This review is about the beach only. BEWARE-- WEAR WATER SHOES and be careful if you swim here. The 3 stars are because the water is clean (better water quality test results than a lot of other lakes/swimming holes/beaches around the bay area), the waves are gentle, it seems popular for kayaks and paddleboards, the bathroom at the beach was pretty clean and well-maintained, and the park itself is unique with an interesting history. I wish I could give it 5 stars but there are several problems with this beach that you should be aware of before you try going swimming here-- especially if you have kids.
Yes, it's shallow and the water is pretty nice... BUT there are tons of sharp rocks and oyster shells bits & pieces. Some shell pieces are attached to the rocks and some just scattered along on the bottom. The 2 times we have been here so far both of our kids have ended up with multiple cuts all over their feet and/or legs. The first time, Our 7 year old had cuts so deep on a couple of his toes that we almost had to go to the emergency room to get stitches.. He's a tough kid and we were able to make due with steri-strips, but the cuts were deep and it was a close call. It pretty much ruined both our trips and caused plenty of tears when we had to disinfect and treat those cuts. After the 1st trip, we thought perhaps it was a fluke especially since so many other families bring their kids here and the majority of them weren't wearing water shoes... so we thought we were maybe just unlucky. We decided to give it a second shot. No dice-- The 2nd time we tried swimming a little bit further down the beach, and it was even worse. So many cuts and scrapes. Our kids are pretty tough but still this was just such a disappointing experience. In hindsight and to be fair it seems like perhaps the locals know it's best to stay near what's left of the fishing village hut, the snackshack, and the little pier, if you want to swim. But even in checking the little beach around that area I still found plenty of broken shell bits & sharp rocks, and I wonder how in the world anyone could possibly let their kids swim here without water shoes.
We are undecided as to whether or not we will try swimming here again. Probably not for a long time, because that 2nd trip was a bit more traumatic on both of the kids since we had to cut it short to treat all the scrapes & cuts ( We had them wearing water shoes that time, so these were scraped mostly on their shins and knees from the times they slipped in the shallow water, et cetera, so there were a lot more but thankfully we didn't end up with any really bad deeper cuts like the first time, there were just a lit MORE cuts that time!) Granted, both of our kids are bruisers & pretty tough, hence they didn't even realize at first that they were getting all of these gashes since they were having a great time splashing around…. but infection is always a risk no matter what beach we're talking about, even with better water quality like at this site. It is troubling and I'm not sure it's worth the risk.
I may update this if we do have a chance to go camping here at the park Campground, if I have something to report about that I would factor it in to my review. I really do want to try camping here but our 2 experiences so far have been a turn-off. As for now, the beach gets 2.5 to 3 stars max. We might come back here soon just to go kayaking because it is really pretty, the water is calm, and if you're wearing water shoes I think it would be safe enough to launch from the beach even with the sharp rocks.
