DANA POINT CONSERVATION AREA
Activity: Beach Hike, Spelunking
1.2 miles, 82′ elevation gain, duration, 1 hour, rated Easy
Date: 1-16-23
What a splendid day… Just after winter storms deluged California with a couple weeks of heavy rains, even flooding in some areas, there are opinions I find surprising. After a couple decades of drought these storms have relieved the situation? Regardless, the powerful storms deposited much needed rain and snow pack in the mountains, cleared the air and now that the storm clouds have parted, made for a wonderful experience in nature on this fine day.
After finally experiencing the “Secret Falls”, that morning in Dana Point Harbor, I headed towards the Dana Point Headlands on Dana Point Beach. The seas were still a bit turbulent from the windy storm making it a sight to behold. The waves raced towards the shore, sometimes exploding in white water as they crashed upon the rocks.


It is just over a half mile along the beach. The venture becomes rockier as you continue until you are hoping across rocks ranging from fist size to torso size. As you proceed be sure to stop and peer into the shallow tide pools in hopes of spying tiny fish, crabs, shellfish or sea anemones. As I continued my trek I found it interesting that one spot was so thick with empty scallop shells that it completely covered the beach.


Arriving at the what appears to be the end of the road- is anything but… If you pay attention you will discover an obscure narrow opening in the rock leading into the Dana Point Sea Cave.
Sea caves are formed by the tremendous force of pounding waves against coastal cliffs. This energy is continuously at work crushing, cracking and eroding rock. A natural phenomenon coastal caves provide beauty and intrigue that are an irresistible treasure to be explored.
Entering the cave even at low tide the entrance is blocked by a pool of water 6 to 8 feet long. I watched a woman using a rock climbing technique utilizing pressure against both sides of the walls. The cave explorer straddling the water seeking tiny foot and hand holds in order to keep her shoes dry. Unfortunately her attempt to ford the pool failed. After all her effort she slipped and soaked her shoes. I succeeded in keeping my boots dry when I entered into the large cavern.

The cave about the size of a grand room has two openings both with incredible views especially on this day when the waves were larger. Such a wonderful spot to take a moment and appreciate nature and what it has created.



Dana Point Sea Caves
CLICK THE PIC!

How the softly lapping ocean waves..
with patient chisels.. lick and lave..
newly sculpting seacarved caves
turning convex to concave.
The rocks found
in her shallows
she has turned
to rookery hollows.
She has sculpted
the coral reef
to make room for scallops.
Inland the falls roar
the falls thunder
faster breaking rocks asunder
as Spirit too can make
new holes in hearts of stone.
Thanks for accompanying me as I found myself ‘Pursuing Balance Through Adventure’ along the Dana Point coastline. This was a exploration I had wanted to do for awhile. Sea Caves are awesome. There is always more experiences ahead that I want to share to inspire everyone to enjoy nature. To ensure that you don’t miss anything please do this: COMMENT, LIKE, FOLLOW and SHARE. Also, I invite you to go to the menu above to see the many locations that PBTA ventures to besides the beach. Each location or activity in the menu is a separate website and thus needs to be FOLLOWED independently. Like my hat in my video? I have top quality lids and shirts available with the PBTA logo and Mantra on my SHOP APPAREL.
Happy Trails-
Roger Jenkins
Pursuing Balance Through Adventure