Carlsbad State Beach Sand Dollar Hunt

We finally made the drive north to Carlsbad State Beach, and it did not disappoint. The stretch of beach near the campground has a completely different feel from our usual Del Mar spots — wider, with more exposed reef at low tide.

The tide pools here are shallower and more spread out, which makes for easier hunting. Within the first twenty minutes we’d found four sand dollars just walking the waterline south of the staircase. The sand is coarser than Del Mar, and the dollars seem to sit right on top instead of being half-buried.

Pro tip: park at the Carlsbad State Beach campground day-use area and head south. The reef shelf about a quarter mile down is prime territory at anything below a 1.5-foot tide.

We’ll definitely be adding Carlsbad to the regular rotation. Between Del Mar and Carlsbad, we’ve got miles of coastline to cover now.