Stair Case
40000 Pacific Coast Highway, Ventura, CA
Just South of the Condos and County Line Dive Site
TGNO: 625H6 GPS: 43.04860 N 118.95063 W
Type of beach: Sandy
Facilities: Chemical Toilets available at Leo Carrillo about 75 yards to the west. Genuine restrooms are just a little longer walk. Camping at Leo Carrillo is also available.
Average Depth: 10-25 feet Difficulty: beginner to intermediate
Parking: Small Parking lot. You will need a pen and cash to pay. Fill out the envelope, insert money and place inside tube. Eventually they will replace this system with an electronic one.
Directions. From Los Angeles take Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) North/West Past Leo Carrillo. After you pass Leo Carrillo you go up hill and around the curve. You must look sharp for the entrance on the left at the mail box marked 40000. See Photos.
If you come to the Condos on the Left or to County Line Dive site, you have past it, This site is just north of Leo Carrillo and south of County Line. Drive down the entrance way past the Rangers House to the parking lot. There are NO SIGNS marking the site. See aerial photo below.
The trail down is not really as bad as it looks. It is well maintained and in one place there are logs cabled together to form a sort of stairs or ladder, but not too steep. Entered at bottom of stairs and went straight out. Small rocks in surf zone for short way, then a sand bottom with rocks interspersed here and there.
For more photographs of the coast line see: http://www.californiacoastline.org/cgi-bin/image.cgi?image=8089&mode=sequential&flags=0&year=2002
Beware the sneaker waves. On entry while facing the ocean and dealing with waves, you may be hit from behind by a wave coming off the beach. I know it sounds strange, but it did happen to the author of this page. Just as I was about to dive under the wave coming from the ocean, I caught the curl of the wave in the corner of my eye that hit me from behind. Talk about being a sandwich!
The Dive: This is a shallow dive with lots of rock structure. Lots of reef structure here in terms of clumps of rocks all over the place. Good eel grass and kelp too. .Note, it does stay very shallow for a ways out making this a potentially excellent snorkeling spot. The end of the point is in about 19 feet of water. Enter just opposite the stairs. The rock reefs run out perpendicular to shore and parallel to the point as illustrated in the photograph below. Swimming out along the point and then working your way back south is often a good dive with lots of juvenile fish. The beach is relatively unprotected but may get into the swell shadow of Catalina if the swell is from the south as it often is during the summer months. Due to the shallow nature of the dive site, it can be a real pain if there is much surge action.
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. This site is for the Advanced Beach Diver Only and should be considered dangerous.
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 25, 2005