La Jolla Shores

 beach, park

The beach at La Jolla Shores is heavily managed by the City of San Diego with state-of-the-art lifeguarding and adjacent manicured parks for picnicing. The lifeguards set the beach up into zones for surfing, swimming, and usually a couple of 'no go' areas where there are rip currents. It is therefore an excellent beach for families and to learn surfing. For a view see www.californiacoastline.org/cgi-bin/image.cgi?image=200...

Because the nearshore environment in this area has been under various forms of ecological protection for a long time there is a good diversity of marine flora and fauna. This typical gently sloping SoCal white sandy beach is bounded to the north by the pier from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (you need a PhD) and to the south by the exclusive La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club (you need $40,000). In between you need a six-pack :) Beyond the 'clubs' at both ends there are steep cliffs. The long flat rocky reef below the cliffs to the south is known as "The Slides" and is reminicent of the geology at Mavericks in Half Moon Bay in Central California... so when Alaskan storms get huge enough (every ten years or so) there is a fabulous break, see photos.signonsandiego.com/gallery1.5/sdbigwaves/Christm... But generally it is very calm there and a nice scuba, kayaking, and snorkling area.

Even though this area is too small to have a significant ecological impact some species of fish, especially the longer lived rays and sharks, have become very abundant here. The Scripps Coastal Reserve was established in 1929 and begins just south of the pier, then running north to Blacks Beach. It is now called the San Diego - Scripps State Marine Conservation Area and more serious enforcement began in 1957.
The San Diego-La Jolla Ecological Reserve was established in 1971 and runs from the La Jolla Cove almost to the Scripps Pier. There is no fishing of any kind within this area!

Because there is good access to the beach at the boundry with the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club and this area also is protected from south swells, that section has a boat launching area and is the traditional place for teaching scuba diving.