San Onofre is a very different type of beach. If you’ve been to Blacks in San Diego, don’t expect it to be similar just because it’s a nude beach.

CROWD: This beach attracts a mostly older male crowd (if age is important to you). I’d say the average age is around 60-70.

REGULARS: There are regulars who seem to be at this beach almost every single day. The guy in the straw hat by the pirate ship is one of them. He seems harmless but you will definitely pass him upon entry to the beach. You also get a lot of guys who ride down on e-bikes and cruise back and forth on the trail, checking people out - also annoying.

ACCESS: The walk (while not nearly as steep as Black’s) from parking is VERY long. Seems to be about a mile long to get to any spot that has some area of beach-like sand to lay out on.

TERRAIN: This beach is mostly rocks (moreso in the winter). There are very few areas to lay out on nice sand unless you walk all the way down closer to Camp Pendleton.

ANNOYING PEOPLE: You will most likely run into the old heavy guy with a greenish hat, sometimes a shirt without pants, sometimes nothing at all on, carrying a rectangular lunchbox around his shoulder. He has a pair of binoculars in his lunchbox and will walk up and down the beach stopping to take out his binoculars to get a view of someone he likes. This can get incredibly annoying.

VIBE: While Black’s definitely has what some would consider a cruisy area, San O seems to be moreso very openly cruisy across the entire beach. This can be a bit much at times with people not thinking twice about what they’re doing in the wide open.

TEMPERATURE: Most people avoid the beach in winter but I’ve learned that as long as the wind is low and the sun is out, anything above about 63 - 65 degrees can actually feel pretty warm. Anything below that seems to feel pretty chilly.

SNAKES: Not an issue in winter but think twice when laying out around the stick structures/bundles of wood. These are homes to rattle snakes in the summer.