La Jolla Cove and Seals: Children's Pool, Ellen Browning Scripps Park and Bluffs

Carved out of golden Eocene sandstone bluffs twelve miles north of downtown San Diego, La Jolla (pronounced la HOY-uh) is the jewel of the county's northern coastline. At the center of this rocky headland lies La Jolla Cove, a tiny, deep-water pocket beach framed by sculpted cliffs and protected within the Matlahuayl State Marine Conservation Area. Because fishing and motorized boats are banned inside this ecological reserve, the emerald-green water teems with bright orange garibaldi (California's state marine fish), kelp bass, and two distinct species of marine mammals that haul out onto the rocks year-round. We put together this walking guide to help you tell the seals from the sea lions, follow local wildlife protection ordinances, and explore the entire coastal boardwalk.

Sea Lions at La Jolla Cove vs Harbor Seals at Children's Pool

Many visitors use the words "seals" and "sea lions" interchangeably, but La Jolla's coastline actually hosts both species in two different spots along the same ten-minute coastal walk:

• California Sea Lions at La Jolla Cove and Point: Directly below the grassy lawns of Ellen Browning Scripps Park at La Jolla Cove and out on the rocky ledges of Boomer Beach, you will hear the loud, unmistakable barking of California sea lions. You can identify sea lions by their visible external ear flaps, dark brown coats, and strong front flippers that allow them to "walk" and climb steep sandstone rocks with surprising agility.
• Pacific Harbor Seals at Children's Pool (Casa Beach): Walk ten minutes south along the paved Coast Boulevard Promenade past Shell Beach and you reach Children's Pool, where a curved concrete seawall was built in 1931 by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps to create a calm wading lagoon. Over the decades, sand filled the basin and a permanent colony of spotted Pacific harbor seals claimed the beach as an official rookery. Harbor seals are smaller, rounder, lack external ear flaps, never bark loudly, and wiggle on their bellies like caterpillars across the sand.

Strict Wildlife Rules and Seasonal Beach Closures

While watching wildlife from the bluffs and sidewalks is completely free and open every day of the year, the City of San Diego and federal Marine Mammal Protection Act enforce strict distance rules:

• Children's Pool Pupping Season Closure: Every year from December 15 through May 15 (harbor seal pupping and nursing season), the sand beach at Children's Pool is completely closed to human entry by a rope barrier, though you can view the mothers and pups from the upper sidewalk and the outer seawall walk (when surf permits).
• Point La Jolla Year-Round Closure: To prevent tourists from cornering sea lions on the rocks, the rocky headland of Point La Jolla and Boomer Beach (immediately between La Jolla Cove beach and the south bluffs) is permanently closed to public foot access year-round. You can still walk down the concrete stairs onto the small sandy beach of La Jolla Cove itself to swim or snorkel out into the open bay, provided you keep well clear of animals resting on the rocks.

Sunny Jim's Sea Cave and the Coast Walk Trail

From the eastern side of La Jolla Cove, walk a few hundred yards up Cave Street to the historic Cave Store. Inside this clifftop shop, you can descend a hand-dug 1902 wooden tunnel of 145 steps straight through the inside of the sandstone bluff to look out through the mouth of Sunny Jim's Sea Cave at water level. Right behind the Cave Store begins the scenic dirt path of the Coast Walk Trail, which hugs the cliff edge overlooking the seven sea caves toward La Jolla Shores and Birch Aquarium. Because street parking along Coast Boulevard fills early, arrive before mid-morning or take MTS Bus Route 30 from the Old Town or Nobel Drive Blue Line Trolley station into La Jolla Village.