The reefs between Marineland (Terranea Resort) and Abalone Cove are surprisingly abundant with marine life. Garden Spot, named for the lush gardens planted on the cliffside by the residents above the beach is a rectangularly shaped reef isolated out in the sand. The reef is twenty feet wide and two hundred feet long, rising fifteen feet off the sand at sixty-five feet. Kelp on top of the reach reaches the surface, making the reef easy to find. Inshore from Garden Spot is a shallow rocky reef spreading out along the shoreline. At low tide, the reef forms a barrier from the surf.

In the sand surrounding the Garden Spot reef are thousands of Phoronids and windmill worms. If you venture out over the sand you will find several mantis shrimp dens, often with the resident poking its head out of the hole.

Garden Spots lies within the Abalone Cove Marine Conservation Area. No reef fish or lobsters may be taken here. The lobsters seem to know that, as there are many large bugs along the base of the reef. We watched as two divers were being led in handcuffs up the stairs by two Sheriff deputies once.

33° 44.236N 118° 23.167W