Surfing/living in San Diego
So my work is taking me out to San Diego next month, anywhere for 6 months to four years. I've never been south of L.A. so I don't know much about the city or it's geography(other than from google earth).
Does anyone have any advice on the best places to live? I'm looking for a 3 or 4 bedroom house w/ a yard that's in a good neighborhood, bike friendly, close to the beach, and w/ a decent commute to work(Coronado). I've seen in other threads people recommend Pacific Beach but does that fit the criteria I've listed? There will be three or four of us living together w/ a dog, and we'll all be getting a housing allowance so we'll have probably $2500-4000/month to play with for rent. Imperial beach looks like it's in a good location to Coronado but I've heard some people say it's a bad part of town.
I've found some info on surfline.com about some of the breaks in San Diego but any further advice would also be appreciated. Thanks.
Downtown, Point Loma, OB, MB, PB, La Jolla
Stoked. You are going to love San Diego. I grew up there, went to UCSD and lived there for years afterward. I was supposed to be moving back this summer but it looks like I'm going to be derailed. That's a story for another post. Here's the gouge as I see it:
IB - great barrelling surf. gets polluted because of TJ sloughs run off. Get a water testing kit if you're going to surf down there regularly because the lifeguard feedback won't be responsive enough. it's very frustrating because the sand bars are typically groomed best after a big storm. that's also when all the sewage is pushed out into the water. makes for a frustrating combo - kind of like propecia (a medicine for male pattern baldness that tends to cause impotence).
Downtown SD - why the hell not? super quick commute. easy access to sunset cliffs and OB. great nightlife. the gaslamp district goes off. the ballpark is down town now. tons of great bars and restaurants. i would give it serious consideration if I were you.
Loma Portal - Loma Portal is kind of on the fringe between down town and Point Loma proper. It's cheaper than point loma but you're still plenty close to the action.
Point Loma - sweet if you can afford it. sunset cliffs is one of my favorite venues. don't bother paddling out at newbreak (heavy local vibe - not for nubes) but you can do pretty well most other places.
Ocean Beach - kind of a hippy vibe there. the beach break off the pier pretty much sucks but the jetty by dog beach can get ridiculously good. as mentioned above, you're right next to the cliffs.
Mission Beach - mission beach is kind of a classic ca pseudo-slum. there are million dollar houses there but also tons of heavily tatted, heavily drunk scum bags riding around on schwinn crusiers and sector nines. pretty much a bunch of beach breaks. the south mission jetty can get really good and is situated as the mirror image of the right at dog beach (though not as good, IMO).
Pacific Beach - surf is pretty much indistinguishable from MB surf as it is mostly situated along the same strip of beach. the exception is the north part of PB which tapers into Bird Rock and La Jolla. As others have noted, some classic breaks in there.
La Jolla - i don't really like it. it's a great place but the traffic in and out sucks and it's kind of a snooty vibe. As far as localism, I never experienced much there even at supposedly notorious places like Big Rock. Hassles happen at Windansea but it's pretty much over run these days.
You can't lose, man. San Diego is the shit.
