Morro Bay

Surf Guide

The northernmost of the volcanic peaks spanning from the city of San Luis Obispo to Morro Bay, 576-foot-tall Morro Rock (also called the Gibraltar of the Pacific) exists in a state preserve for the nesting of the endangered peregrine falcon. Thus, you can't climb on it or even get near it -- surfing on the rock's north side is the closest you'll come to this intriguing monolith, and the scenery isn't the only reason worth visiting this salty town of 10,000. Because the beach faces due west, any and every kind of swell hits the sandbars of Morro Rock, occasionally converting an ordinary California beachbreak into a magical mile or two of feathering A-frames and vomiting tubes. But on a daily basis, this is simply another generic beachbreak with customary closeouts, rip currents and the failure to handle anything over 6 feet. The farther up the beach you go, the bigger and beefier the waves become. There's a mushy left off the Rock itself, but if you crave power and consistency, you'll scarcely be disappointed with the beach's north end. If the sandbars are formed just right, they'll manage big swells, but the problem then becomes making it out.