Homes for Sale in Mussel Shoals, Ventura

Mussel Shoals at a glance

• A small County enclave: Mussel Shoals real estate draws on a small stock: the County counts about 48 residences and a hotel on 5.6 acres west of US 101 and the old coast highway, zoned R-B (Residential-Beach) and C-C (Coastal Commercial). Mussel Shoals homes carry Ventura, CA addresses in ZIP 93001.
• The Cliff House parcel: The C-C land is the Cliff House, an 18-unit building the County limits to visitor-serving uses such as overnight lodging. It is known as the Cliff House Inn.
• An island offshore: About 3,000 feet out sits Rincon Island, a manmade island of about 2 acres built in 1959 for oil production and reached by a single-lane causeway 2,732 feet long. Production stopped in 2008; all 77 wells tied to the island and its onshore sites were plugged by June 2021.
• Road’s end and tidepools: The old highway ends in a cul-de-sac with public parking and a path to the beach east of the homes. The County’s coastal program treats the Mussel Shoals tidepools as environmentally sensitive habitat.

What the Rincon Island cleanup means

The State Lands Commission took control after the last lessee went bankrupt in 2016 and gave up its leases in 2017. In August 2024 it certified the environmental review and approved a plan that keeps the island and causeway while stripping the island’s surface structures and contaminated soil and cleaning soil and groundwater at the onshore site down the coast. In November 2025 it authorized hiring a contractor; as of August 2026, the work still had to be contracted, permitted and completed. Island work was estimated at about 15 months. No future use is set; a 2024 memorandum of intent points toward co-management with the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation, and any new use needs separate review.

Mussel Shoals questions, answered

How exposed are Mussel Shoals homes to waves?

A seawall had to be built during the 1978 winter storms, and owners have added private rock revetments since. The County’s plan carries a state rating of Present Use Critical for erosion here, though the angled shoreline helps dissipate wave energy. In 2005 Caltrans repaired the revetment guarding the old highway and US 101 east of the Cliff House.

Is there a bike route out of Mussel Shoals?

Yes. The County’s coastal plan describes the bike path between Rincon Point and the Mobil Pier Road undercrossing, past Mussel Shoals, including a 4-mile separate path Caltrans built with the Highway 101 carpool lanes.

Which beach colonies lie farther down the coast?

Heading toward Ventura, Faria Beach Colony comes first, then Solimar Beach Colony. Ventura beach homes covers the whole coast, and Ventura homes for sale the full search.