White Point’s history is fascinating. A former abalone fishery, the beach was a Japanese-American enclave in the 1920s and ’30s. White Point Hot Springs was a resort with a ballroom, a bathhouse, restaurants, and a gambling area that mostly catered to Japanese-American residents and visitors from San Francisco. The tidepools are the hero here, filled with sea urchins, mussels, hermit crabs, turban snails, and starfish. The kelp forest just off the coast is popular for divers, home to the likes of garibaldi, moray eels, nudibranchs, painted greenling fish, scallops, sea cucumbers, and California sheephead fish. Above the beach is the White Point Nature Preserve, which has winding trails overlooking the ocean.
Where to stay near White Point Beach: