Campground
Site 16 W/E/S. The campground is basically a waterfront parking lot on the man-made rocky seawall. There is no beach. You do have the Pacific to look at and hear and the CG is only 6 miles to Ventura.
Adjacent to the park, on CA route 1, is Faria County Park – a thin strip of tide dependent beach. The unique thing here is that there is parallel parking along the hwy and overnight camping is permitted. We had read that there is a high theft rate to items being left outside – like generators etc. You do have an exceptional waterfront location.
Ventura
Just 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles it is a far smaller and relaxed city. The waterfront seems more small-town than not, which was a pleasant surprise. Though we were there off season for beach goers. Much larger Oxnard is just on the south side of town. Ventura is definitely centered around its waterfront: its marinas, its huge pier (even by California standards), and its surf beaches.
We took a ride to the south side of the harbor where there is a large beach with parking lot on one side of serpentine Spinnaker Road, which separates the harbor from the ocean. The harbor side has a series of buildings featuring shops, restaurants and cafes – all of which are facing the marina. At the end of the road is the Robert J Lagomarsino Visitor Center. That's a mouthful. The center has a cool diorama of the coast including the Channel Islands National Park which includes portions of Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Anacapa Islands.
The weather at this time of year was not really conducive to boating, but a boat trip out to Anacapa or Santa Cruz seemed like an really special trip.
Marina Park is on the north side of the harbor and can be reached via Pierpont Blvd. This park has a large grassy area, a sailing center, and a nice walk on a sandy neck that ends at the north jetty to the harbor. There is plenty of marina and boat watching along the way.
