Ventanas Beach
Quick Facts
- Location : Five minutes south of Ballena National Marine Park
- Type : Sandy, caverns
- Popularity : Locals and visitors
Giant seemingly unyielding cliffs dwarf this band of sandy, coconut palm-fringed shore line. But underneath the northern wall, the ocean has eaten through to the other side, creating two long tidal caverns.
read more closeWalk inside them and you'll feel the cool vortex of the ocean breeze funneled through the side of the cliff as the tide sticks its long tongue inside licking the walls plastered with salt and dripping ocean dew. Beneath your feet, the water has rolled the sand to crushed velvet, smothering your toes like a blanket.
The beach itself is hung between two curtains of densely foliated cliff sides. The waves build intensity as the tide rolls in for decent sized-waves, good for surfing and swimming (if you don't venture out too far and watch for the rip tides).
Just off the coast, too far to swim, there's the largest of the windows, for which the Ventanas Beach gets its Spanish title. A large arch carved from the ocean's impact on the igneous rock. The ocean swells and dips with the tidal surges creating a pool of choppy water, and enough space to squeeze a pair of kayaks through at low tide.
The beach used to have a public access, but the bridge fell leaving only the private access behind. There's a parking lot and a short winding garden trail that leads to the beach, but you'll have to pay $1 per person and $2 per vehicle to use it.