Crab Cove Visitor Center

CRAB COVE VISITOR CENTER is a hidden gem on Alameda Island. The building is of modest size. By the main door is a large wooden patio where hikers can rest while enjoying the ambiance provided by the nature center, the stream of children and toddlers going in and out, nearby shade trees, and the gentle ushshshing sound of the tide. There is also a back door with a ramp. The employees are friendly and are interested in marine biology, and are eager to explain the local environment, for example, the phenomenon of the recent invasion of the beach by hundreds of purple-​colored sea hares (summer of 2015).
Alameda beach has many souces of inspiration for asking questions — I’ve found orange colored conches, and 1.5 foot wide rays washed ashore, and have admired the snowy plovers nesting in their protected area, and have admired the linear flocks of brown pelicans. You have only to ask, and the rangers will answer.
Inside is a gift shop with glitzy, colored nature guides, plush dolls taking the form of crabs, turtles, fish, and sea birds. Also inside is a modest museum with exhibits of sea animals and an aquarium. I have purchased three of the plush animals, each of which has «Crab Cove, Alameda, CA» embroidered on it, and I keep them on my dashboard of my automobile for decoration. Regarding plush toys of scientific value, I have also bought a dozen plush toy bacteria and insects from GIANT MICROBES, and I have bought a couple of plush birds, which contain an activatable bird call, from Audubon Society. The books at the gift shop concerned colorful marine creatures, and I sent them to my mother for her birthday.
One of the displays on the wall has a barometer, a gyro repeating compass, and a clinometer. There are five fish tanks, with swimming fish. There are 14 jars containing preserved marine specimens. There are three low power light microscopes, and a set of drawers with things to examine — feathers, pine cones, and seashells. Next to the table with the microscopes, there is a display of the bones of a whale’s fin. I asked the ranger what children like best at the visitor’s center. She answered, «The aquariums and the toys.» «What toys,» I asked. The ranger pointed out some drawers. I looked in the drawers, and inside were toy whales, and paper drawing pads and pencils.
CRAB COVE VISITOR CENTER is similar to the Tilden Park nature center, in that it is of modest size, popular with children, has a nice gift shop, and has informed rangers. At the Tilden Park nature center, the rangers were able to answer my questions about local plants, that is, FULLER’S TEASEL and FIDDLE DOCKS. Hayward has a small nature center, located by the salt evaporation ponds. I like this nature center, because they invited me to have an exhibition of a dozen of my 20X24 inch color photos of the California coastline.

This is probably the best beach for little kids in the Bay Area. The rocky area near the visitors center is fun to explore at low tide. The beach past the visitors center, past the jetty, near the bathrooms, is great for building sand castles, wading, and exploring. The water is calm, shallow, and much cleaner than any of the nearby lakes.
The visitors center is ideal for preschool/​early elementary school kids. There are puzzles and smartly organized activity boxes. Kids can look at pinecones and feathers under a microscope. There are a few live sea creature tanks. Definitely worth a donation.
One complaint is one I have for all Bay Area public spaces – lots of litter. With so many trashcans dotting the walking path, it is surpising at how much trash is found on the beach. Be a dear and bring a bag to pick up a few pieces as you go.

This is a cute little place to have a picnic, go for a walk or take the kids to wade in the ocean. There is a large grassy area where you can picnic or play sports. Nice walking trails to walk along the water. Bathroom and park benches are abundant. My son loves playing in the water, the waves are mellow so it is perfect for kids that smaller. Plentiful parking in the lot or side streets

It’s a nice little bay visitor center. It suffers from a generally rundown feel inside the building, including some broken microscopes with no «out of order» signs (which the staffer shrugged off), puzzles with missing pieces, etc. Also the gift shop is about 20% of the floor space! But on our second visit, the kids enjoyed the fish tanks, which feature some amazingly ugly Bay natives (I guess Hawaii called dibs on all the cute fish), and the interpretive program. Worth a short trip, and well worth the price (FREE).

Came here on a Saturday morning with my boyfriend to shoot some photos for a family and we were definitely surprised by the beauty of the entire place.
Parking isn’t hard at all. And I consider this place to be a hidden find. Located behind a creepy looking Foster’s Freeze, just a little drive down the lane and you can smell the difference in the air.
Once we parked, we decided to take a look around to scope out some good areas to take pictures and also get good lighting. This place is full of benches for people to rest and plenty of tables for people to have lunch on.
We spent about two hours there and throughout that time, we saw many people jogging on the trails, walking their dogs, and letting their kids play. There is a lot of open space, enough to play a game of flag football, fly a kite, or have a picnic on the grass.
There is a little beach where the wildlife can be observed and this place has a community center that offers tours of the area. The view is absolutely amazing. And when we got close enough to the water, it seemed so still and calm. The water was also very, very clear to my surprise.
We were so lucky to have come here on a good day. The sun was shining through the overcast clouds. It was warm. There was no breeze. So, it was perfect.
Helpful hints?
If you bring your kids, just remember that there are a lot of birds that poop on the grass. Make sure they wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.

Crab Cove is a great place to visit with your family and children. It is a nice place to relax at, look at scenery, and observe the ocean life at. Sometimes it feels nice to lay back and enjoy the gifts that nature provides to us here on this planet. There is also activities sometimes which are fun to participate and hang around in. If you live around Alameda, I recommend coming here with your family just for a day to relax.

Very nice area to explore with the kids. Lots of walking/​running/​biking along the cove. The visitor center itself is very small with only a few tanks of sea life. But it is great for being free (I gave a couple of dollars to the donation box) and the people who staffed it were super nice.
We quickly exhausted what to see in an hour. Which was fine by us because we were hungry and ready for lunch by that time.
Not worth a repeat visit unless you live in the area. But Alameda as a whole is a wonderful place to visit and there is plenty to see elsewhere.

My husband and I usually come down to Crab Cove for the free concerts on the second Fridays during the summer months of June, July and August.
During these events, the parking lot is always full, so we just park the car about a block away, bring our folding chairs and blanket, and walk to the park. There is always plenty of food vendors for the hungry and entertainment (music) for all. Then, if one wants to get up and groove/​move/​dance to the jam — hey, go for it.
BeauFunK was the group performing last Friday. The audio system was much better this time around compared to other concerts we have attended. Though the group performed some of JB’s songs, I didn’t hear my JB favorite — Gonna Have a Funky Good Time — a little disappointed.
Crab Cove is a nice spacious area where families can have picnics and relax, take a stroll or a walk on the paved pathway all the way to Crown Memorial Beach and enjoy the view across the Bay.

I love Crab Cove. This I a wonderful beach to go to an visit. Also a good place to take photos. Also a good place to get away from the city life and relax and take in nature. I would recommend this beach to visit to anyone that is in the area.

I love this place. I have been going to their Sea Squirts programs on Tuesdays with my son since he was 3. The naturalists are so excited about nature and are amazing with groups of antsy preschoolers. The program is every other Tuesday. For $ 5, the kids explore creatures/​plant life in the cove, listen to stories, and make art. Sara and Mike are wonderful. They also run the Hikes for Tykes program through EB Regional park and do guided hikes geared towards small children. It’s how I learned about the awesome winter ladybug hike in Redwood Regional park, where thousands of ladybugs convene every January. I’m from NYC and always think about how close I came to spending winters at sweaty, overcrowded children’s museums. Instead, I’m playing at the beach.

Came here for a kids birthday party and it was adorable. They have an area that displays some of the history of the San Francisco Bay. A nature guide talks to the kiddis about crabs and other creatures that allegedly live in the water. Tanks full of fish and interactive walls line the perimeter.

A great place to take the family for a walk or picnic.

This is one of Alameda’s secret treasures. Exhibits are great for the kids with park ranger help. The park has lots of space to run, play soccer, toss some pigskin, have a BBQ, dip your toes in the sand, nice flat run or place to stare into the bay and watch planes take off or land at oak and sfo.
If you are lucky to get up early enough, the bay looks like a sea of glass.

Beautiful, Warm but lacks internet connection (had to do a work call) BUT that’s probably a good thing in the long run =)

What a great place to take your dogs for a walk, or take a date for some fresh air.
Grass, sandy beach, dog park, sun and plenty of shade… what more could you ask for. California is so beautiful.

Weekly visits to Crab Cove throughout my youth has allowed me to develop such a warm cozy feeling when I think back to this beach tucked in little ol’ Alameda, CA. This is such a great place to take leisure walks through the paved trails or to even gather your friends and family for a nice BBQ outdoors. I like that this beach doesn’t get too busy so it always feels really intimate and serene everytime I visit.
The Crab Cove Center, itself, is a great place to see the history of the grounds. There’s always little activities for children scheduled and best of all, it’s all free; however, keep in mind that donations are gleefully accepted.
There’s adequate parking throughout the day and adoring waves washing onto shore. I mean, what’s there not to like? Besides the little areas of Crab Cove where you’ll experience the inhalation of reeking seaweed stench, this place can be quite lovely afterall.

Please recycle don’t be shellfish!
My childhood memories are full of visits to Crown Beach with the family. I had heard tales of the great entertainment center that had once existed there. It was not until I visited the Crab Cove Visitors Center that these tales were verified in glamorous black and white films of the rides, pools, and divers. Wow! In it’s heyday it was like a more extravagant version of Santa Cruz.
The visitors center is small but mighty with neat exhibits about the bay and a cute gift shop. They also show a great short film about the history of Crown Beach that makes you wish you could have seen it in it’s glory day!
I love East Bay Regional Park District for providing such great recreation opportunities! You should take the Bay Trail to check this place out.

It’s so nice having Crab Cove a block away from our place! We call it our «backyard» lol.
Beautiful scenery, lots of picnic/​bbq areas, a nice jogging/​cycling trail, beach as well as parks (tennis and basketball courts as well as a volleyball area), a neat visitor center with aquatic animal displays, lots of green grass and beautiful ocean!
On top of all that, the Crab Cove area of beach & park connects to the MAIN Alameda beach stretch as well as more park-​age up the way. Bliss! You’ll often find us here playing frisbee or bike riding.
Overall we couldn’t ask for more. Parks AND beaches? Beautiful scenery AND lots of places to hang out & kick back at!!!
Come check it out. :)
P. S. I noticed there aren’t a lot of pictures posted of the amazing view, so I’ve just added some of my own (from around sunset time) for your viewing pleasure!

I could blame a fantastic BBQ/​picnic at Crab Cove the previous day for my missing out on Bay to Breakers this year. OR I can just admit that mixing sangria, beer, champagne, AND wine on a super sunny day at said BBQ/​picnic was what did me in.
What a nice spot for a gathering of friends to enjoy some grilled meats, various salads, and drinks! Make sure to bring something to cover up the food if it just sits there. A park with a luscious field of grass = bugs! Also empty out your shoes before you get into the car if you’ve played volleyball or badminton in the sand. Bring something to clean your shoes up if you plan on heading for the water. It gets muddy!
You can call ahead to reserve a spot, and if you’re planning on boozing it up, you’ll need a wine/​beer permit.
I’ll have to check out the Visitor Center next time. This time around, I only passed by for bathroom breaks [relatively clean and well-​stocked with TP!]. Also observed some awesome chalk drawing of sea creatures along the walkway there.

We went to Crab Cove Visitor Center during our walk at Crown Memorial State Beach.
It’s a small visitor center open everyday Except Mon & Tues. I liked seeing the crab, ghost anemone, and other small fishes.
It’s the 75^th Anniversary of the East Bay Regional Parks. They have a good Activity Guide that’s FREE you can pick up there and see what interest you and check it out.
Hrs:
Wed-​Sun
10 – 5
Website: