Surf Break Map: DMJs, Oceanside (on USMC Camp Pendleton), San Diego, California

DMJs is located on the Camp Pendleton side of Oceanside Harbor. (It is marked on the map below). DMJs is another beach break area and shares a lot of the same characteristics with the rest of Oceanside proper. It does have a couple of large advantages over the rest of the beach. The first, and probably the most coveted, is the lack of public access. In order to get to DMJs you have to get on the Base, which means that you (or a member of your family or friends) have to be in the military. I have heard of guys making a water assault (coming in from boat or paddling around the harbor jetties) but this is generally frowned on if not outright illegal. Personally I do my best not to get the base MPs all pissed off at me so I stick with riding in with my buddies that have legitimate access. Without public access the crowd is quite a bit smaller, and generally less aggressive in the water…some days it is possible to score solid surf with almost no one out.

The second advantage of DMJs is the jetty itself. The breakwall acts as a sand trap, stopping a large amount of sand that is moved down the coast in a sand transport system called the “longshore bar current”. The jetty disrupts this flow and sand piles up against the rocks and makes a near permanent sandbar that sort of slopes off to the north. Basically you get a sand version of a left reef break…or when it is really good, a left point break.

Thanks to the jetty DMJs is one of the few spots in the area that consistently gets good surf from a single S-SW swell. So while many other spots start seeing the closeout death walls DMJs will have a fast, hollow, but still very makeable left coming off the sandbar near the jetty. DMJs, like the rest of Oceanside, still gets very good on the combo W and S-SW swells too.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: S through WNW (180-290), but it really like the combo swells.
Best Wind: NE-E or light and variable winds
Sea Floor: Sand
Best Season: Breaks year round but is best late Spring through late Fall.
Crowds: Generally not crowded but it can get busy on weekends. Remember that many of the guys in the water will be members of the Armed Forces…so cut them some slack if they are just learning.