Drakes Beach is a remote stretch of sand located in Point Reyes National Seashore at the head of Drakes Bay and adjacent to the Point Reyes State Marine Reserve, about 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Inverness, California. Drakes Bay, spanning 4 miles (6.4 km), was named in 1875 by George Davidson in honor of Sir Francis Drake. Drake was an English sea captain, privateer, slave trader, pirate, naval officer, and explorer during the Elizabethan era.

A portion of the coastal area of Drakes Bay is archaeologically and historically significant. It is believed to be the site of Sir Francis Drake’s 1579 landfall, which he named New Albion, and the location where a Spanish Manila galleon sank during a storm in 1595. Both Drake and the Portuguese commander of the galleon, Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho, interacted with the local Coast Miwok people. There are 15 archaeological sites around the bay where European trade goods have been found in Miwok settlements, including materials likely recovered from the wrecked galleon.

Drakes Bay is shaped by the prominent headland of Point Reyes, with the beach backed by dramatic white sandstone cliffs. The point causes waves to refract into the bay, eroding the cliffs and depositing sand on the beach. The entire length of Drakes Beach features well-developed beach cusps—arc-shaped shoreline formations that appear globally in regular patterns of equal size and spacing. Although the origin of beach cusps remains unproven, they are self-sustaining once formed. Read more here and here. Explore more of Drakes Beach and Point Reyes National Seashore here: