Eldwayen Ocean Park, Shell Beach

Eldwayen Ocean Park on Ocean Blvd in Shell Beach has a colorful scene, with a 700m walkway with benches and flowers overlooking the ocean, and steps that lead down to tidepools. Across the street are beach houses with gardens and cypress trees, and behind them you see lovely hills. 

Stand on the walkway closest to Chapman Estate and listen to the ocean as it rolls the big beach pebbles up and down the shore! It is hypnotic!
On a rocky promontory is the Chapman Estate, an oceanfront half-timbered house with a decorative windmill and lighthouse. Peek through the gate at it. It now belongs to the city and you can tour its left and right yard, and begonia greenhouse, April to October (Tues and Thurs 11-1, Fri 5-7), but you see almost as much from the gate.
Kids enjoy seeing what they can find in the tide pools. The beach has reddish-hued sand and lovely cliffs. During high tide the water comes all the way up to the cliffs. This is a very cold spot- the land juts out catching the cold Alaska current. Bring a jacket and be prepared for your face to ache from the cold wind after your visit. Early in the morning, the wind is more still.
On the furthest east end of the walkway is the romantic lookout at Placentia Avenue. You can make your walk longer by walking up Boeker Ave to Shell Beach Rd, then down Windward Ave where you will meet up with Ocean Blvd again. It's too bad Ocean Blvd has a gap right here where it's not connected. At 217 Windward Ave, you can see the original Bellevue Schoolhouse. The schoolhouse was on a picturesque knoll on Johnson Ranch in 1897 and served 25 students. From there you can do another lovely walk along the cliffs on Ocean Blvd past Margo Dodd Park and Dinosaur Caves Park (an imaginative playground your kids will love) and then to the Shell Beach Panoramic Walk behind Shore Cliff Hotel. This makes a 2.5 mile walk (one-way measurement).
You can also make your walk into a 1.5 mile loop walk by walking Ocean Blvd, the two side streets at the east and west end (Boeker Ave and Vista Del Mar Ave), and the Shell Beach Village Bike Path, on Shell Beach Road, which takes you past cafes and shops. A coffee shop is Steaming Bean, where you can sit outside in the sun on their back patio enjoying a peek of the ocean and tranquil sounds of birds chirping.

Directions

Eldwayen Ocean Park tidepools are located at Ocean Blvd and Morro Ave, Pismo Beach CA 93449.
Exit Highway 101 at Spyglass Drive. Turn toward the ocean, and then immediately left on Shell Beach Rd. Turn toward the ocean on any of these streets: Vista Del Mar Ave, Cuyama Ave, Morro Ave, Montecito Ave, Palomar Ave, Capistrano Ave, Wawona Ave, etc...Placentia Ave. You will reach Ocean Blvd at the end of these streets. Park along the road.

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