Type of Beach: Sandy with rocks in surf line, South to South West facing beach.

Facilities: Chemical toilets, picnic benches and a small paved parking lot.

Average Depth: 30'

Directions: From Malibu take Pacific Coast Highway North West past the three sisters also known as El Matador, La Piedra and El Pescador.  Once past El Pescador, Nicholas Canyon will be the next beach on the left. It is approximately 1.25 miles west of Decker Canyon Road and about one mile east of Mulholland Highway.  If you come to Leo Carrillo you are about 1.5 miles too far west.  You must look sharp as it is easy to miss and your only warning will be a Beach Access sign.

Parking: Paved parking lot with limited spaces.  Parking fee is charged at machines located at the gate and next to the ramp to the beach.  Parking machine accepts crisp flat dollar bills or major credit cards. The parking fee is for the entire day (the instructions are confusing on that, but the parking ticket is good until dusk). Parking is cheaper if purchased before 8:00 AM or after 4:00 PM ($2.00) and is $4.00 between 8:00AM-4:00 PM. Note due to budget considerations they are planning on raising the parking fee substantially (rumor is $12.00) so be prepared. The parking lot gate is closed from about 1:00 AM to 6:00 AM but be certain to the posted times on when they lock the gate as it is subject to change.

The dive site:   Access is via a ramp and stairs from the south west corner of the parking lot. See photo map below.  This site has extensive shallow area and is a favorite among the surfing crowd and features a left break to the surf. There are scattered rocks in the water.  The photos below give you a good idea. 

The DIVE:  There is considerable rock structure in the water here with lots of small to medium sized (beach ball or bigger) rocks and kelp too. The best structure is to the east of the point as illustrated in the photo above.  This is a shallow water dive. Swimming out approximately 300 yards from shore and just off the point will get you into about 32 feet of water.  You can get into 80 feet of water, but you are talking about a long swim.  Dropping down here and follow a heading of 90 degrees will take you along a nice boulder trail, but the entire area is littered with rocks so finding fish habitat is not a problem.  See  http://www.californiacoastline.org/cgi-bin/image.cgi?image=3745&mode=sequential&flags=0 for more aerial photographs of the beach to the left and right of the photographs above.

DISCLAIMER: Dive site descriptions, while believed to be accurate are not guaranteed and should not be relied upon for making your dive decisions.  Dive site conditions can and do change and each diver is responsible for making their own site survey to determine present conditions and the suitability of the site for diving. Every diver is responsible for their own diving decisions.

Beach aerial photographs with permission of Kenneth Adelman Copyright (C) 2002-2004, California Costal Records Project, http://www.californiacoastline.org/

Webpage designed by Melvin Pasley of Pasley Realty http://www.pasleyrealty.com/ May 30, 2005.