If you were planning on heading to Santa Cruz beaches to check out the big waves this weekend, you’d better change your plans. The City of Santa Cruz announced that its beaches and wharf will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday, November 13, until 5 a.m. Sunday, November 15.
The first major swell of the North Pacific season is slated to build Friday evening and peak Saturday morning. Surfline’s Steamer Lane forecast is calling for waves up to 20 feet on Saturday, which will coincide with a high tide in the afternoon. The city said the closures were because of the “dangerous high surf and hazardous coastal conditions forecast for the weekend.”
The City of Santa Cruz’s limits run from Natural Bridges State Beach to the west to Twin Lakes State Beach to the East. The Pleasure Point area is not within the city limits.
“Our first priority is keeping our community safe, and we ask everyone to make safety their priority, too,” Santa Cruz Fire Chief Rob Oatey said in a statement. “Entering the water or approaching hazardous coastal areas puts not only your life at risk, but also the lives of the marine safety personnel who may be called upon to rescue you. Please respect these closures and give the ocean the space it demands.”
The city noted that closing the Santa Cruz Wharf is for safety and does not mean the structure is unstable. During a big swell in December 2024, a 150-foot-long section at the end of the wharf collapsed. Three people fell into the ocean, but luckily, they were unharmed.
The closures come amid a search for a missing person who disappeared at Panther Beach in northern Santa Cruz County on November 8. 24-year-old Senah Park is believed to have been swept away around 8 p.m. amid big surf.
It’s going to be a wild weekend of waves in Santa Cruz and beyond, and surfers will surely find a way around the closures to take advantage of the season’s debut monster swell.
