• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Aptos Community News

Sharing and caring about what happens in Aptos

  • Calendar
  • News
  • Parks & Rec
    • Beaches
    • Parks
    • Sports/Fitness
  • Shopping
  • Real Estate
    • Aptos Home Values
    • Aptos Homes for Sale
  • Eats
    • Bars
    • Cafe
    • Restaurants
    • Deli
  • Gems
  • Lifestyle
  • RSS
You are here: Home / Archives for Parks and Recreation / Beaches

Beaches

Santa Cruz First Day Hikes 2019

December 28, 2018 by Seb Frey

January 1 is a Great Day for a Hike!

Looking for a great way to start the new year in Santa Cruz? How about going outside and enjoying the great outdoors?  Beaches, forests, and more!  You owe it to yourself to check out these amazing Santa Cruz First Day Hikes for 2019. There are a couple right here in Aptos!

History Under the Trees

Concrete Ship History Walk: First Day Hike

Bird Walk

First Day Hike in Fall Creek

Wilder Ridge Loop: First Day Hike

Buzzard’s Roost Hike

Burleigh H. Murray Ranch Park Property: First Day Hike

Sempervirens Falls Hike

Sequoia Audubon Trail First Day Hike

Sandhills to Observation Deck First Day Hike

Skyline to the Sea Bypass Trail

Old Cove Landing Trail

First Day Hike to Cable Car Beach

Filed Under: Beaches, Lifestyle, News, Parks, Parks and Recreation Tagged With: First Day Hikes, new year

King Tide is Coming to Monterey Bay

December 14, 2018 by Seb Frey

Do you like those nature shows on TV?  Well, you’re in luck because we’re about to have an incredible show right here, live in Aptos!  California King tides are coming back to Santa Cruz and Monterey before the end of this year. Get ready to hit the beach and watch this exceptional natural phenomena, and  it’s something you won’t want to miss.

The so-called Kind Tides happens naturally now and again. They are the highest tides that occur when the Earth, moon and sun are aligned at their closest points. The result is the largest tidal range seen over the course of the year. The flip side is a very low tide as sea levels rise.  Tidal events such as the King tides push seawater further inland.

King Tide are predicted to happen in Monterey Bay on December 22nd/23rd and on January 21st/22nd 2019. Make sure to put it on your calendar so you don’t miss it!

King Tide Activities

#1: Walk the Coastline

At the beginning of this year, my wife and I decided to take the kids to explore the tide pools exposed by the super low tide.  I made a blog entry about it, you can read it here: walk at King Tide on New Year’s Day.

You can walk  almost all the coast line from New Brighton Beach to Capitola Beach, even to Rio del Mar.  It was a great way to start 2018!

The King Tide hike was part of   America’s State Parks’ movement known as “First Day Hikes,” with more than 80 hikes and other outings planned throughout all 50 states for New Year’s Day. On New Year’s Day, two wildlife interpreters from Seacliff State Beach led a public walk from New Brighton State Beach to Capitola Beach.

Read a good book lately?

The Sold Book
Get My Book Today!

If you have some room on your reading list, I invite you to read my book Get It Sold! Now in its Second Edition! It's an easy read (just 145 pages!) and it tells you everything you need to know about selling your home quickly, easily, and at absolute peak pricing. I'll send it to you for free - no shipping charge either!

OK Send me a Copy!

#2: Check the Tide Pools

When the strip of beach between New Brighton and Capitola is accessible walkers get a unique experience in nature viewing. A number of different tide pools are revealed along the sandy, rocky route —  people get a rare chance to view and document various inhabitants and species.

It is so unique. You can check out countless sea anemones and hermit crabs, or starfish. Many people were able to find them very easily. However, on our last visit we couldn’t find any starfish, alas. Some folks even saw an octopus darting between the rocks!

IMG_3248
IMG_3246_IMG_3287
IMG_3241
IMG_3246

#3: Find the Fossils

In addition, remnants of the natural history of Santa Cruz County’s coastline were exposed during the low tides, including many fossils — some millions of years old. One impressive sight only seen during a negative or king tide is the 5-million-year-old fossil of a whale backbone, embedded permanently in the shoreline.

This phenomenal natural show gives people a glimpse of what daily tides may look like in the future due to sea level rise, if we think about climate change.

The best places to view the king tides are in Watsonville: at Palm Beach State Park and the last mile of Watsonville Slough, as well as Elkhorn Slough.

So, make sure to check it out and feel free to post it in our instagram or Facebook page Aptos Community News!

What's YOUR Aptos House Value?

Aptos Home Prices
Find YOUR Home's Value!

Interested to know what your Aptos house is worth in today's real estate market? Then head over to SellForSure.com for an instant, on-line evaluation of your Aptos home's value.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Beaches, Lifestyle, News, Parks, Parks and Recreation Tagged With: beach, best of santa cruz, California state parks, king tide

Platforms Beach

September 13, 2015 by Seb Frey

Platforms Beach is located between Rio del Mar Beach and Hidden Beach, and is accessed via a drive down Beach Drive from the Rio del Mar Beach Round-a-bout.  There’s a state beach parking lot that requires that you either pay $10 to park or have a state park parking pass.  There are some free parking spots around there, but they are limited and usually fill up before the paid spots do.
Platforms Beach is known for its long, wide and sandy beach, with gentle waves and a long shelf out into the water before there is any drop-off – it’s like you are walking on a platform out into the water. It’s a very popular place for families.  There is a public restroom and a water fountain, but that’s it for the amenities.

If you’re coming from the Rio del Mar neighborhood, there’s a trail you can take from Seaview Drive down to the beach.

See also: Platforms Beach Facebook Page

Platforms Beach Aptos
Platforms Beach Aptos

Filed Under: Beaches, Parks and Recreation Tagged With: platforms beach, surfing

Pot Belly Beach

January 27, 2015 by Seb Frey

Pot Belly Beach is located between Seacliff State Beach and New Brighton State Beach, on the border of Aptos and Capitola. The beach is partly privately owned (up to the high tide water mark, anyway), with a number of multi-million dollar homes built right up on the sand. As this is mostly a private beach, there are no amenities and most “users” of the beach are just passing through. However, Pot Belly Beach is also known as a good spot to learn to surf, away from the maddening crowds.

See also: New Brighton Beach Web Page

Pot Belly Beach Aptos
Pot Belly Beach Aptos

Filed Under: Beaches Tagged With: pot belly beach, surfing

Beer Can Beach in Aptos

December 31, 2014 by Seb Frey

Beer Can Beach is located just to the north of the Seascape Resort, at the end of Clubhouse Drive and down Via Gaviota. It’s a popular spot to take your dog for a walk, as dogs are allowed to run off-leash there. It’s also just a great place to enjoy the beach away from the crowds you’ll find on most other beaches as you move north up the coast. This beach is totally flat, and wide open. In addition to dogs, they also allow bonfires (although camping is prohibited).

There is no parking lot for the beach, so you’ll just need to park your car in the neighborhood (before the gate) and proceed on foot down Clubhouse Drive towards the beach. When you can’t go straight anymore, hang a left and walk down past a few more houses. There’s a flight of stairs there which will take you down to the sand. It’s unclear if you are legally allowed to drink beer on Beer Can Beach, but if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it…does it make any noise? And there’s the beauty of Beer Can Beach.

See also: Beer Can Beach Facebook Page

Beer Can Beach in Aptos
Beer Can Beach in Aptos is a lovely spot to talk your dog in peace

Filed Under: Beaches, Parks and Recreation Tagged With: beach, beer can, dog walking, dogs

Hidden Beach Aptos

June 9, 2014 by Seb Frey

Rio Del Mar State Beach
Rio Del Mar State Beach 4.0 star rating 115 reviews Yelp logo

Hidden Beach Aptos is located just south of Platforms Beach and a bit to the north of Beer Can Beach. It is used mostly be local Rio del Mar neighborhood residents because the beach does not have its own parking lot. There is some parking available at the Hidden Beach Park and playground, but other than that, you’ll need to park in the street a couple-few blocks away. It does not have a bathroom or any facilities.

Related Posts On AptosCommunityNews

  • Hidden Beach Cleanup set for July 5, 2016 (June 1, 2016)
  • Help Clean Up Aptos this Week (May 12, 2015)
  • Hidden Beach Cleanup Set for February 13 (January 27, 2015)
  • Hidden Beach Park (June 9, 2014)
  • Aptos Parks and Recreation Overview (November 16, 2013)
Hidden Beach Aptos
Hidden Beach Aptos

Filed Under: Beaches, Parks and Recreation Tagged With: aptos, hidden beach, rio del mar

The SS Palo Alto (the Cement Boat)

December 15, 2013 by Seb Frey

The SS Palo Alto in Aptos at Sunset
The SS Palo Alto in Aptos at Sunset

If there is one image that identifies Aptos, California it would have to be that of The SS Palo Alto (the Cement Boat), the sunken concrete ship on the shore of Seacliff State Beach. A lot of people wonder how the ship got there – and it’s an interesting story.

The ship was one of many concrete vessels built for World War I. Construction was completed in 1919, but too late to enter service in the war. The ship sat docked for 10 years in Oakland, before being bought by the Seacliff Amusement Corporation, which had big plans for it. The ship was brought to its present site and intentionally sunk, and then retrofit as an amusement ship with swimming pool, dance hall, and restaurant. The enterprise didn’t last long, as two years later the company went bankrupt. The ship originally had a large wooden superstructure which was removed and shipped to Texas. Eventually, several powerful winter storms cracked the ship, and it became unsafe, and has been closed to the public ever since.

Read a good book lately?

The Sold Book
Get My Book Today!

If you have some room on your reading list, I invite you to read my book Get It Sold! Now in its Second Edition! It's an easy read (just 145 pages!) and it tells you everything you need to know about selling your home quickly, easily, and at absolute peak pricing. I'll send it to you for free - no shipping charge either!

OK Send me a Copy!

The SS Palo Alto is connected to the shore via a 500 foot long wooden pier, and every day of the year you can find groups of people fishing. A range of fish can be caught here, including a variety of perch, flounder, rockfish, salmon, and striped bass.

In the State of California, anyone can fish off a pier without a license – so if you’re interested in giving fishing a try, this is one of the best spots to try it in Santa Cruz county.

Admission to the pier and boat themselves are free. However, you must pay to drive your car into the Seacliff State Beach park. Alternatively, you can park at the top of the bluff outside the park and walk down for free.

Home Seller Seminar

See also: Wikipedia, PierFishing.com, Sandy Lydon on the SS Palo Alto

Drone Video December 2016

YouTube Drone Video February 2016

YouTube Drone Video 4K – January 2018

YouTube Video of the SS Palo Alto

Instagram Photos Tagged #cementboat

SS Palo Alto
SS Palo Alto
The SS Palo Alto
The SS Palo Alto aka the Cement Boat
The SS Palo Alto in Aptos at Sunset
The SS Palo Alto in Aptos at Sunset

Looking for a Home in Aptos?


Every home in Aptos is unique, and finding just the right home can be like finding that needle in a haystack. Fortunately, now there's SantaCruz.RealEstate, featuring the best search engine for Aptos homes and real estate available online today!

Filed Under: Beaches, Gems, Parks and Recreation Tagged With: cement boat, cement ship, fishing, seacliff, ss palo alto, video

Seacliff State Beach

December 8, 2013 by Seb Frey

Seacliff State Beach
Seacliff State Beach 4.0 star rating 267 reviews Yelp logo

Seacliff State Beach Park is one of the major draws to Aptos for out-of-town visitors. It is perhaps best known as the spot where “the cement boat,” aka the SS Palo Alto, lies sunken offshore. The beach can be crowded on summer days, particularly on any three-day weekend. Some of the biggest crowds, however, can be found on Thanksgiving Day, when many people come to the beach and use the extensive array of picnic tables and BBQ pits as they enjoy their Thanksgiving meals.

In addition to the picnic tables and BBQ pits, the park also features a number of restrooms and shower facilities. There is also a mile-long asphalt path along the length of the beach, which is a great way to take in the sunset and get some exercise at the same time. There is a long wooden pier leading out to the SS Palo Alto, and this is a popular spot for fishing. No permit is required for fishing off a pier in California.

The park is also very popular as a site to park your Recreational Vehicle (RV) as it boasts 26 RV sites, right along the edge of the beach, with complete and un-obstructed ocean views.

The park has a Visitor’s Center which is well worth a visit. It has a wide array of information regarding the SS Palo Alto, the beach history, etc. The center is run by the Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks.

There is also a snack shack is open during the summer months 7 days a week – you can visit their Beach Shack web site to get hours of operation and see the menu.

See also Seacliff State Beach

Instagram Photos Tagged #seacliff

Seacliff State Beach
Sunset at Seacliff State Beach Park

Filed Under: Beaches, Parks and Recreation Tagged With: bbq, beach, cement boat, concrete ship, fishing, picnic, pier, seacliff, seacliff beach, ss palo alto

New Brighton State Beach

December 8, 2013 by Seb Frey

New Brighton State Beach
New Brighton State Beach 4.0 star rating 212 reviews Yelp logo

New Brighton State Beach is technically located in Capitola, however it is considered by many to be in Aptos, as the beach is directly connected to Pot Belly Beach and Seacliff State Beach, and not connected directly to the beach in Capitola.

New Brighton Beach was formally known as China Beach, as during the 1870s and 1880s a community of Chinese fishermen made a home there from scrap lumber. By 1890, however, increasing anti-Chinese sentiment had forced the Chinese off teh beach. A plaque commemorating the location is located at the visitor parking lot.

This is a very popular state beach, as it offers fantastic seaside camping. They have family campsites, group campsites, hiking trails, and RV sites with hookups. They also offer restrooms and showers, and of course a large beach area. They have campfire programs on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM during the high season.

See also: New Brighton Beach Web Page

New Brighton State Park Beach
New Brighton State Park Beach
IMG_6032
A Walk on the Beaches of Aptos
A Walk on the Beaches of Aptos
IMG_6035
IMG_6038

Filed Under: Beaches, Parks and Recreation Tagged With: aptos, camping, china beach, new brighton beach

Rio del Mar Beach

November 16, 2013 by Seb Frey

Rio Del Mar State Beach
Rio Del Mar State Beach 4.0 star rating 115 reviews Yelp logo

Rio del Mar Beach is perhaps the most well-known beach in Aptos, if only because it shared the name with the Rio del Mar neighborhood. Of all the beaches in Santa Cruz county, it is among the most accessible. There is a free public parking lot along the esplanade, and when that is full (as can often happen on the weekends or on the evenings for a particularly bodacious sunset), you can often park your car on one of the nearby streets…and in all cases, there’s no cliff to climb up or down, just a nice easy stroll from your car to the sand.

There is a restroom at this beach which is publicly accessible; the cleanliness of the bathroom is another matter – this is a popular beach and the restroom gets a lot of use, so if you come long after its most recent cleaning, the experience may leave a little to be desired.

The area does offer some amenities aside from the beach; there are a number of hotels/motels, a mini market, coffee shop, the Pixie deli, and of course, Cafe Rio.

The beach at Rio del Mar is long and wide, and it’s a great place for to go for a run. Visitors can also cross a bridge over Aptos Creek (that’s the Rio in Rio del Mar) and continue on to Seacliff State Beach and walk for a mile along a paved path to take in the sunset.

Tip:   this is a great beach to bring your dog, as they are allowed on a leash.
See also:   Rio del Mar State Beach

 

)

Instagram Photos Tagged #riodelmar

Rio del Mar Beach
Rio del Mar Beach

Filed Under: Beaches, Parks and Recreation Tagged With: beach, dogs, rio del mar

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Brought to you by

Sebastian "Seb" Frey
Sebastian "Seb" Frey
This site is developed, maintained, and edited by Sebastian "Seb" Frey, Aptos Realtor® and author of Get It Sold!. If you'd like to have your business, event, or issue featured here, please contact me at (831) 704-6873.

Seen SebFrey.TV?

As Seen on SebFrey.TV

Aptos Home Search






Search Aptos Community News

Pages

  • Aptos on NextDoor
  • Aptos Points of Interest
  • Aptos Videos on YouTube
  • Neighborhoods of Aptos, California
    • Day Valley
    • Mar Vista Neighborhood of Aptos
    • Rio del Mar
    • Seacliff Neighborhood of Aptos
    • Seascape in Aptos
    • Seascape Uplands
    • Vienna Woods
  • Projects
    • Aptos Village Redevelopment
    • Aptos Water Supply Improvement
    • Highway 1 Widening
    • Mar Vista Bridge
    • Par 3 Golf Course in Aptos
    • Rancho del Mar Redevelopment
    • Santa Cruz Rail Trail in Aptos
    • Seacliff Village Redevelopment

Latest Places

January 2021 Aptos Real Estate Update

If you ask around, you’ll find very few people who are sad to see 2020 in the rearview mirror. In so many respects, it was an absolutely awful year, for our community and the country as a whole. At the time of this writing, the nation records its 400,000th death attributed to COVID – with […]

University of Hawaii Hilo Performing Arts Center

Copyright © 2023 Sebastian "Seb" Frey. Please see my Privacy Policy. and browse the HTML Site Map
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.