La Jolla Tide Chart

Most of La Jolla Shores is open sand that slopes gently into the water, so the rocks worth exploring are at its ends. At the south end, beyond the Marine Room on Spindrift Drive, the beach turns rocky, with tide pools among the rocks. At the north end, past Scripps Pier, is a reef known as Dike Rock, where Birch Aquarium runs guided tidepooling.

In the pools you can find sea anemones, small crabs and small fish, and with luck a nudibranch, a small and brightly colored sea slug. Once the tide turns, the pools go under again and the strip of sand along the water narrows, so get there while the tide is still falling and leave as it starts to rise.

At low tide you can walk south along the sand from the main beach to the rocks.

The shore from just south of Scripps Pier to La Jolla Cove is Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve, where nothing may be taken: no marine life, no rocks or other geological material and no cultural objects. North of the pier, San Diego-Scripps Coastal State Marine Conservation Area allows only hook-and-line fishing for coastal pelagic species, market squid excluded, which leaves tide pool animals off limits there as well. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife page for both areas has the full rules.

La Jolla Cove lies inside Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve, at its southern end. The rocky flats most people mean by the Cove’s tide pools are not in the cove itself but on Point La Jolla, the point just west of it, where California sea lions haul out to rest and raise their pups.

Point La Jolla and the Boomer Beach shore next to it (about 150 yards) are closed to people all year, until the City of San Diego adopts a long-term plan for the area. One ocean access point stays open, for swimming and body-surfing only. The San Diego City Council voted for the year-round closure in September 2023, after the California Coastal Commission had approved it. A low tide changes nothing here: the flats on the point stay off limits even when they are dry. La Jolla Cove itself, Shell Beach and Ellen Browning Scripps Park are open.

The nearest tide pools you can visit are south of the cove, at Shell Beach and along Coast Boulevard.

You reach Shell Beach by the stairs at the south end of Ellen Browning Scripps Park. Its tide pools are at the south end of the beach and show only on very low tides, so the days rated very good in the table above are your best chance.

From La Jolla Cove south to Nicholson Point, the rocky shore along Coast Boulevard is the stretch most often named as the best for tide pooling in La Jolla. Look, touch gently and put back any rock you turn over.

At La Jolla Shores, a low tide uncovers the rocks at both ends of the beach and widens the sand, so you can walk south from the main beach to the reef past the Marine Room. As the tide rises, that strip narrows again. Note the low tide time in the table above and turn back when the water starts coming in.

Near the cove, the tide matters most at Shell Beach, whose pools only come out on the lowest tides. On Point La Jolla a low tide changes nothing, because the point is closed whatever the water level.

The rocks at both ends of La Jolla Shores, at Shell Beach and along Coast Boulevard are wet and often slick with algae. Wear shoes with grip, keep your hands free for balance, and stay off the outer edge of the rocks where waves break. A wave can wash over rock that looked dry a minute earlier, so keep the open water in view. On a rising tide, head back early rather than wait for the water to reach you.

Sea lions rest on Point La Jolla and the rocks around La Jolla Cove. Give them plenty of room and never get between an animal and the water. They are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, enforced by NOAA Fisheries.

La Jolla Cove has a permanent lifeguard facility. Ask the lifeguards about surf and conditions before you go out on the rocks.