Jade Cove is located in the southern area of

Big Sur Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast of California between Carmel and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. It is frequently praised for its dramatic scenery. Big Sur ha ...

on the

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

central coast. It contains the only concentrated underwater deposit of quality nephrite jade in the world. Individuals are permitted to collect as much jade as they can personally carry using hand tools up to deep offshore.

Shore access

There is a very steep trail from the Plaskett Campground to Jade Cove that ends in a rope-assisted drop to the beach. The beach can be dangerous during high tides and storms. The cove is south of

Sand Dollar Beach Sand Dollar Beach is a long beach in Big Sur, California, one of the longest publicly accessible beaches on that coast. It is within the Los Padres National Forest. The beach is north of the small commercial center of Gorda and north of Ca ...

and just over north of Gorda. Shore access is open daily from sunrise to sunset and is only available for day use. Swimming and wading are not recommended due to dangerous surf conditions and strong rip currents.

Jade collecting

The availability of high-quality nephrite jade spurred the start of the annual

Big Sur Jade Festival The Big Sur Jade Festival is an annual three-day event held in southern Big Sur in Monterey County, California. It is organized by the non-profit South Coast Community Land Trust. The availability of high-quality nephrite jade at Jade Cove spurr ...

in 1989. Before regulations limited how much jade could be removed, divers floated large boulders of jade to the surface. Two different

metamorphic Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...

rocks known as

Nephrite Nephrite is a variety of the calcium, magnesium, and iron-rich amphibole minerals tremolite or actinolite (Aggregate (geology), aggregates of which also make up one form of asbestos). The chemical formula for nephrite is calcium, Ca2(magnesium, ...

and

Jadeite Jadeite is a pyroxene mineral with composition sodium, Naaluminium, Alsilicon, Si2oxygen, O6. It is hard (Mohs hardness of about 6.5 to 7.0), very tough, and dense, with a specific gravity of about 3.4. It is found in a wide range of colors, bu ...

, although composed of separate minerals, are collectively referred to as jade. They are extremely similar in appearance and were not differentiated from one another until 1863. There are large deposits of light-green serpentine that unwary collectors mistake for jade. The

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) is a federally protected marine area offshore of California's Big Sur and central coast in the United States. It is the largest US national marine sanctuary and has a shoreline length of ...

has very strict regulations governing how jade may be collected. The agency permits individuals to collect loose nephrite jade below mean

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

from an area south of Sand Dollar Beach to Cape San Martin and up to deep offshore. Individuals may remove only what they can individually carry. Only hand tools are permitted. There is very little natural jade on the shore. Dangerous waves can inundate the rocky beach in certain weather. The best quality jade is only accessible to divers. They are permitted to use lift bags with a combined capacity of not more than 200 pounds. On rare occasions, waves can deposit pieces on the shore. Four kinds of jade can be found in Jade Cove: Green is the most common type. Rarer types include Vulcan, Blue, and Botryoidal (Bubble or Grape) Jade.

References

External links

Hiking in Big Sur: Jade Cove Trail
Beaches of Monterey County, California Beaches of Northern California Big Sur {{MontereyCountyCA-geo-stub