Spring Break season begins on San Diego beaches with out of town visitors

A wave of crowds from other parts of the U.S. arrived this week on San Diego beaches.

Mid March is the start of the Spring Break season which will run through the Passover and Easter holidays in early April, this year.

“We’re expecting extended heat waves over the next few weeks,” said Lt. Jacob Magness with the San Diego City Lifeguard Service.

“We have called in our seasonal staffing to help upstaff our beaches and open up some of those lifeguard towers closed for the winter,” he said.

Most of San Diego County’s school districts are still a week or two away from their spring break vacation.

“I love San Diego. It’s less than 5 hours from where I live. It’s an easy drive and worth it,” Ana Peter said on Saturday as she sat on the sand at Mission Beach with her two close friends. The all traveled from the Phoenix area for an extended weekend.

Her friend, Rachel Hernandez, is a 4th grade teacher from Scottsdale. “My allergies were getting really bad. The second landed, after flying in Wednesday, (my sinuses) cleared up, and I could breathe,” Hernandez said.

“It’s relaxing. I mean we came out just to read our Bibles, this morning, and spend some time with God looking at what he created, ” said Erica Jelinek, the other Arizonan of the group.

As the spring break crowds increase this month, lifeguards continue to offer safety warnings. Recent winter storms have churned up the ocean waters. Northwest swells have changed direction, now coming from the south.

“That starts changing up the bottom of our ocean floor, and can cause rip currents to become stronger and more unpredictable,” Lt. Magness told NBC 7. With the threat of rip currents, there is also concern of many more round stingrays.

Warmer water temperatures attract sting rays to shallow sandy areas where they feed and breed. Lt. Magness recommended swimmers do what’s known as the “stingray shuffle”. Shuffling bare feet to scare them away before stepping on them and getting stung.

Daniel Sheyko was lying out on Mission Beach Saturday while the marine layer clouded the sun. He is visiting from New York City. It’s his first time ever in San Diego.

“When I left (New York) it was 30 degrees. So, anything’s better than that. No sun is required for me to have a good time. I don’t need to get a tan. I’d like to, but I don’t need to,” he said.