Montara State Beach

Montara State Beach
Location San Mateo County, California
Nearest city Half Moon Bay
Coordinates 37°32′53″N 122°30′49″W / 37.54806°N 122.51361°W / 37.54806; -122.51361Coordinates: 37°32′53″N 122°30′49″W / 37.54806°N 122.51361°W / 37.54806; -122.51361
Governing body California Department of Parks and Recreation

Montara State Beach is a beach located eight miles north of Half Moon Bay on State Route 1, USA. Operated by California State Department of Parks and Recreation under the San Mateo Coast Sector Office. It is one of the cleanest in the state.[1]

Montara State Marine Reserve & Pillar Point State Marine Conservation Area extend offshore from Montara State Beach. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.

History

The first European land exploration of Alta California, the Spanish Portolà expedition, camped in this area on October 30, 1769, possibly at Martini Creek,[2] which reaches the sea at Montara beach (Bolton says San Vicente Creek, farther south). Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi noted in his diary, "We stopped not far from the shore at the foot of some hills which prevent us from passing along the beach. They form a valley sheltered from the north, from which flows an arroyo with plenty of good water...on account of the large number of mussels which they found on this beach, very good and large, the men called it Punta de las Almejas."[3]

See also

References

  1. Bay Area beaches grade well for safe swimming, May 27, 2010 by Carolyn Jones, San Francisco Chronicle
  2. Portola Expedition Diaries
  3. Bolton, Herbert E. (1927). Fray Juan Crespi: Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast, 1769-1774. HathiTrust Digital Library. pp. 225–226. Retrieved April 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.