North Santa Monica Bay Coast

Last week we made a weekday trip from Santa Monica on the Pacific Coast Highway up to Point Mugu with stops in between. It is a lovely drive with ample ocean views. Most of the trip goes through Malibu which stretches out for 27 miles along the coast. Despite the connotations of luxury Malibu brings to mind, it isn't all that swank. There are numerous multi-million dollar homes, but the money is all in the water-front location and less in the ostentatious lawns and landscaping. So, from the road the houses aren't awe-inspiring.

We stopped at Point Dume, but due to filming couldn't get to the actually "point". The beach along Westward (Point Dume County Beach) is quite pleasant if you are just looking for a traditional beach to go for a swim.

After that, we stopped at Neptune's Net for lunch. It is a small seafood place with mostly outdoor seating. The food is decent for reasonable prices. It is across the PCH from the water, but still has ocean views (however, the beach port-a-potties are right smack dab in the middle of the view). The crab cake sandwich I had was good with the best part being the really high quality crab meat. They also have a huge selection of bottled beer and sodas in convenience store style fridges.

Point Mugu is interesting. There isn't much to do at the actual point other than stop and take some pictures. An old road wraps around the rock outcropping, but is blocked off by fences and ominous warnings about it being State property. You can see the Channel Islands from here. It was cloudy and chilly here despite being sunny just a few miles back east, so we didn't linger.

Our last stop was El Matador State Beach. This was the highlight of the trip! There are several sea caves, sea arches, and a few small tide pools. There are lots of birds that sit on top of the rocks (mostly cormorants) and light blue anemones were tucked against rocks at the water's edge.

My phone got set on black and white and I didn't notice due to the sun glare until we got home. I was disappointed because the sky and water were such a pretty blue, but these at least show the geology nicely.