Sand, Surf and Solitude

If you’re packing the cooler, grabbing the sunscreen, and heading for the beach this Memorial Day weekend, you can expect some company--but probably not a throng.

Luckily for us, Ventura County’s beaches don’t get the summer stampede that spots closer to Los Angeles command. The sand here is generally untrampled--even secluded in places.

On a blazing hot Mother’s Day last week, only a few people dotted the vast stretch of smooth white sand at Hollywood Beach near Oxnard. Even fewer splashed in the water.

But down the coast at Santa Monica Beach, it was a mob scene. More than 160,000 people sweated bumper-to-bumper traffic and bumper-to-bumper bodies to grab a patch of sand.

On a typical summer weekend day, Zuma Beach near Malibu packs in about 50,000 sun soakers. San Buenaventura State Beach in Ventura, with its huge parking lot and its beckoning exposure just off the freeway, gets only one-tenth of that. Hollywood Beach, a romping ground for the film stars of the 1920s, draws even fewer.

“You can get an empty beach there,” marveled Susan O’Brien at the Channel Islands Harbor Visitor’s Center. “The sand is clean, the water is clean,” and it’s the same relatively pristine story at Oxnard State Beach and Mandalay Beach: “It amazes me how beautiful those places are.”

All this should be welcome news if you’re searching for sand and surf this weekend, the unofficial start of summer. More good news: Wetsuits are optional. The ocean water is warmer than usual, thanks to the exceptionally steamy weather we had earlier this month.

But if you plan on taking a swim, always go to a beach with lifeguards. San Buenaventura State Beach and those at Point Mugu State Park have them, as well as Port Hueneme Beach Park and Harbor Cove Beach at Ventura Harbor.

Lifeguards start gearing up for their summer watch this weekend, with coverage mainly on weekends. By mid-June, when school is out, they’ll be out in full force, scanning the water daily.

About then, Silver Strand and Hollywood beaches, and the swimming beach at Channel Islands Harbor will have them too.

“The beach” in Ventura County spans 43 miles, considerable territory both geographically and legally. Have you got beer tucked away in your cooler? Some beaches, such as Port Hueneme Beach and Harbor Cove, don’t allow alcohol. And before you bend over to snatch up that perfect sand dollar or starfish, be aware that state beaches and others frown on shell collecting.

For those in wheelchairs, the beach isn’t off limits. You can borrow beach wheelchairs with big wheels for cruising the sand at Sycamore Cove Beach, Harbor Cove and Buenaventura beaches. At least two--Oxnard State Beach and Harbor Cove--offer wheelchair access right to the beach.

To help you decide which beaches to explore, we took a leisurely trip up the county’s coast. Here’s what’s out there:

Surfin’ USA

What else would you call a beach at the Los Angeles County line, but, well, County Line Beach? It was a hot surfing spot when the Beach Boys slipped it into their 1960s hit, “Surfin’ USA,” and it still draws surfers by the vanload. Across the Pacific Coast Highway is another landmark of sorts--Neptune’s Net, a rambling eatery where you can sit at picnic tables, drink beer and wolf down fish and chips. On Sundays, the motorcycle crowd makes a stop here, as well as fishermen, tourists, mountain bikers and Uncle Joe out for an eyeful of spectacular coastline.

Life’s a PCH

Following the Pacific Coast Highway up the coast, you’ll come to Sycamore Cove Beach, at the south end of Point Mugu State Park. On weekends you’ll know it by the crowds that descend on this little sandy pocket, wedged between two rocky points. The key is to arrive early; during the summer the small parking lot is full by 9 a.m. After that, beachgoers park on the highway, avoiding the $6 fee but sometimes risking their lives to dash across this busy stretch of road.

This cove, with its tree-shaded picnic areas, is a good swimming spot for kids. Rangers say it doesn’t get as much summer fog as other beaches. Expect to share the sand with campers from Sycamore Canyon Campground across the highway.

As you continue up PCH, you can’t miss the towering mass of boulders known as Mugu Rock. Beside it is Mugu Beach, still part of Point Mugu State Park. The parking lot doesn’t fill up as fast here as at Sycamore Cove, and the fee is only $2. It’s not a good swim beach for children, but it draws skim boarders and those curious about this monumental chunk of rock. Years ago the road curved around it, but later washed away, leaving a rocky promontory.

Don’t climb the rock or venture out on the promontory to fish or experience the ocean spray. Almost every year, powerful waves sweep away someone who steps out too far, emboldened by the salt air and the world-class view.

Off the Track

The beach crowds dwindle as you move up the coast. Detour off the beaten coastal track and you’ll find palm tree-studded Port Hueneme Beach Park. “Most people don’t know about it, so it’s not crowded,” says Valorie Morrison, who, with her husband Bill, has run the snack bar and tackle shop here for 13 years.

You can rent fishing equipment at the shop for $5 a day and drop a line off the pier, which was built in 1978 to replace the century-old Hueneme wharf. You can also borrow a volleyball net from the Morrisons for a game on the beach, but you’ll have to bring your own ball.

The beach has sheltered picnic tables, on which you can indulge in their half-pound “Billy Burger.” For a more secluded experience, stroll south on to Ormond Beach, keeping an eye out for sand dollars and exotic birds from nearby Mugu wetlands.

Sheik to Chic

Oxnard’s Hollywood Beach wouldn’t be what it is today had it not been for Rudolph Valentino. In 1921, Paramount Studios chose the vast beach with its dunes as the location for the movie idol’s steamy romance, “The Sheik.” When the film was a hit, developers cashed in, selling lots along the beach. The Silver Strand and Hollywood-by-the Sea communities followed, and soon the area was a draw for big Hollywood names like Clark Gable.

Today, part of the fun of going to these beaches is seeing the old cottages from the 1920s wedged in among the dazzling million-dollar homes that line the sand.

At Silver Strand Beach, long a surfing haunt, check out the remains of the shipwrecked ocean liner, La Jenelle, at the south end. The cruise ship slammed into the beach during a storm in 1970. The hull was never hauled away, although you wouldn’t recognize it today. Filled with rock, it’s now a fishing jetty. Near it is an amazing wall of colorful murals: dolphins frolicking, beach scenes, even the beached La Jenelle.

If you cruise the sands at Hollywood Beach, take a break at the venerable Mrs. Olson’s Coffee Hut, a casual, no-frills spot that draws a crowd on weekends. For something more lavish, the Mandalay Beach Resort is just up the coast and sits smack on the beach, complete with a bar and an intimate, special-occasion restaurant. Next to the hotel, city-run Oxnard State Beach offers ball fields, volleyball courts and picnic tables. But no lifeguards are on duty here.

You can walk for miles on these wide, sandy beaches, often without much company. If you’re a birder, consider an amble at McGrath State Beach, at the mouth of the Santa Clara River. This is mainly a campground, so you’ll have to pay the $5 day-use fee; the payoff, however, is a glimpse of herons and a plethora of water birds along the jungle-like, three-quarter-mile self-guided nature trail.

Beach With a Mission

Across the river in Ventura, one of the safest swimming beaches for kids is Harbor Cove Beach. Protected by a breakwater, it seldom is hit by waves much bigger or meaner than kittens. If you require a diversion other than gazing at yachts and fishing boats as they thread through Ventura Harbor’s mouth out toward the Channel Islands, you can fly a kite; they’re sold across the road at the harbor’s kite shop.

On the other side of the harbor, Marina Park’s big attraction for kids is the “San Salvador,” a make-believe shipwreck with a pulley-like gizmo that shoots children across the sand. The cozy beach here is inviting, but it isn’t staffed by lifeguards; swimmers often get caught in dangerous rip currents.

San Buenaventura State Beach hugs the cityscape, stretching about a mile from San Pedro Street north to just above Ventura Pier. You can pay $5 to park here, or park elsewhere and walk in. The snack bar is open weekends, and it’s likely you can soon rent a surrey here to pedal the bike path along the beach.

Starting this weekend, the county’s newest Farmers’ Market will set up shop here each Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. At that time, you can park for only $1, buy your greens and take in some rays as well.

At the storm-thrashed Ventura Pier, the long-awaited new restaurant is scheduled to open soon after Memorial Day weekend. Past the pier, just beyond the Holiday Inn, is Surfers Point. If you’d rather watch surfing than climb on a board yourself, spread your beach blanket here and enjoy the show.

Up, Up, and Away

Above Ventura, the beaches get even more secluded, some sandy, some dotted with cobblestones. At Faria Beach, a narrow strip of sand attracts kayakers and beachgoers who like to explore the tide pools at low tide. The beach is named for Manuel Faria who first saw it on horseback in 1904 and was reminded of the Azore Islands of his native Portugal. Here, as at other spots nearby, you’ll have to scramble over rocks to get to the sand. Timing is everything; at high tide the beach can all but disappear.

Closer to the Santa Barbara County line is the Rincon, a spot known to surfers around the world. Perhaps not so well known is Bates Beach, the stretch of sand about half a mile above Rincon Beach Park where nude sunbathers stretch out on the sand for a full-body tan.

DETAILS

VENTURA COUNTY BEACH FACTOIDS

* Best place to spot sand dollars: Ormond Beach.

* Only beach with a resident raven: Hobson County Beach.

* Only clothing-optional beach: Bates Beach, just over the Santa Barbara County line.

* Best beach to watch trans-oceanic freighters: Port Hueneme Beach.

* Longest stretch of parked RVs: Rincon Parkway.

* Best tide pools: Faria Beach.

* Best beach for rock hounds: Thornhill Broome State Beach area on the Pacific Coast Highway, for the black coquina agate.

* Bar closest to the sand: The Rudder Room on Hollywood Beach.