Home › North America › Central California › Monterey
|
Three miles up Highway 1 from Willow Creek is the beguiling Sand Dollar Beach, a glistening crescent of pure, white sand yawning into a horseshoe cove of shifty sandbars. Sheltered from north and south wind, Sand Dollar endures severe crowding during blustery, sunny, small-swell weekend afternoons, when, no matter how wretched the surf may be, guys will paddle out in order to terminate their week-long (or month-long) dry spells.
Rather user-friendly, Sand Dollar is a delightful pocket for just about anybody, thanks to the gently undulating beach and forgiving whitewater rollers on the inside. The south end of the beach is usually a long, mushy left which dissolves into the channel in the middle of the cove. The rights are speedier, shallower, shorter, bowlier and much more walled. The cove's north end is predominantly a right that also fades into the channel, but it's usually larger and not as shapely as the south peak.
The waves here are not as thick and beefy as those found down at Willow Creek, but that's not to insinuate an air of carelessness out here. Deep respect is required at all Big Sur beaches.
-- Mike Kew
|
medium
NW, W, SW
chest-high to double overhead
E, NE
3 to 4
sand
intermediate
shortboard, neoprene, butterfly net
fall
north on Highway 1 out of San Simeon and watch for the signs on the road marking Sand Dollar Beach
holds plenty, pick your own peak
usually mellow
2 to 5
1
A million duckdives when big, surly locals, sharks
|
|
See Willow Creek "Places to Eat" entry.
|
|
|
Try the Plaskett Creek Campground ( www.parksman.com/plskt.html) right across the highway from Sand Dollar Beach. There are 44 sites with picnic tables and grills at the foot of the Santa Lucia Mountains, which will run you a reasonable fee of $16. Watch for the poison oak: the author knows more than one surfer who's set his wetsuit out to dry on the wrong bush, resulting in a red puffy rash in the nether regions. Hunched up right above the ocean, north of Sand Dollar Beach, sits the scenic Kirk Creek Campground (33 campsites, www.parksman.com/kirk.html), but regardless of what the brochure insists, it's not a popular spot for surfing. Several other campgrounds exist, some privately owned and others administered by the government, but the two above are the closest to the surf spots. Check www.bigsurcalifornia.org/camping.html for the full rundown.
|
|
|
|
See Willow Creek "Things to Do" entry.
|
|
|
|
SURF NEWS FULL STORY: XXL WEEKEND AT MAV'S (12/01) NorCal big wave dishes up two days of insanely big and insanely great surf NINE LIVES: PART 9 (12/01) Slater takes us through his record breaking season: Billabong Pro Mundaka VIDEO ROCKY POINT TO PIPELINE (12/01) From Rocky Point to Pipeline, Jamie O, Pancho and crew go off during a great week of waves STORE THE PIPELINE Deep inside the world's most respected wave. BUY NOW!
|
= 
= 
= 
