Pleasure Point
Santa Cruz (East Side) · near Santa Cruz (East Side) · SF Bay Area
Surfing
At a glance
- Skill level
- intermediate
- Best season
- Fall and winter · Sept–March for primary northwest swells
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Surfing detail
- Break types
- reef
- Swell
- Northwest · 3–8ft · Multiple peaks activate at different swell sizes
- Tide
- Mid-to-low tide best for most sections
- Wind
- Morning glass · Afternoon onshore from the bay
- Crowd
- Busy but more spread out than Steamer Lane. 26th Ave, 30th Ave, and Sewer Peak each attract their own crowd. Less territorial than Steamer Lane.
- Board
- Mid-length or shortboard depending on section · 26th Ave works with most boards
- Wetsuit
- 5/4mm hooded suit Oct–April · 4/3mm warmer months · Same cold water as Steamer Lane
- Intl tip
- The east side of Santa Cruz has some of the best taco trucks and local restaurants in the Bay Area. Tacos Moreno and Siam Thai are both within a mile of the surf. The Capitola Village, 2 miles further east, is a charming seaside community worth the detour.
The guide
Santa Cruz's east side reef system is where the community actually surfs when Steamer Lane is too crowded or too maxed out. Ple…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Pleasure Point — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.9644, -121.9753