Located in the Opal Cliffs neighborhood in the eastern part of Santa Cruz County, The Hook is a narrow strip of beach area that is extremely popular with surfers across California and the United States for its excellent surfing environment. In 1885, Santa Cruz became the first place in the US mainland where people surfed – and the Hook sees a lot of surfing enthusiasts throughout the year participate in some high octane surfing action. The beach area is located near a bluff-top entrance and has brown-colored sand, which is always wet due to contact with water due to advancing tide. If you want a more sandy area head west around the bluff through the beach to access another beach area that is drier.
