The Secret Sea Caves of La Jolla: Descending into Sunny Jim Cave
Looking out through the natural profile of Sunny Jim Cave into the turquoise Pacific: California’s only land-accessible sea cave, hand-carved through 140 feet of coastal sandstone. Wander along the sun-bleached sandstone bluffs of Coast Boulevard in La Jolla on any given afternoon, and you will see crowds leaning over wooden railings to watch harbor seals bask on the rocks while kayakers paddle across cobalt waters. But step inside a modest wooden cottage called The Cave Store, push open an unassuming door in the back, and the sound of breezy seaside chatter instantly evaporates into a cold, dripping draft scented with salt brine, wet rock, and century-old earth. Beneath your feet is a sheer, hand-chiseled staircase that plummets 145 wooden steps straight into the subterranean belly of the cliff. At the bottom lies Sunny Jim Cave —the only sea cave in the entire state of California that you can enter on foot from dry land. Blending 75-million-year-old coastal geology with Gil...