It may be one of the final beach days of the summer season, but that wasn't enough to entice enough San Diegans to the beach.
Despite the Labor Day holiday and great afternoon weather, San Diego beaches actually saw significantly less Labor Day visitors than usual.
The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said they typically see about 300,000 beachgoers on summer’s unofficial finale. However, this year, they estimated that less than 200,000 people came to the beach to celebrate the holiday.
When holidays come around and crowded beaches are anticipated, people head to the coast early to secure a parking spot and reserve a nice spot on the sand -- but not this year.
One San Diegan made sure to arrive to Mission Beach as early as possible, but was surprised by how empty the beach was when she got there.
“There were very few [people],” beachgoer Betty Keerikikoolparn said. “I was real surprised. I thought ‘Oh, gee. I’m going to have to fight my way to get a space.’”
Lifeguards say that early morning overcast skies and a slight breeze may have shied some people away from the beach.
Local
Local visitors, along with some in town on vacation, enjoyed building sand castles, kayaking and just hanging out. Twin brothers at La Jolla Shores were sculpting with sand until seaweed caught their interest.
Not everyone had the day off from work, though. One man made the most of the first half of his day by spending some time at the beach before going into work.
"There are so many people that get to enjoy their day," he said as he packed up his belongings. "But I have to be one of the ones that goes to work. Somebody's got to do it."
