Simple Tides / Guides / Santa Cruz Tides

Santa Cruz Tide Chart

Santa Cruz — Surf City at the north end of Monterey Bay — rides a five-foot mixed semidiurnal tide that sets the surf, the salmon bite, and the harbor’s rhythm.

The pattern

Two unequal highs and two unequal lows daily with around five feet of range. The bay’s shape gives Santa Cruz cleaner tidal timing than the open coast — and the minus tides expose the reef breaks’ bones.

Surf and salmon

Steamer Lane, Pleasure Point, and Capitola all fish the tide: mid-incoming is the call at most breaks. Offshore, the salmon and rockfish fleet works the bay’s canyon edges on the tide changes; the wharf gives up mackerel and perch.

Boating

Santa Cruz Harbor’s entrance shoals — mind it at low water. The bay is the small-boat playground; outside the points it’s open ocean. For the region, see our Central & Northern California tide guide.