Not sure if it qualifies as "travel" but i'm going to be in San Diego for about 4 days in early may and I want to get some surfing in. Any recommendations for beaches that are a sure thing that time of year? It would be nice to stay somewhere that was on / near a break so I could dawn patrol before I go do stuff with the lady. Recommend a good place to rent a NICE board? Thanks in advance dudes. So far I am thinking pacific or mission beach for the nightlife but I hear the surf is pretty mediocre.
Been a bunch of times. Your assessment is spot on IMO...staying in Mission/PB is nice but the waves out front are often mushy closeouts. At low tide it will be a lot smaller than elsewhere. Nearby- 10 minutes south, the jetties at Ocean Beach are fun but get crowded. Check the street ends in La Jolla 5 mins north of PB...Bird Rock Ave. and Windansea are consistent fun waves that will be relatively mellow if its under head high because people don't bother when its small. 15 minutes north and 15 minutes down the trail is Blacks Beach which seems like its chest high every morning, and obviously gets big with swell. DP at Blacks is less crowded than DP at a lot of east coast spots, and the wave is worthy. Everyone should make the trip up to Trestles once. 1 hr north. Its a consistent spot, and if you hit it at 6 a.m or 6 p.m. on a weekday when the swell isnt pumping you'll maybe score it with 20 heads in the water at lowers, figure out the lineup after a while, and get maybe get 5 set waves you'll never forget. There are obviously dozens of other spots nearby.
I stayed in Pacific beach in december, which was a fun town as far as night life. They have a concrete path that goes along the ocean that has bars up and down it. Another big party spot is garnet ave. in pb where there are a ton of bars. As far as surf goes, I though PB was below average, there were waves everday, but pretty much closeouts. As far as surf is concerned your gonna need to rent a car and do some traveling. Mitchell gave you a pretty good setup as far as htting good spots. I would also pm zach if you get a chance, he pretty much seems to have that place dialed in. I also surfed blacks when I was there, but the surf was kinda wack, but I know that place gets good. Just be prepared to hike down a hill to get there....I didnt think the walk down sucked, but after a 3 or 4 hour session....the walk back up was not fun.....enjoy man
I lived in both OB and PB. if you are looking for some nightlife PB is definitely the place to stay, assuming you want to be in a beach town. La Jolla is super nice, high end, pretty pricey, but definitely some really cool places there for dinner as well and a pretty sick mexican restaurant/bar that has some good margaritas and good vibe... pretty sure its called joses http://joses.com/. so PB and la jolla are pretty solid. OB is a bunch of hippies and a mix of others. definitely a pretty cool mix of people there and great for some people watching. also has some cool bars and restaurants. they got a killer burger place in OB too called Hodads. also if you wanna take your chick out to a nice dinner and you got a little cash to spend check out Georges at the Cove in La Jolla. make a reservation for the outside deck up top. they have some heat lamps up there to keep her warm if its cold and some pretty amazing food. you wont be disappointed. as for surf mitchell has it right. but definitely check out blacks. always has more swell than any other spot in San Diego.
SD in May definitely Blacks, hands down. I park at the Glider port end so I don't have to deal with the "chalkers" giving me a ticket.