Located South of Ventura Harbor off
Spinnaker Dr. This beach is on the North side of the Santa Clara River mouth. To the South of the river mouth
is McGrath State Beach.
The waves here have a reptutation of good to surf, although water quality has been
an issue. The Santa Clara River is one of few left mostly in it's natural state. Sand dunes line the
beach and look beautiful in Spring bloom. However, this is territory for several ground nesting species of endangered
birds, you will see the dunes roped off to prevent eggs from being crushed. Regardless, you still get a very good view
of the dunes--it's worth it.
The views of the Santa Clara River making it's final
descent into the Pacific are great. The bird watching is excellent. Personally I like the river view and
bird watching from Rivermouth Beach better than at neighboring McGrath State Beach, although McGrath offers an established nature trail and more expansive dunes and plant life which I found interesting.
The pictures below are dated 4/17/10, we walked from the parking lot on Spinnacker Dr. to the mouth of the river entering
the ocean (also known as Santa Clara River Estuary). Our intent was to walk the beach to McGrath and back but this
day there was no sand bar at the river mouth and we opted not to wade through the river. Instead after walking
to river mouth we returned to our vehicle and drove to McGrath to continue our walk.
See the links at the
end of this page for more information about the beach, the river and it's wildlife. The Santa Clara River Mouth
Beach and Estuary is both a good surf spot and nature walk, along with McGrath State Beach is home to a number of endangered
species.
Click any picture on this page to enlarge.
