Beaches in winter have a charm that is hidden away by crowds that throng them in the Summer. You get to experience the vastness of natures bounty, and feel as if everything is on display exclusively for you. There are forensic remnants of a jostling summer with lots of cramped footprints, lonely beach facilities with scary warnings of riptides, secured lifeguard cabins, nearly empty beach cafes and cheerful shops hunting for patrons.
LA Beaches are also strikingly different than the ones we experience in the Bay Area. Bay Area beaches tend to be on the smaller side (even when comparing the large beaches in Santa Cruz), as there are often cliffs and rocks bordering the beach. In LA, beaches go on for miles, and were almost quarter mile inland! The sand on LA beaches is also much more finer, and densely packed. This allows one to wear shoes easily on LA beaches. In Bay Area beaches, the sand tends to be more coarse and pebbly.
Our first beach on this trip was Zuma beach in Malibu. This beach is on the side of highway 1, and has a $6 entrance fee for the access road. There are around 7-8 massive parking lots, which were totally empty when we were there. The Malibu coastline is amazing, and one could imagine BayWatch being shot here easily.
We wanted to redo a hike that Vanya had done with her friends earlier this year: Point Dume. There are two entry points to the hike. The GPS guided us to the top of mountains surrounding the Zuma beach. For this access point, there are only six or so spaces for car parking! Even in the winter, all six were already taken. There are no other street parking spaces available. Luckily for us, a couple of tourists decided to leave.
We took the coreopsis trail, which provided views to a seal friendly rock in deeper waters. We spotted a school of dolphins in the water as well!
On both sides of Point Dume, there are beaches. On one side, there is a nice trail.
On the other side of Point Dume, there are steps leading down to a rather rocky Point Dume state beach.
We spent around half an hour in quite contemplation on the beach, and then said our goodbyes.