La Jolla's Deepest Low Tides Land on the Holidays, Right Up Against Sunset

NOAA's predictions for the Scripps Pier tide station show the deepest low tides of fall 2026 falling in two runs. The first is Thanksgiving week. The second covers the days before and after Christmas. The lowest single reading of the two months is a predicted −1.88 feet at 3:47 p.m. on Christmas Eve. On Thanksgiving Day the tide bottoms out at −1.40 feet at 4:46 p.m.

According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, the sun sets at 4:43 p.m. that Thursday. So the Thanksgiving low comes three minutes after sunset. In both holiday runs, each afternoon's low arrives later than the one before, and the tide keeps getting deeper until a day or two before it falls after sunset. The most exposed reef of the season therefore comes as the light is going. The best afternoons are a day or two earlier, when the tide is slightly less dramatic and there is still plenty of daylight.

Why the Low Tides Move Into the Afternoon in Winter

The coast of California has what tide scientists call a mixed tide. Each day brings two high tides and two low tides of unequal size. Reinhard Flick, a researcher affiliated with Scripps, describes the seasonal pattern in a paper published through eScholarship. The lowest low tides fall on winter afternoons and midsummer mornings. Flick traces this to the way two of the main tidal components, known as K1 and M2, interact. NOAA's tutorial on tides explains a related piece: as the moon's angle to the equator changes, back-to-back tides on the West Coast become unequal.

In practice, the summer minus tides that come before dawn give way to winter ones that come after lunch. Once they arrive, they creep toward sunset over the course of each run. The table compares NOAA's predicted lows for the two deepest runs with the Naval Observatory's sunset times. Heights are in feet relative to mean lower low water, the zero point used on NOAA's tide charts, and times are local. The sunset times were calculated for downtown San Diego, so on the La Jolla coast they may differ by about a minute.

The deepest low of the Thanksgiving run comes the day before the holiday, and the deepest of the Christmas run comes on Christmas Eve. By the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas, the afternoon low arrives after sunset.

The Better Afternoons Come Earlier in Each Run

Daylight matters for more than seeing. The tide starts rising again as soon as it hits its low. A low that arrives at 3:55 p.m. gives you about 48 minutes of light while the water comes back. A low at 2:17 p.m. gives you two and a half hours.

That makes Tuesday, Dec. 22 the standout date of the season. The predicted low is −1.49 feet, close to Thanksgiving week's deepest, at 2:17 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 23 goes lower, to −1.80 feet, and still leaves about an hour and three-quarters before sunset. In November, Tuesday the 24th reaches −1.40 feet at 3:06 p.m. That is the same depth as Thanksgiving Day, with more than an hour and a half of daylight left.

Two milder runs come earlier in each month, and they come with even more light. In early November the tide drops below zero from Nov. 7 through Nov. 11. The deepest of those is −0.49 feet at 3:18 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9. In early December it goes negative from Dec. 5 through Dec. 12, reaching −0.72 feet at 3:11 p.m. on Dec. 8.

Birch Aquarium at Scripps scheduled its naturalist-led Tidepooling Adventures for the opening weekends of those milder runs. Here are the four sessions listed on Birch's ticketing page for the rest of 2026:

• Saturday, Nov. 7, Scripps Beach, 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. The low is −0.23 ft at 2:06 p.m.
• Sunday, Nov. 8, Kellogg Park, 2 to 3:30 p.m. The low is −0.43 ft at 2:42 p.m.
• Saturday, Dec. 5, Scripps Beach, 12:45 to 2:15 p.m. The low is −0.19 ft at 1:27 p.m.
• Sunday, Dec. 6, Kellogg Park, 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. The low is −0.50 ft at 2:04 p.m.

Each session is built around the predicted low. Tickets cost $25, or $20 for members, and aquarium admission is not included. Everyone taking part has to be at least 6 years old on the day, and children ages 6 to 17 need their own ticket plus a ticketed adult. When the page was checked in October, Dec. 5 was on a wait list and the other three dates were open. Birch asks for at least a week's notice to cancel or reschedule, and for the digital waiver at least 24 hours in advance, according to its Tidepooling Adventure page. Dec. 6 is also the day of the 70th La Jolla Christmas Parade & Holiday Festival in the Village. The parade organizers give the route start as Kline Street and Girard Avenue, so a family going to the Kellogg Park session should expect parade traffic on the same afternoon.

Where the Reef Opens Up, and Where It Stays Closed

The National Park Service describes the tidepools as running from Dike Rock near Scripps Pier south to Windansea Beach. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife names Sun Gold Point, Bird Rock and Pacific Beach Point, also called False Point, as good spots at low tide. The San Diego Union-Tribune has written about tidepools along Coast Boulevard and around La Jolla Shores, and an earlier Union-Tribune guide adds Shell Beach and Dike Rock. The San Diego Tourism Authority's beach guide lists tidepools at Hospitals and Windansea.

During the Christmas run, the Coast Boulevard stretch has less beach open than the list above suggests. The City of San Diego closes Children's Pool Beach to the public from Dec. 15 through May 15 every year for harbor seal pupping season. The closure starts a week before the Dec. 21 to 25 lows. Nearby, the City's Point La Jolla page describes a year-round closure of Point La Jolla and Boomer Beach. Visitors may not enter the area, and the only ocean access allowed at Boomer Beach is swimming. This fall's California Coastal Commission discussion was about a different proposal. That plan would limit access at La Jolla Cove itself from June 1 through Sept. 15, and as of the Union-Tribune's Sept. 22 report, the Commission had not acted on it.

So for Christmas week, the spots with the fewest seasonal closures are at the ends of the coastline: Dike Rock and Scripps Beach in the north, and Windansea, Bird Rock and False Point in the south.

What the Reserves Allow

Most of this coastline lies inside state Marine Protected Areas. CDFW's rules for Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve and South La Jolla State Marine Reserve make it unlawful to injure, damage, take or possess any living, geological or cultural marine resource. The neighboring conservation areas, San Diego-Scripps Coastal and South La Jolla, carry the same ban with narrow exceptions for certain species caught by hook and line. The NPS describes the La Jolla coast as an ecological reserve where nothing may be removed, living or dead. CDFW's general MPA regulations say activities that take nothing are generally allowed. They also say boundaries may not be marked, so visitors are responsible for knowing where they are on the MPA map.

Birch Aquarium's Tidepooling 101 guide goes further than the law. It asks visitors to leave rocks and shells where they are and to watch animals without touching them, because even a short touch can stress or harm them. This section is general information, not legal advice. For the exact boundaries and rules, check CDFW's pages directly.

Planning a Holiday-Week Low Tide

With guests in town for one of the holidays, the calendar gives you a simple order to plan in:

1. Pick a date early in the run. For Thanksgiving week that means Nov. 23 or 24, and for Christmas week, Dec. 21, 22 or 23.
2. Arrive before the predicted low. Each low on the table comes at a set time, and the water starts rising again right after it.
3. Match the spot to the date. After Dec. 15, Children's Pool Beach is closed, which pushes Christmas-week plans toward Scripps Beach and Dike Rock or toward Windansea, Bird Rock and False Point.
4. Keep a rainy-day backup. Birch Aquarium opened "The Axolotl's Garden/El Jardín del Ajolote" on Oct. 21. It's an expansion of the Imagine Wild exhibition with two axolotl habitats and other Mexican species such as Tequila Splitfins and Blind Cave Tetras, and it is included with general admission, according to the Union-Tribune.

All tide times here are NOAA predictions for the Scripps Pier station. The full November table is worth a check the week you plan to go.

At DuPre Real Estate, we pay as much attention to the La Jolla coastline as to the homes above it, and timing a low tide is part of knowing this place well. If you're curious which parts of La Jolla put Dike Rock, Windansea or Bird Rock within walking distance, Diana is glad to talk it through. Schedule Your Consultation.