Santa Cruz is a city on the Northern edge of Monterey Bay. The city is known for warm, fair weather, and is a popular vacation destination. Santa Cruz has multiple beaches, parks, and a large wharf with a public boat landing.
The harbor is administered by the Santa Cruz Port District Commission. Transient vessels should report to the harbor office at the SE corner of the small-craft harbor, for berth assignments.
Gasoline, diesel fuel, and marine supplies are available. A launching ramp and a yacht club are in the harbor. A repair yard at the harbor has a 40-ton mobile lift that can handle vessels for hull and engine repairs. Electronic repairs are also available.
Navigation:
Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of this harbor.
The city of Santa Cruz is on the NW shore of the bay. Seabright, Twin Lakes, and Soquel, suburbs of Santa Cruz, are along the beach to the E.
Santa Cruz Anchorage, on the NW shore of Monterey Bay between Point Santa Cruz and Soquel Point, has a municipal pier and small-craft harbor.
The Santa Cruz small-craft harbor is just E of Seabright and has slips and end-ties for about 1,200 small craft.
Point Santa Cruz, 20 miles N of Point Pinos and 2.5 miles W of Soquel Point, consists of cliff heads about 40 feet above the water. The area back of the point is flat, but rises in terraces to higher land. There are two flat rocks close under the point; the outer one is the higher.
Santa Cruz Light (36°57’05″N., 122°01’36″W.), 60 feet above the water, is shown from a 39-foot white lantern house on a square brick tower attached to a brick building near the S extremity of the point. A lighted whistle buoy is 1.1 miles SE of the light.
The entrance to the small-craft harbor is protected by jetties; a light, and sound signal are at the end of the W jetty. The least clearance for the bridges between the north and south basins is 18 feet.
The Santa Cruz harbormaster advises that extensive shoaling occurs at the harbor entrance from November through May. Persons unfamiliar with the area should contact the harbormaster’s office prior to entering the harbor; a radio guard on VHF-FM channel 16 is maintained 24 hours a day or telephone 831-475-6161 between 0830 and 1700 daily. The Santa Cruz harbormaster further recommends that mariners without local knowledge should not attempt to enter the harbor during periods of high ground swells.
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Small Craft Advisory issued June 25 at 2:19AM PDT until June 25 at 10:00PM PDT by NWS