<p>Anyone know of any relatively close?
Are any close to the BART/bus stops because I won't have a car?</p>
<p>“Beaches”? In NorCal? Hahah. </p>
<p>No, there really aren’t any beaches, at least not by a typical definition. You have to go further south or north, not really accessible by public transportation. There are marinas galore, but that’s more just being by water and renting kayaks and the like.</p>
<p>The Presidio in SF might qualify, but it really depends on what you want to do there.</p>
<p>Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Take Bart to Montgomery and then the 38 all the way down to the end of the line. </p>
<p>If any of your friends have a car, Stinson Beach is about an hour away in Marin County and is very nice, in the summer at least.</p>
<p>yes…we have beaches…depends if u wanna sunbathe in the cold fog.</p>
<p>Thanks, guys.
I don’t mean for sunbathing, but swimming, exploring, walking along the coast, and relaxing.
Any swimmable lakes?</p>
<p>Lake Anza, in Tilden Park, is nice for swimming. There are AC Transit buses that go there, though I don’t know if they take you all the way to the entrance.</p>
<p>If you just feel like walking near the water, but don’t care about a long expanse of sand, there’s the Berkeley Marina. There’s also the Albany Bulb, at the bottom on Marin Street, near the racetrack. Great views out there, and some amazing artwork from found objects. You need a car or bike to get there, though. It’s a nice bike ride from campus.</p>
<p>On a hot summer day (there are about five of them in the Bay Area) Stimson is nice enough for you to go in the water. Otherwise, you don’t really go into the Pacific Ocean around here without a wet suit.</p>
<p>Lake Anza is swimmable, near Berkeley.</p>
<p>Oh how I’ll miss LA.
So the summers don’t get hot like it was on Cal Day?</p>
<p>There are plenty of beaches, but not really in Berkeley. SF has Ocean beech and China Beach. Marin County has Stinson beach, which has a lot of great white sharks in it!</p>
<p>Smallz beat me to it, Stinson has a long history of shark sitings and encounters. If you want to explore walk through Muir Woods (on the way to Stinson). Make sure to get to the woods early, parking is a nightmare (hopefully you’ll make a friend who has a car).</p>
<p>^ haha, sorry! I’m a marin county native and couldn’t help myself.</p>
<p>Can you see the sharks from the shore?</p>
<p>I actually swam where there was a white tip reef shark but I won’t take my chances with a great white, haha.</p>
<p>I was there on Cal Day. That is about the warmest it will normally get in Berkeley. I think the high that day was around 80. Ironically, the warmest months in Berkeley tend to be August and September because that is when the marine layer starts dying off. But even that is only an average high of about 70. Remember Mark Twain’s classic quote: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”</p>
<p>So without a heated pool, I really wouldn’t expect much swimming weather in Berkeley :(</p>
<p>Anywhere near the bay area for surfing? Besides Mavericks…</p>
<p>well…there’s surfing and then there’s good surfing. People often surf at Ocean’s beach and Stinson Beach.</p>
<p>Mavericks is too far south :-)</p>
<p>Bolinas, Stinson, Fort Point, Deadman’s, OB, Rockaway</p>
<p>Plenny waves</p>
<p>Kei</p>
<p>There’s Alameda Beach… The 51 bus line takes you directly to the park surrounding it. It’s not good for swimming, but it’s good for BBQs and writing in the dirty sand :D.</p>
<p>So how many minutes would it take to get to Lake Anza by bus?</p>
<p>CHeck 511.org :D</p>