You may see a few photos from nearby locations here. Many shoots span multiple spots in the same session.
Shark Fin Cove
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Where we shoot, on a map
Shark Fin Cove sits at the foot of a steep dirt trail just south of Davenport village — a small sandy beach pocket framed by a distinctive sea-stack rock that's been compared to a dorsal fin from one angle and a shark tooth from another. Same hidden-coast feel as Panther Beach, with a different signature shape and slightly less foot traffic.
Most people driving Highway 1 north out of Santa Cruz pass Shark Fin Cove without seeing it. The parking is an unmarked dirt pull-off about a mile south of Davenport. There are no signs. You park, cross a set of working railroad tracks, and follow a short steep trail down to a small cove with the sea stack offshore.
The lay of the land
The Shark Fin story I tell most often is the train one. A couple was driving up from Carmel for a session that started at Panther — Shark Fin was the warm-up stop. I'd arrived early, parked at the pull-off, crossed the tracks, and was already on the cove sand setting up when I heard the horn. A Union Pacific freight came through right as the couple was pulling into the dirt lot. They sat in their car for a full three minutes while sixty cars of lumber rolled past at fifteen miles an hour, and they texted me a single word: "wow." We were fifteen minutes into our window. By the time the train cleared and they got across the tracks and down the trail, the warm light was already pulling thin. We shot the cove in six minutes, drove south to Panther, and caught the sunset there with everything to spare. Lesson I pass on to every couple now: build a buffer at Shark Fin. The tracks are working. Trains don't run on a schedule you can plan around. Show up fifteen minutes earlier than you think you need to, and if the timing is tight, the cove is the cuttable stop — Panther is the destination.
Make a trip out of it
Where to stay
Getting here
A few things about Shark Fin Cove
Shark Fin Cove is one of a string of pocket beaches inside Coast Dairies State Park, a 5,800-acre stretch of former ranch coastline donated to the state in 2006 after a decade-long preservation campaign.
— californiabeaches.com / WikipediaThe railroad tracks you cross to reach the trail are an active Union Pacific freight line; trains do still come through, infrequently but unannounced, so stop, look, and listen the way the signs say.
— Tripadvisor / California BeachesDavenport village was originally a 19th-century shore-whaling station and later one of the first Portland cement plants on the West Coast; the kiln stacks you see south of town belonged to Cemex, which closed in 2010.
— general historical record / LocalWikiThe 'shark fin' rock formation reads as a dorsal fin from straight on and a shark tooth from any angle off-axis, which is why locals can't agree on a single name and why the cove appears in tour guides as Shark Fin, Shark Tooth, and Sharktooth depending on who wrote them.
— California Beaches / Coast Dairies mapDavenport Pier just south of the village was where ships once loaded cement and lumber straight from the bluff via cable chute. The pilings are still visible at low tide.
— general historical record
Shark Fin Cove also appears as Shark Tooth Cove, Shark Tooth Beach, Sharktooth Beach, or Coast Dairies State Park.