Abalone Cove, California

A short access road off Palos Verdes Drive South - just west of the junction with Narcissa Dr - leads down to the beachside parking lot. By the lot are the useful basic facilities of restrooms and showers. But don’t bring your barbecue set, or your dog, as these are both forbidden.

From the parking lot, it’s only a few steps down to the beach. To the left the beach is bounded by the rocky headland of Portuguese Point. Beyond the point lies a smaller rocky cove - Sacred Cove, then Inspiration Point.

Abalone Cove has the best beach for swimming – at high tide the beach is mostly pebbles, which are painful underfoot as you venture oceanwards, but mid-tide reveals a good amount of fine sand, perfect for bare feet. During summer, there’s a lifeguard on duty – always reassuring. Another point worth knowing is that the Cove is often mentioned as having much better sea water quality than the average SoCal beach.

Sacred Cove can be reached by a brisk walk over Portuguese Point, and is a brilliant place to go rock pooling. The pools (low-tide only duh) contain an amazing variety of sea life, like starfish, anemones, urchins, crabs, molluscs and seaweeds. Though remind inquisitive young fingers that the cove is part of a State Ecological Preserve and taking, or even disturbing marine life is prohibited.