AntSol Travel

Staying in the Anaheim Resort area and want to go to the beach & harbor and is usually not overwhelmed with beachgoers?

Welcome to the city of Dana Point & Dana Point Harbor, located 32 mile south of Disneyland on Interstate 5. The city was named after the point, named after author Richard Dana Jr., who wrote about the area in his book, Two Years Before the Mast, published in 1840. The Dana Point Harbor, owned by the County of Orange, was opened in 1971, as one of few natural harbors in the county. Dana Point was incorporated in 1989.

Dana Point is a great place to visit that is not super crowded if you want to go to the beach, grab lunch & a post meal stoll along the harbor, take in nature at the Dana Point headlands or the tide pools, bike along the coast, and just to get away from the busyness of the Anaheim Resort Area.

Anaheim to Dana Point by Transit

How do you take transit from Anaheim to Dana Point instead of driving on Interstate 5? You first take the OC Bus 50 to ARTIC for $2.50 or $2 with the OC Bus app. Depending on the time of day thak take Metrolink to Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo station or Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to San Juan Capistrano.

Take the OC Bus 91 line to Dana Point at Pacific Coast Highway, and walk .7 to the harbor. Both train stops are along the 91 bus route.

Doheny State Beach

Dana Point is home to Doheny State Beach, a now an ideal surf beach that was originally owned by oil baron, Edward L. Doheny, 1893 for offshore oil drilling. Before his passing in 1935, he donated the beach to the State of California’s Department of State Park’s first beach in 1931. Parking is $15 per day. The beach is split by the San Juan Creek that has water flowing from the Santa Ana Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

Cycling Through Dana Point

Along the San Juan Creek, Doheny State Beach, and the Pacific Coast Highway is a bike trail. The San Juan Creek trail continues from San Juan Capistrano, and then ends at Doheny State Beach. Then it loops around and goes south along the beach, and then goes on a protected bikeway along the Pacific Coast Highway to San Clemente.

Dana Point Harbor & Shopping Center

We had lunch at Dana Point Harbor shopping center, featuring restaurants and kitschy shops since the harbor opened in 1971. Parking is free for four hours. There redevelopment plan in the works for the center, which did not renew the lease for El Torito, which closed on January 3, which has been there since the 1980s.

One of several restaurants left of Harpoon Henry’s, a sit down seafood restaurant along the harbor. It is owned & operated by the Wind & Sea Restaurants inc., whose also operate the Wind & Sea Restaurant down of harbor, and two restaurants in Kona, Hawaii.

My family & I got a seat on the outdoor patio. It was really nice outside, except for the wind, which we decided to get our sweaters from the car.

All the entrees are seafood based. You can get a salad or sandwich if you don’t like fish. I got the mahi mahi tacos and it was delicious! The food at Harpoon Henry’s was good! I highly recommend eating here!

To get to the restroom, it is located deep inside the restaurant, passing by the main dining area. You can tell it seems a bit dated with some recent refurbishments, however, I can see why the shopping center needs renovations.

All the furniture inside are really dated and seemed not to have been replaced in a long time. The walls have wood panels that has been painted white. All the buildings along the harbor are of this similar style, showing that probably most buildings haven’t been touched since opening in 1971, and is in dire need of renovation.

Ocean Institute & The Spirit of Dana Point

Past the Dana Harbor boat slips is the Ocean Institute & The Spirit of Dana Point. The Ocean Institute is a museum non profit that teaches the public about maritime history & marine since 1977. They do school field trips for fourth grade marine biology & multi day programs at seas on the weekdays and are open to the public on weekends & holidays. They have a state of the art learning center, oceanographic research vessel, and The Spirit of Dana Point tall ship.

Admission on the weekends & holidays are from 10 A.M. to 3 P.M., admission costs $15 per adult 14 years and older, and $7.50 per child up to 13 years old. Parking is free.

Dana Point State Marine Conservation Area

Next to the Ocean Institute is the Dana Point State Marine Conservation Area, it is tide pool beach to protect the marine life, however, accessible to the public via a set of stairs to the beach. You get amazing views like below. Remember to only take pictures and only leave footprints. Parking is at the Ocean Institute parking lot.

Views from Dana Point Town Center Bluff

Back at Dana Point Harbor, after lunch, we walked along the harbor for a bit and dreamed of having a boat & a multi million dollar mansion that looks over the ocean, which will never happen, but we can dream it. We wondered. how do you get to the bluff to those houses?

To get up the bluff, you need to go up the steep hill of the Pacific Coast Highway or Golden Lantern for the main residential and commercial area as Dana Point’s town center. Why are some of the streets named after lantern colors?

According to the Dana Point Times, some of the streets are named lantern colors as the area was being developed in the 1920, real estate agent, Anna Walters, was selling land in 1926, and named the streets after lantern colors that was put up around town along the street.

Down Old Golden Lantern is Heritage Park, a park that overlooks the harbor for perfect photos of the harbor and the ocean.

If you are feeling adventurous for the perfect shot, you can walk along the Dana Point Bluff Top Trail.

Dana Point Headlands Conservation Area

To get away from it all, check out the Dana Point Nature Interpretive Center for the Dana Point Headlands Conservation Area, it is a protected area with an interpretive center to inform you about the area with several species each of birds, mamellels, and plants that are clinging on to their last areas of undeveloped land. Due to that, no: pets, bikes, skateboard, littering, and taking any material from the protected area. Remember to only leave shoe prints and only take pictures.

Car parking and admission during the center’s hours are free. They do have bike racks if you biked in like I did and they even a nice restrooms & water station as well, which was needed when I biked there.

Conclusion

Dana Point is a great place to visit that is not super crowded if you want to go to the beach, grab lunch & a post meal stoll along the harbor, take in nature at the Dana Point headlands or the tide pools, bike along the coast, and just get away from the busyness of the Anaheim Resort Area.