County Line Beach is beach park located in Solromar, an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Ventura County Ventura County () is a County (United States), county in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, California ...

. This stretch of sandy beach is easily accessible from the adjacent Pacific Coast Highway. This popular surf spot is administered as part of

Leo Carrillo State Park Leo Carrillo State Park is a state park in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Situated along the Malibu coast, the park is a component of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. With of beach, the parkland stretches into t ...

. The beach lies within the south coast portion of the Ventura County amidst a mostly rugged coastline that is some of the most striking and diverse coastal terrain in the County. The beach lies at the mouth of a canyon in the

Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in ...

that hug the shore along the Ventura County's south coast.

Location

The beach is the most westerly community on the Malibu Coast and is within the Malibu zip code. The area was not included within the City of Malibu when the city incorporated as it is just across the boundary separating Los Angeles County from

. Its sandy beach stretches over half a mile, bordered by the Whaler's Village Condominium complex to the east, the MariSol residential community to the North and a tract of single family beach homes on the western end."The Beach Boys' Malibu Beach House"
'' PR Newswire'' (Nov. 20, 2012) It has a small parking lot and street parking is available along Pacific Coast Highway which is part of the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route. This is an access point for

California Coastal Trail The California Coastal Trail, or CCT, is an environmental project by the California Coastal Conservancy, an organization developed to enhance coastal resources and promote access to the shore in 2001. The trail is designed to connect the enti ...

Recreational activities

Board surfing, body surfing, kite surfing, wind surfing and stand up paddle boarding are common activities at County Line Beach. The water quality at County Line Beach is consistently graded as an A+ by the environmental steward organization Heal the Bay. It has a beach break with good peaks for surfing, and a point break that stays glassy from the thick

kelp bed Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Ea ...

s. Junior surf competitions are held there and it has received some celebrity notoriety with "Ventura County Line" being mentioned as a favorite surf spot by the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

in their 1963 hit song " Surfin' U.S.A." Kite surfing and wind surfing are also popular at the beach.

Coastal marine habitat

Scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...

and

freediving Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath-h ...

are popular because of the easy access and a

marine habitat Marine habitats are habitats that support marine life. Marine life depends in some way on the saltwater that is in the sea (the term ''marine'' comes from the Latin ''mare'', meaning sea or ocean). A habitat is an ecological or environmental ...

consisting of an abundant

kelp forest Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Ea ...

with numerous reefs. When the waves are small and the water visibility is clear, diving conditions can be good to excellent. The outer reefs have an abundance of sea life and are popular among spear-fisherman when the

white seabass White seabass or white weakfish, ''Atractoscion nobilis'', is a species of croaker occurring from Magdalena Bay, Baja California, to Juneau, Alaska. They usually travel in schools over deep rocky bottoms (0–122 m) and in and out of kelp beds. ...

are running. Spearfishing, kayak fishing and shore fishing are popular here. The largest draw is for the California

when it is in season typically at the end of Spring and through Summer.

Pacific halibut The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and Calico bass are also popular game fish. Wildlife including dolphin, whale, seals, seabirds and fish are abundant off of County Line Beach. The large kelp forests and abundance of opalescent inshore market squid means a high biodiversity. The market (opalescent) (118,000 tons, $7,670,000) squid fishery is California's largest and most lucrative commercial fishery, off the coast from the beach. The thick kelp beds also provide an opportunity to test for

radioactive contamination Radioactive contamination, also called radiological pollution, is the deposition of, or presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases (including the human body), where their presence is unintended or undesirab ...

that could arrive in

ocean currents An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea water generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contour ...

from Japan's damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.Sahagun, Louis (January 16, 2014
"Study to test California's kelp forests for radioactive contamination"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite report, url=http://www.ventura.org/rma/planning/pdf/plans/SEIR_for_GPU.pdf , title=SUBSEQUENT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR FOCUSED GENERAL PLAN UPDATE and Related Amendments to the Non-Coastal Zoning Ordinance and Zone Change ZN05-0008, publisher=

County of Ventura Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises the Oxna ...

, date=June 22, 2005, url-status=dead, archive-date=2014-05-02, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502214734/https://www.ventura.org/rma/planning/pdf/plans/SEIR_for_GPU.pdf, df=mdy-all Beaches of Southern California Malibu, California Parks in Ventura County, California Surfing locations in California Beaches of Ventura County, California

Location

Recreational activities

Coastal marine habitat

See also

References