The entire Monterey Peninsula is teeming with terrific tide pools. Weston Beach at Point Lobos Reserve, and Asilomar State Beach bordering Spanish Bay, are both recognized as some of the best tide pools in California.
And then there’s Point Pinos in Pacific Grove, affectionately known as “The Great Tide Pool,” because it boasts one of the richest tide pool habitats in the world.
Right up there with these spectacular spots is the sea life on 17-Mile Drive:
Among the various golf courses and celebrity mansions along 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach lay some of the finest tide pools the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary has to offer.
Find green anemones and sea urchins, tide pool sculpins and bat stars, turbin snails and sea slugs, plus much more.
You can even create your own tide pool trail, starting with Seal Rock and Bird Rock on 17-Mile Drive, before working your way north along the Monterey Peninsula coastline to China Rock and Point Joe, Spanish Bay Beach and Asilomar Beach, and then on to Point Pinos.
If these adventures have piqued your interest, you can continue your learning about life on the Rocky Shore at the world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. (Our concierge can even set you up with passes.)