Hobson Beach Park — Hotel in San Buenaventura (Ventura)

A pirate ship loaded with more than 80 pounds of gold, 26 tons of silver and an additional $10 million dollars worth of Peruvian pesos passed within sight of this beach in June, 1579.

On a secret mission for Queen Elizabeth I, Captain Francis Drake and his crew of Sea Dogs had just spent the last nine months raiding virtually undefended Spanish ports all up the west coast of South and Central America.

After sailing half way around the world, his ship, The Golden Hind, was sorely in need of repair. As they sailed up the coast the crew looked for a spot where they could pull the boat out of the water and make it seaworthy again.

Historians disagree on exactly where Drake and his men stopped and repaired his ship. Anxious to avoid openly antagonizing the King of Spain, Elizabeth had sent Drake on this mission sworn to silence. Further obscuring the exact location, the ship's log and nearly all first hand accounts were lost many years after the voyage in a palace fire.

What we do know is that this Lost Harbor was somewhere north of Point Loma (San Diego). For a couple weeks in the Summer of '79, as the sailors careened their ship, Drake and his men camped out, sleeping every night under the stars on a warm California beach.

Interestingly, Drake and his men were well received by the natives. They feasted together, exchanged gifts and parted amicably. Before he left, Drake claimed the land on behalf of the Queen and proclaimed this land Nova Albion (New England). Before departing California and continuing his circumnavigation of the world, Drake is said to have left a bronze plaque nailed to a tree recording his claim.

While most historians insist it was much farther north, some have suggested Drake's Lost Harbor was here in Southern California. This notion is based on surviving accounts from the voyage that mention cliffs along the coastline near the Lost Harbor that reminded the homesick sailors of the White Cliffs of Dover.

At Hobson Beach Park, with the right kind of eyes, you can look north toward Santa Barbara and see cliffs that just might remind you of those famous English cliffs. Check out my attached photos.

Although tiny, this park has some nice amenities! Internet access, for example (WiFi Network: Hobson-2, no password required). There are a few full RV hookups, plenty of room for smaller trailers, and some spots for tent camping. There are a few free parking spots with a 20 minute time limit as well as Day Use parking that you have to pay for.

There is very cool snack shop with breakfast items, as well as pizza, burgers and other good stuff. Signs on the front of the shop indicate firewood is available next door. There was also a soft drink vending machine.

There are picnic tables and fire pits, but they are expressly reserved for those that pay the campsite fees.

Hobson Beach Park is at the end of a long stretch of campgrounds that extend all along the coast as you leave Ventura and head north. This seems to be a top destination for RV owners, and I can see why. At only $65 a night for RV hook up sites (50, 30, 20 amp), and $43 for non hook up sites right on the ocean in Ventura, this is a steal! They even allow (on leash) dogs! (Dogs cost an extra $2.50 per dog, per day, and are limited to two per campsite). Visits are limited to 14 consecutive days.

As far as the actual beach itself goes, there isn't any sand adjacent to the camping area. It's all rock. I doubt you will be tempted to lay out on these jagged rocks. There's a slim slice of sand slightly south of the camping area.

Better campsites and better beaches can be found further south, too.

The park is open from 7...

SCAM ALERT!!

Targeted by scumbag thieves ... and targeted by RV businesses operating out of the Ventura County RV Park.

The Ventura County Parks has hired a Hobson Beach on-site manager/host who is also doing RV solar business.

Up and down the parkway from Hobson to Faria and past Rincon, he drives his vinyl-covered truck: "Want RV Solar? Ask Me"

So I hired the RV solar business the Ventura County RV Parks department has chosen to run one of their parks, Hobson, and was duped.

Wires hanging; control unit just flopping around on the floor; advice to run my solar by, and I'm not joking, "dropping an extension through a hole in the floor and 'plug it up with a sock.'" But worst, no power.

The first (of many) times he came back, he realized the wiring on the roof was screwed-up.

Video after video sent that first day of everything blown. No power. Video after video. Yet he insisted 'the system works; the system works."

It has been a disaster and he is now refusing to return my $300 instillation fee.

The Ventura County Parks manager just called: she said running an RV solar scam business out of their county RV park, by the man they've chosen to run their RV park, has nothing to do with them. ( .... at the county RV parks dept.)

So a $1,000 generator stolen, then from a disaster of a scam business operating out of the Ventura County parks, duped out of $300.

Be Aware!

Crime is exponentially increasing.

Just from last year to this, you don't meet your neighbor and say hi ..y you meet your neighbor and they talk about crime, crime, crime.

Just had my Generac IQ2000 generator stolen. Behind my rig, 6:20p.m. as I made dinner, sun barely down Lights dimmed which meant we were no longer on generator; they snatched it, into a car and on the way they went.

There are homeless people wandering around all day, everyday, digging through garbage, begging for money and so forth.

What a change one year has made.

Deputies taking the report said it's just...

This would have been a decent place to camp, but we happened to be there the weekend of the 2022 Mexico hurricane. This caused waves to come crashing down--over a wide rock-wall-type barricade--on all of the beachside sites.

Though there were stairs from the campground to the beach, there was no beach. The tide was too high, and I believe that it will continue to be high and there will continue to be no beach there, due to global warming (rising sea water). The violent waves were even able to get over all of the rocks between the ocean and the campground, enough to douse our fire-pit fire... and my husband!

Luckily, we met a nice Ventura County ranger, Patricia, who, under the circumstances, offered to refund us, so that we wouldn't have to pack up the following morning in the rain and stay in the teardrop for the two nights without enjoying the outdoors.

One other issue we had was that the RV owner next to us had a generator running non-stop, right next to our picnic table and fire pit, with noise and gas fumes coming right at us. Luckily, after I spoke to his wife, he was willing to move the loud, stinky generator to the front of their RV near the road, but not to the side of their RV that they were living. So inconsiderate. At least they followed the rules and turned off the generator at 9:00 p.m. And the guy had the nerve to make us move our fire pit, so our fire smoke wouldn't get into his RV! Guess those guys really weren't really campers. I mean, if you want to stay indoors, why not just stay home?

Having dragged the fire pit over, when the waves hit our site they caused the left-behind ash to become a disgusting muddy sludge mixture, which we dragged into our camper, unfortunately. It was quite an experience at Hopson Beach RV Park. There was quite a bit of cleanup in our teardrop when...