Snorkeling Crescent Bay | Underwater Paradise | Laguna Beach California | SwImming with Sharks

Have you ever wondered what the best snorkeling cove is in Laguna Beach, California? Well, we're going to share one of our favorites. This peaceful cove offers a perfect mix of snorkeling and relaxation in a private beach and abundant marine life. Its location is off of PCH and Cliff on Circle Way. Today we're exploring the north and south ends of Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach. There's free parking in the neighborhood. This beautiful tucked away cove has bathrooms and a shower. So we're headed to the left of the lifeguard station to the south end of Crescent Bay. Isn't this place gorgeous? Wow. Hey, just a quick tip. Coat the inside of your goggles with toothpaste or anti-fog and it will keep it from steaming up when you're snorkeling. Then give your mask a good rinse and you're ready to go. Today I chose to wear a wetsuit. It was a two millimeter with short sleeves. The water temp was about 67 so I think this should be perfect. There he goes. Sean is going to take you in an underwater journey through reefs full of sea life, sharks, and a secluded cove that we have nicknamed From the moment I entered that water at the south side, that was maybe waist deep, I found a school of leopard sharks. They were just casually swimming and we were hanging out together. It seemed like we were enjoying each other's company. I was really fascinated by their leopard markings and how graceful they just glided in the water. This experience was very rare to me. I have never seen so many sharks in one spot. Oftentimes I would just float. I was in like three feet of water and they would swim over to me and it's almost as if they were inspecting to see what kind of sea creature is this. The sharks were absolute experts in their terrain. They would just smoothly float over the sand dunes. They were so awesome to watch. You know, honestly, I could have stuck around here all day. They were so fascinating, but at some point I realized I can't have a 10-minute movie of just leopard sharks. So it was time to move on and we said our goodbyes and I carried on to the next reef. You're going to love what's coming ahead. As I made my way to the outer reef, one shark left his crew and started to lead the way. It was like he said, hey, follow me guy. And by the way, don't let the door hit you on the way out. At this part of the journey, I'm making my way to exit the cove into the deeper waters where the waves splash onto the outside of the reef and made it too murky to film. Let me just show you the outer reef for a second and you'll get a feel for it. There's a lot of fish out there and it's quite an experience. Shortly after this, the narrow reef opens up and it's all shallows to the beach. I filmed this part of the video on one clip so you could have a great idea how long it takes to get to the beach. Swimming to the beach can only be done at medium to high tide, but at low tide you could walk along the reef to this beach. But what's so nice is when you snorkel here at medium to high tide, you have it all to yourself. It's good to take a peek once in a while to make sure you're headed in the right direction. And I was. This part of the passage to the epic beach we're headed to and we call Shell Beach was like a fish tank and it was probably two feet of water. This was such a great experience. Notice how I'm stopping and starting again. I'm going with the flow of the ocean and it's conserving my energy. At this point in my journey, the sun really reflected the colors of the reef. Just a little further, we'll be in the tide pools right at the beach shoreline. These are the fish nurseries where little tiny fish get their starting line. Take a look how many are swimming around. There was a lot of these little tide pools that looked like fish tanks and they had so much life in them. It's hard to capture it all with the camera. They kept swimming away. Two things to be aware of when you're in these tide pools. One, try not to step all over the marine life. That's obvious. And two, be careful as the waves rush in that you're not too close to rocks and get an injury. And without further ado, the next stop is the secluded beach. If you decide to check out this glorious beach at low tide, just be aware that the tides take about six hours to change from low to high on an average. If you get stuck out here and it's high tide, you may have to swim back. And if you're not comfortable with that, then really be alert and keep an eye on your watch. Just imagine having this whole beach to yourself. Okay, there's not as many shells as last time we came at low tide. It was covered with all kinds of assorted shells, so it must change depending on season and surf. So it was very comfortable to walk on this time, but this place is normally just filled with all shells. Now we're heading over to the north side of Crescent Bay. See you there. This side of the cove had super interesting rock cropping, a reef, and a gorgeous sea meadow. The water visibility this day was incredible. The sea meadow danced with the current. It was really beautiful to see. The marine life on the north side is just as prolific. You just have to catch up with it. Fish love to hide out in the meadow and in the sand bottom along the reef. Truly, there's never a dull moment whether you're on the north or the south side of Crescent Bay. The visual stimulation is unbelievable here in this reef. I was at least 100 yards from the shore and I could stand up on the reef. It was really cool from this vantage point. It's always good to know a few things before you go snorkeling. Water visibility, wave height, water temperature, wind, and the tides. All of them are helpful. Crescent Bay Laguna Beach sure has a lot to offer. I really enjoy this place every time I come and I recommend it. I'd call it a five-star epic cove. Until your next adventure, whether it be hiking, snorkeling, camping, backpacking, check in with us at Hike Bites, one bite at a time. We'll see you soon and thanks for watching. This video has a link to our playlist to all our ocean and snorkeling videos. We hope that you check them out. And if you like this video, don't forget to like it, subscribe. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.