Aug 13 2008
South Coast Blvd to La Jolla Caves
La Jolla
“To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.” - William Blake, Auguries of Innocence, 1863
One of my favorite places to walk lazily in San Diego is at La Jolla. This may not be a challenging walk, but definitely answers my need to experience the beauty of nature. Although I have a great admiration and awe for desert solitude and geology, although I love the mountains, the valleys and the meadows deeply, but the ocean remains as my sanctuary. The sound and beauty of the ocean for me always give me revitalizing energy. Thankfully, here in San Diego, there is a beautiful blending of the ocean, mountains and desert, all of which I love and make my every day feels like a vacation.
Blooming Aloes, Sea and Surf, La Jolla
La Jolla is a very pretty place to take a walk. The only drawback is that about 7,000 people visit this place everyday. But we usually take a walk here on a weekday, either early morning or late afternoon to avoid the big crowd and still experience some sense of peacefulness in this very popular jewel of San Diego. The challenge in visiting La Jolla is parking, with so many people wanting to see this place, parking can be difficult. But since we do not mind longer walks, we usually just proceed to the very South of Coast Boulevard S, here we find there are always parking spaces for us to park.
Coast Blvd South, La Jolla
From where we park, we walk North to La Jolla Caves, that is approximately a little more than 1 mile, about 2 – 3 miles round trip, depending on where we park. The reasons behind parking at South Coast Blvd are:
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by La Jolla Cove, there is really limited parking,
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I enjoy watching the harbor Seals at the Children’s Pool which is in the Southern portion of Coast Blvd
Harbor Seals at Children’s Pool
3. walking is a great exercise
The walk is very relaxing, especially I take many stops or detours 
to take in the beauty around. My first detour always would be going down at the rocky portion of the beach. At low tide, I enjoy observing the tide pool life such as anemone, crabs, barnacles, mussels and small fishes. My next detour would be the Children’s Pool, where the Harbor Seals had made this part of La Jolla their home.
Children’s Pool
The Children’s Pool is a lovely and rich natural setting with harbor seals on the beach,
endangered California brown pelicans on the rocks,
squirrels on top of the bluff, gulls and pelicans flying everywhere,
pigeons on the roof of the shade, and a wealth of marine life in the tide pools.
Fore more information of La Jolla Harbor Seals, please click http://www.lajollaseals.com/
If you may be interested to read an imaginary short story interpreting the action of harbor seals, please click http://betchaitluc.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/the-harbor-seal-a-short-story/
After Children’s Pool, we would continue our walk to La Jolla Coves, looking out to the sea. There is a green grassy park on top of the cove excellent for picnic. I enjoy also the landscape here and the strange formation of the trees. I guess the dryness of a semi-arid environment promotes unusual twisting of tree branches making them look like strange creatures.
My next detour usually after Children’s Pool is going down at the La Jolla Cove.
La Jolla Cove
La Jolla Cove is a very small beach that is tucked between sandstone cliffs. This is a very popular site for local divers and snorkelers. Water visibility at La Jolla Cove sometimes exceed 30 ft. The waters at La Jolla cove is part of the San Diego La Jolla Underwater Park Ecological Reserve, which seeks to preserve the richness of marine life. For more information on La Jolla Cove, please click http://www.sandiego.gov/lifeguards/beaches/cove.shtml
Little Sea Cave, La Jolla Cove
At La Jolla Cove, one of the things I love to do is to get inside the very little sea cave and take pictures of the sandstone cliffs up North and the Scripps Pier. The harbor seals and the flying brown pelicans that grace the picture are always my bonus. There are actually a lot more sea caves in La Jolla but they are inaccessible from La Jolla Cove. The starting point of a walk to the La Jolla Caves at low tide is at La Jolla Shores, which I hope to feature in my upcoming posts.
Going back up to the cliffs above La Jolla Caves, we usually take the time to just sit, relax and enjoy the view from above. Looking down, I especially love to watch the pelicans resting on the rocky cliffs. I always love looking at these big birds, their stare seem hypnotic to me . I find it amusing sometimes how the pelicans seem to be watching and cheering men or is it men watching pelicans?
California Brown Pelicans and Kayakers, La Jolla
Hard for me to guess, but I just love the presence of these wonderful creatures on the rugged coastline of La Jolla, adding joy to a very charming place.
Addresses:
La Jolla Children’s Pool – 850 Coast Blvd, La Jolla, CA
La Jolla Cove – 1100 Coast Blvd, La Jolla, CA
Parking: There is limited on-street parking near Children’s Pool and La Jolla Cove, however, if one does not mind parking a little farther and taking a short walk, there are more on-street parking at South Coast Blvd and on the streets that intersect it and paid parking on downtown La Jolla.
Directions: From the north, take Interstate 5 to La Jolla Village Drive, westbound. Turn left on Torrey Pines Road at the signalized intersection. Follow Torrey Pines Road to the signalized intersection at Prospect Street and turn right. Watch for the signs and bear right on Coast Boulevard.
From the south, take Interstate 5 north to La Jolla Parkway. Continue on as it becomes Torrey Pines Road. Follow Torrey Pines Road to the signalized intersection at Prospect Street and turn right. Watch for the signs and bear right on Coast Boulevard
From the East: from I-15, take 52 West, take ramp to continue on Torrey Pines Rd, right turn on Prospect Pl and bear right on Coast Blvd.
Best Time to Visit: Though weather is good all year, but the richness of wildlife (seals, pelicans) and wildlfowers are best observed February- April, you’ll see a lot of pups on shore. Winter, most of the seals lie on sand, but summer, most of the seals are swimming in the water.
Happy Exploring
You have some of the best looking pictures and those seals are so cute. I just love animals of all kinds.
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Wonderful pictures, and that’s a great tip on the parking. I can’t help but think about what beach pebbles might be laying around there, though.
Thanks Everyone.
Heidi- if ever you may need some planning on where to go in San Diego, I am just here in the net
Robin- thanks for dropping by and for your help always.
Kiong- thanks for stopping by. Yes, I think your niece will love the seals and tidepool, like my niece too, she always gets fascinated by little sea creatures she sees in the rocks and shallow water.
Kalilea - Hmmm, this part of La Jolla is very rugged, for kids to lie on the sand the nearest is La Jolla Shores. My niece just love tidepooling at La Jolla and watching the seals, she tried snorkeling in La Jolla Cove which according to her is great since a few laps she saw a lot of fishes already, but she complains about the roughness of sand. After she is usually done observing animal life, we move to North Torrey Pines State Beach, since she likes less crowd. La Jolla Shores is the closest to enjoy the sand, though is crowded in the summer.
Soy- now that you mention about the story somewhere about kayakers and pelicans, there’s a story forming in my mind
La Jolla is not so close to our home, this is about 20 - 25 minutes drive from our place.
Thanks for stopping Ken.