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Children's Pool
Rating Details »
850 Coast Blvd
(between Eads Ave & Jenner St)
La Jolla, CA 92037
(619) 235-1169
(between Eads Ave & Jenner St)
La Jolla, CA 92037
(619) 235-1169
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
27 reviews for Children's Pool
Watch the seals, leave them alone, enjoy the beach, BRING YOUR CAMERA.
MUST-go place when you visit San Diego. Just be aware of the lack of parking spots near the beach on the weekends.
Very peaceful and BEAUTIFUL.
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This is my first stop whenever I go home to San Diego. Whenever something was wrong when I lived there, this was where you could find me. It's a tiny piece of protected beach surrounded by a small wall. There has been so much debate about the residents now occupying this space.
You see, many years ago the wall (or catwalk now) was built to protect the beach for Children of the area. Hense it being called the Children's Pool. It is a shallow piece of land that was perfect for teaching children how to swim and get acquainted with the ocean. I wish that I had grown up here to experience it in that day.
Nonetheless a natural phenomenon occurred. Seals started to migrate to this piece of beach. It happened for many years and then people started to complain about it.
Why? Because people are petty and selfish at times. It's not like there aren't MILES OF COASTLINE to go swim or anything.
I lived in San Diego when they took the ropes which prevented you from using the beach so as not to disturb the seals. I was there when they dredged the water to clean it... with the seals there, it's also not the best place to swim anyway.
I remember taking my son there and watching some guy move the rope and go snorkeling next to the seals. I've always wanted to swim next to dolphins, but that was just unsettling the utter disregard he had for the wildlife there.
A young cousin of mine had a school project called "Flat Stanley" where I had to take him to various places in San Diego and photograph him. The pictures I took here on my SLR were some of her and her classmates absolute favorites.
This is a place where I know I will be coming for many years to come. Weather its alone to listen to the waves and watch the marvel of a natural phenomenon or to teach my children about it... or to meet a date.
San Diego you're lucky to have this right there. Who knows when it may be gone. So enjoy it.
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The seals are one of the best parts of La Jolla. People have 99 percent of coastline... give the poor seals this little niche! If people want to take their kids to the beach, there is hundreds of miles of coastline to do that.
What kind of monster wants to chase away those adorable animals? Barking dogs scaring away harmless seals? We would look like a joke to the rest of the country and world!
KEEP THE SEALS!
Besides, they are protected by the Marine Mammal Act... I do not see why this is up for debate???
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I don't get why this place is called the Children's Pool when it's clearly been overtaken by tons of seals...unless of course they are trying to compare children to seals. I guess I can kind of see the resemblance...a lot of sqawking and pooping and laying around? ha ha ha JUST KIDDING!! For real though, I don't get it??
On the real, this place is absolutely picturesque...and I'm not just talking about the seals that reside here. The beach is magnificant, and really makes you forget you are in San Diego and feels like you are on a beach in the Mediterranean. It's also nice to check out seals in a more natural habitat than at a place like Sea World where they are caged, spoiled and turned into whiney little pussies.
It's pretty sweet to come here and watch the sun set over the horizon, as well as to walk out onto the jetty and observe the waves crashing on the rocks. I'd imagine it would be quite exciting when it's windy because the water would splash right up and hit you...you know, it'd give the term "The Perfect Storm" a whole new meaning. Or how awesome would it be for a scene from "Jaws" to come to life right in front of your eyes and for a great white shark to come jumping up out of the crashing waves? Totally unrealistic, I know. But still exciting to imagine.
Baby seals are one of nature's cutest wonders...so why is it that they have to grow up and morph into big, lazy blobs of flubber? I'll personally never understand.
I'd say this is a definite must-see if you're in San Diego. Magnificent!!!
Woulda been a five but I had to knock off a star because of the gawd awful smell those lil rascals leave in the air.
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Seals are cute and I love them, let them stay at Children's Pool. Cute pups sunning and most of them sleeping.
FAT, BIG, HUGE and baby seals they are cute!
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When it comes to issues like this, I have to stick with my morals:
I hate children.
I love seals.
In fact, I would go so far as to make the argument that IF we were to force the seal population of La Jolla to emigrate, the children who would thus take over the children's pool would produce as much noise and as much smell as the pool's prior inhabitants. BUT these children would provide less of an attraction for beach-goers.
So I says: 'The Seals Stay!'
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I didn't manage to make it to the Children's Pool until a couple months ago when I was scouting out the park for a wedding and just kept walking down the boardwalk, looking for other cute little beaches. I came across the Children's Pool and was mesmerized. I sat down and just watched the seals. For an hour. Then I walked down the the seawall and watched more. Between the cute pregnant seals and the cute kids stoked to see the seals, it was an awesome morning. I've since brought my guy, my parents, and my friends with kids down here for early-morning seal watching. (One of my out of town friends thought it was called "Children's Pool" because of the number of happy kids running about when we visited!)
There are plenty of places to lay out and/or swim in San Diego, but not a lot of places to see wildlife relatively undisrupted by people. It should be preserved as such so our children can experience it!
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a really great place to see natural san diego wildlife and a lot cheaper than going to sea world. i have been going here since i was a kid and i really love visiting the seals, especially when they have pups. i can really sit here for hours watching them sun bathe and swim in the water. i hope that san diego can protect the seals and keep them on the beach. it would be a real shame to see them go.
Best thing about Children's Pool: you get to watch nature at its best, with hundreds of awesome seals sunbathing and living a nice, lazy life while tending to their close-knit families.
Worst thing about Children's Pool: you stay there too long, you'll inevitably witness a baby seal do something completely mundane (like sneeze, or roll over and bark), deem it to be the most adorable thing in the world, and spend hours plotting some incomprehensibly-complex-yet-completely-doable plan to kidnap said seal and raise him in your bathtub.
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Another great spot to take guests when they are visiting. Best time to go is when the pups are freshly born. Those ugly animals are so cute when they're little. Seems somewhat daring to walk out on the seawall during rough waters, if you're into that.
I've been a few times and it still makes me smile.
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I say let the seals stay!
We all know that the Childrens Pool was built for children. It seems that some think that Miss Scripps is tossing off in her grave, but I think thats bs. She was an environmentalist as well and I don't think she would have any problem with seals using her precious pool. I would wager that the seals bring much more tourism to La Jolla that the excitement of swimming in a calm, cold, salty pool does. Besides, the cove is usually calm and 1/4 mile away. The ocean was not built for people only. There are other creatures in it.
Its a beautiful place to walk and spend a sunny afternoon.
Best political cartoon for La Jolla - A seal being crucified on the Mt. Soledad Cross. Two of the stupidest things that take up time on NPR during my morning commute.
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Went here yesterday for the first portion of Karyn's Hookey event
http://www.yelp.com/ev...
and while I was waiting for Bill or Karyn to return my call, I sat on a bench looking across the Children's Pool.
It makes me nostalgic to days gone by when I'd go on late night jaunts with friends and out of town guests to check out the seals.
There were only 3 baby seals at the Children's Pool this time...you could tell they were basking in the adoration that those on the bridge were fawning over them.
It's a pretty spot...great for hand holding and late night make out sessions
(not that I would know)
Only downside- it smells to high heaven (CLOSE YOUR LEGS!) : /
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Even though this place was originally built for kids, I'm cool with the fact that the seals have taken over. It's not often that you can get so close to wild creatures like that. This place makes a great stop at the end of a walk along the cove.
So why only 2 stars? I'll tell you. Because everytime I go, there's some animal activist that gets in my business when I walk up to the line. Back off lady! I'm not trying to hurt them, I'm not trying to mate with them, I'm not even trying to feed them. Back the fuck up off me. It's you and your overzealous laws that almost got that baby seal with the net around its neck killed.
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Seal birth can be seen by the public early in the year. The area is magic.
This place is great to watch the sunset. Also, the seals are quite cute. Their blubber makes them shoot through the waves and onto the shore like nerf rockets. Funny stuff.
Good luck getting up that hill out of the cove if you drive a manual though.
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The Children's Pool is actually a beach spot created years ago for the children of La Jolla and visitors to experience the beach in an enclosed section of the La Jolla cliffs. Nature didn't particularly care for this beach to be only for children so she sent signals out to the sea-life that was being hassled by pollution and other naughty anti-nature influences that has disbursed and diminished sea life as we use to know it. So the sea-lions came a calling which caused some of the local residents to become very disgruntled. After all the beach should only be for people.
However these wonderful creatures began creating quite a stir as they seemed to be well-liked by the visiting tourists and even some of the locals. Business was booming in and around the shores but that small group of residents persisted and they changed the law to encourage the sea-lions to leave. So now they are trying to share the space but it's not working out so well. I think the sea-lions will win out in the end.
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BIG, FAT, LAZY SEALS. Just everywhere.
I loved this place. Good to just spend some time walking around and checking out the silly seals. Also, it's free... Nothing's better than free!
It's a beautiful location and it's nice to see the seals just hanging out.
There was a seal pup who was SO adorable and there was one really fat seal who basically jiggled his fat until he got to the water's edge. That was hilarious. hehe...
I would definitely stop by here again on my way down to San Diego.
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I love going to the Children's Pool. There is a lot to see in La Jolla, but whenever I have a friend visiting from out of town, I try to show them the Children's Pool.
For me, paying a little visit to the seals never gets boring. It is a tourist attraction, just like UTC, but looking at the seals doesn't cost anything, unlike Sea World and it is also a lot less depressing because the seals are in their natural habitat.
What is depressing, is seeing the seals trying to swim up to the beach, but they can't because some fat tourist from Arizona has parked their ass in the seal's spot.
So I say enjoy the Children's pool as an observer, it's fun it's free and environmentally sound.
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So I came here right after a grizzly storm in SoCal.
We have an apartment right by the Village so one day we walked down to the beach and saw crowds of people gathered by this one area.
We found sea lions sun bathing on the beach and a protected sea walk.
I would definitely suggest going here on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
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I have an overwhelming fondness for seals so this is a must see when I'm anywhere near La Jolla. On earlier trips I would typically see 3 - 10 seals in the spring. When I was there a few weeks ago, the number was closer to 50, with a large number of pups. It is just pure joy to watch the seals sunbathe and tussle in the sand.
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I love Children's Pool. I have fond memories of going here as a child and playing in the shore break, catching sea urchins and eating them on crackers, snorkeling, and generally having a great time.
It has been interesting watching it become a seal rookery.
Also, I like walking along this whole seashore area, in general. Very beautiful area.
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I am glad to see that I am not the only one who has fond memories of swimming at the children's pool as a little girl and learning to snorkle there, I remember my mother always loved the childrens pool because of the restroom and showers nearby and of course the lifeguards right above me!
When I had my children I also took them there for the same reasons...jumping off the lower wall into the clear water and sea kelp and with beautiful orange fish swimming about, you felt safe bringing your children there because of the area for small children and families, it WAS the jewel of La Jolla. And that was what it was built for... "the children of San Diego". Not the sealions! They have the entire ocean to swim in and procreate, I have seen what they have done to fisherman's warf in San Francisco and parts of the Oregon Coast where it is sooo smelly and polluted with fecies that you cannot go in the water or even walk on the beach, I am glad that they City will finally give back the Children's pool to the Children of San Diego, maybe one day I will be able to take my grandchildren there to swim and have 3rd generation memories of the jewel of La Jolla
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Who doesn't love seals? I mean, really. And even if you're not a big fan, you get to see them for free! While they're out in the open, looking all cute and blubbery and endearingly sleepy! As opposed to overpriced and cooped up at Sea World. It's a win-win situation, albeit a slightly pungent one. And that's not even taking into consideration how beautiful this part of La Jolla can be. Definitely worth a visit if you're anywhere in the area, and worth the trek if you're not.
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For a guaranteed seal spotting, head to the Children's Pool in La Jolla. The seals are magnificent and seem to enjoy their little spot on the cove. This is a must see when in San Diego.
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My teenage daughter and I (damn, I start EVERY REVIEW this way, don't I?!) were just strolling along the beach and checking out the cool hermit crabs by the caves when we decided to take a walk. I had NO IDEA that the seals were even THERE, so I was kinda curious to see what everyone was looking at. When we got there and looked down and saw all the seals, I was like, WOW! There were TONS of them and they were so cute! There was a nice, quiet woman out front who had information about the seals and some little magnets for sale so we bought one. There were no animal activists anywhere (some other Yelper complained about that in his review). I felt bad for the seals because they really should have more privacy. I know, I know, that sounds weird but geez, they have this lame rope set up so that people can't get too close to the seals but I don't think that it is set back far enough. There are signs clearly stating that noise disturbs the animals, yet people are screaming all around and there are kids squealing and running. I felt like playing policewoman and herding everyone outta there. It saddens me to think that we are so far removed from the natural world now that the mere SIGHT of animals in their natural habitat turns things into a photo op. Beautiful animals, and breathtaking views. I would say that this was a very unexpected highlight of our trip, and I feel honored for having seen such amazing creatures.
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This place is just beautiful. It's been years since I'd been here, and I took my two girls today to see the seals and my 3 year old was amazed. My infant was amazed too, but I think she was just staring at my shirt the whole time. There were babies there today and they played and played and you need to go and check it out. The children's pool is such a pretty place. A great day out!
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If you want to see some seals up close go to La Jolla and check out the Children's Pool. There has been a huge controversy over whether this pool/beach area should be given back to the children or if the seals should continue to take over this pool and to have their pups there. Once you go and see all of the children enjoying looking at the seals you will probably agree with me that everyone should just keep this amazing attraction as is. Go onto the wall and wait for the waves to break/crash over it along with the kids. It's so much fun! Enjoy!
