The Children's Pool is a small beach partially protected by a seawall.  The original intention was to create a fully protected swimming area, but in recent years sand has filled in much of the area inside the wall.  This is a very picturesque beach with a panoramic view.  Several small beaches are nearby including Wipeout Beach to the south and Shell Beach to the north.

This is a popular beach for scuba divers because of the reefs just offshore.  These same reefs can create very strong currents and other hazards, particularly in high surf conditions.

This has also become a popular viewing area for harbor seals.  Seals and occasionally seal lions haul out on the beach to rest year-round.  The Children's Pool Beach is closed to public access during harbor seal pupping season, Dec. 15 through May 15, yearly.

Children's Pool is one of nine beaches that has a permanent lifeguard station patrolled by San Diego Lifeguards.

This spot is a bit controversial.  In 1931 Ellen Browning Scripps paid to have a sea wall built to establish a calm beach for children swimmers.  Over the next 80 years, the protected cove filled with sand and a large colony of seals moved in.  The seals use this beach to birth their pups.  The sea wall around this beach is an excellent spot to go watch baby seals sun themselves on the beach.  The large seal presence has caused the beach to be in a permanent state of advisory, due to the high fecal bacteria counts.  The seal advocates and the swimming advocates are very vocal here.

The description above was copied from The City of San Diego Children's Pool page and also based on Swim Guide, with permission.

More Information

• Official Website
• Swim Guide - Weather and water quality for La Jolla - Children's Pool and 8,000 other beaches.
• Wikipedia
• Google Maps