consider secluded Capitola, an artsy but unpretentious little beach town that clings to the cliffs east of Santa Cruz.

The Capitola City Beach is south of the Esplanade. Parking can be tight, but there is a free shuttle bus in summer that can take you from an outlying parking lot on McGregor Drive. Restrooms are available on the Capitola Pier.

A lifeguard watches over swimmers at this safe, warm, and sunny beach. The expanse of sand is a delight. The beach has volleyball nets and benches along the sidewalk. There is also a stream, Soquel Creek, with a lagoon for wading

East of Capitola City Beach, at low tide, you can walk toward New Brighton State Beach and inspect rock outcroppings with intriguing layers of sandstone and numerous fossils. From New Brighton Beach you can walk a full 15 miles all the way to the mouth of the Pajaro River.

Capitola offers a beach close to city pleasures, such as shopping in Capitola or perusing the historic buildings once part of Camp Capitola. Men of vision once believed that the area was destined to be the state capital; hence the name. The Esplanade, just off the beach, is a lively night spot with jazz (at Zelda's), dancing (at Edgewater), and a piano bar (at Mr. Toots). Your best information source for Capitola is the Capitola Museum/Chamber of Commerce (831/475-6522), 716 Capitola Avenue.

Mangels House (831/688-7982), an 1880s southern-mansion structure formerly owned by the Claus Mangels sugar-fortune family, is a premier bed-and-breakfast in the area. Mangels House is at 570 Aptos Creek Road in Aptos.

Campers enjoy New Brighton State Beach (831/464-6330) immediately east of Capitola. The camps lie on a woodsy bluff overlooking a wide, sandy beach. One of the choice settings in the state park system, New Brighton also boasts an amenity appreciated by many campers--hot showers.

The Shadowbrook's Sunday brunches and elegant dinners rank it as one of the finer dining spots in the area. Shadowbrook Restaurant (831/475-1511) is in nearby Soquel along Soquel Creek. You enter the restaurant by riding down a small funicular railway. Gayle's Bakery and Rosticerria (831/462-1200), at 504 Bay Avenue, is an excellent stop for pastries, picnic fixings, or a coffee-and-sandwich lunch. Proprietress Gayle Ortiz has helped create the bakery-deli cornerstone in the Santa Cruz culinary renaissance.

CARMEL RIVER STATE BEACH, SOUTHEAST CORNER OF CARMEL:

This lovely, quiet beach, with its half mile of unspoiled tan sand, is a respite from the faster pace of the urban Monterey-Carmel area. The 106-acre site includes a marsh and a lagoon near the river mouth.

There are two approaches to the Carmel River Beach. The main entrance, along Scenic Road, has a parking lot, restrooms, direct access to the beach, and good fishing. To get to the east side of the beach, which is a bird sanctuary, you can wade across the shallow river or take paths at access points along Ribera Road. The southernmost portion of the beach, known as San Jose Creek Beach or Monastery Beach, is accessible from Highway 1, but is dangerous because of the roadway and is used mainly by divers.

Terrific views of Point Lobos are one of Carmel River Beach's many attractions. The southward orientation keeps the beach sunny and warm when other beaches in the area are windy. The beauty of the tan sand, shallow and safe wading in the warm Carmel River, the relative seclusion compared with Carmel City Beach, and birdlife in the tule marshes along the river are some of the pleasures at the Carmel River Beach. Divers use the ocean face of the beach extensively, but the surf is hazardous for the casual swimmer. The undersea Carmel Bay Ecological Reserve is adjacent to the beach.

The Carmel Mission, where mission-founder Junipero Serra lies buried, is upriver on Lasuen Drive a few blocks from the beach. The Monterey Bay Aquarium (831/648-4888), celebrating the fauna and flora of the California coast, is the area's major attraction.

For accommodations, try the historic Mission Ranch Lodging (831/624-6436). The options include six bed-and-breakfast rooms in the 1880s farmhouse or outlying cabins, all with views of the Carmel River marsh, beach, and Point Lobos. The Mission Ranch Restaurant (831/625-9040), open for dinner only, celebrates the area's seafood, such as fried calamari or grilled swordfish.

Campers should push on to the Andrew Molera State Park Campground, 20 miles south in Big Sur (831/667-2315).

The many attractive choices among these beaches suggest the importance of the California coast for a traveler.

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This article was written by Lee Foster of Foster Travel Publishing. Contact him at his website www.fostertravel.com or via email at lee@fostertravel.com. Copyright Lee Foster.

Lee Foster's most recent travel guidebooks are Northern California History Weekends (Globe Pequot), which won a Lowell Thomas Award, and Adventure Guide to Northern California (Hunter Publishing).

Lee Foster's new literary book is Travels in an American Imagination: The Spiritual Geography of Our Time.

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